Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1914-08-13
THRESH|NC OUTFIT
INJURED BY FIRE
NEAR FEM
JIMMY LYTTLE is FIRST THREsH.
Err NEAR GRANGEvILLE TO
HAVE SMUT EXPLOSION.
FIRE TWICE ON SAME DAY
Another Accident Over Near Cotton.
wood Burns Frank Forsman's
Machine With Loss of $500.

The prairie it seems will also have
some OF the difficulties experienced
by the farmers and threshers down in
the lower countries caused by the an
called smut explosions. Already we
have had two experiences.
Jimmy Lyttle, the well known thresh.
er out in the Denver section was the
first man near Grangeville to have the
misfortune of having his machine burn.
ed. Jimmy was threshing out in the
Hurley place last Friday and in the
afternoon his machine took fire but
after some hard fighting the crew sue
ceeded in putting out the fire.
A load of bundles had just been
brought in from certain corner of the
field and the fire occurred while run.
ming these through the machine. After
the fire was put out another load of
bundles from the same corner of the
field was brought in and the machine
having been put in shape to run again.
the crew started putting these through.
The machine again caught fire and this
time the interior was pretty we'll
gutted.
Such circumstances cause some doubt
as to the fire being caused by smut
explosion as there was no more smut
IN the section of the field from which
the bundles were brought than any
other part and they had been threshins
all day.
In spite of the damage to the outfit
Lyttle russeled around and got his
machine fixed up to run again by Mon.
day When the fire first started il got
out into the stubble and Jimmy ran
out to fight it and breathed some of the
fire into his lungs. AS a result it put
him in bad physical condition for few
days.
Another accident occurred over near
Cottonwood Wednesday forenoon of last
week, when the machine of Frank
Forsman was wrecked with loss Of
about $500 The fire got out in the
stubble and the crew had a hard time
putting it out. A bundle wagon also
burned. There is no explanation for
the cause of this fire and Mr.. Fors.
man stated that the grain he was thresh.
was not very smutty and was no worse
than that he had threshed day or 50
Pullman and Colfax farmers are very
much alarmed by the great number Of
explosions in that country and on as.
count of the great number of the fires.
sixty separators in all having been
it is believed down there that
the fires are incendiary in their origin,
and the suspicious are pretty well cor.
firmed in view of the fact that one
nan has been arrested near Garfield.
and is being held for put.
ting matches in shock of grain
Charles L. Mckenzie, president of the
Colfax National Bank has authorized
The sheriff s office at Colfax to offer
! reward of $1,000 for the apprehension
# persons destroying or attempting to
lestroy machines. The county com.
missioners of Latah county, it is re-
,orted, also offer a reward.
The 1. W. WIS properly termed the
Il Won't Works." are blamed for the
explosions in some quarters, while this
theory is rejected by some who still
insist that the fires are caused by smut
explosions. The explosions in some
Eases have been so violent as to even
Indicate that nitro glycerine has been
ised.
Among the remedies which have been
;ried to prevent the trouble besides the
'ne mentioned in last week Is issue Of
injecting steam into the cylinder Of IL
'ngine, 10 method Of conducting tAe
electricity from the machine into Tie
ground. One thresher near Pullman Aas
attached copper wires to his machhe
md then fastened tho wires TO Iron
'ods driven into the earth, tie ground N
oeing moisened around the rods -
'ar he has had no accidents. Z