Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1915-01-28
CLOSE TO AWFUL END
ACCOUNTING DEATH VERY NEAR TO
THIS MAN.
On Bale Of siik In Vat Of scaldIna
Water the sufserinas Of . Life
time Were Compressed Into
Few Minutes

A man who Is now at the head OF
one Of the largest establishments for
dyeing silks In this country tells g
story OF a strange and thrilling adven-
ture that be passed through when
he was still only the superintendent
OF the boiling room"
SILK, he says. in telling the story.
has been the means OF my living.
and once 1t saved my life. Have you
ever been In n room where they boil
the raw siikg It's n hot, steaming
place. with great bubbIing watts that
are sunk to a level with the floor.
The raw silk. in bales. all FUZZY and
sticky. comes in on rolling trucks and
Is dumped into the watts. The mass
has to be stirred about a good deal
before IL goes under.
Just before the noon hour one day
a truck came in with two bales on IL
Dump 1t into number six vat.'
told the men III stir IL IL you fel
lows want to go to dinner
When they had gone I began to
look round for the stirring fork I
couldn't find IL anywhere. 'Confound
Bill" said to myself. He loses ev-
erything
4 had hardly got the words out Of
my mouth when my foot went OF the
edge OF the vat I felt myself falling
and l was seized with the full con-
viction Of death
had til s,..f
terribly hot the boiling water would
feel and to wonder how much Of me
would be left when the men came
back from dinner Then I felt myself
land fat on my back on the mass OF
floating silk
To this day I can see the very
look Of the old smoky roof as I lay
on the island Of silk with the boiling
water on all sides 1t was horribly
hot there: the perspiration started out
all over me, and I felt that I must
move.
First. however. I shouted as loudly
rs | could When no one answered
cautiously tried to turn on my side.
The bale of fiber began slowly to roll
over. Nearly paralyzed with terror.
threw out one arm 1t was Just
enough change in balance; I felt the
rolling motion stop. Then I knew it
wouldn't do to move. I lay on my
back, poised on the middle OF the bale,
md walled for help. After a minute
Or two | began to realize that the silk
vas slowly sinking into the vat.
You could hardly notice the motion
At first could look out of the corner
If my eye and see the edge of vat num-
Der eight A little later, when I looked
again. it was out Of my line Of vision.
couldn't move without having the
bale roll over. and II l remained still
! would go down inch by inch into the
water below.
Il can remember that became a
little hysterical It's funny, what
tricks the mind plays.
This is dyeing with a Vengeance
said aloud. and even laughed as I
said It.
1T was growing hotter Steam had
begun to percolate through the silk.
and / was wet through with the sitting
clouds that rose from the surface Of
the water l had 20 idea OF time By
and by. however. some one answered
my shouts. The door opened and two
men came rushing across the room
Get a pole.' shouted one.
Il knew that would be fatal: the
aIiuhfosf nn.sh arH r ,x-n,rf<s Ill -r.- T.
to the steaming stew.
Boys cried I, don't touch me or
it will be all over, One Of you turn
on the feed pipe. Let the other man
go down the ladder. The pipe that
empties this vat is on the left Turn
IL cn-full- Do IL quickl
Il could hear the chug, chug, of the
steam being cut on from the vat; a
moment later could see the wet rim
that broadened round the edges, and
knew the water was falling. II took
half an hour to empty number six. For
a while the two men ran round like
excited June bugs. Then they got a
rope and sat on the edge Of the vat
watching me with great staring eyes.
As the water ran out, the silk sank
now on one side. now on the other
Once it started to roll Both the men
grunted and sat up very straight Sud
denly one Of them cried out:
There's the bettcmr
Il felt the mass Of silk settle against
something heard the last water gulp
as ii ran out Then tainted away
Youths Com panion-