Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-09-29
BURNING BABIES
WITH GASOLINE
GasOlene Should Not Be Used Inside
the House as a Washing Fluid Be-
cause of its Great Destructiveness
to Property and Life 1t ROasts
Them Alive.
By Bert B. Buckley, State Fire
Marshal.

By using gasolene for cleansing
fabrics Americans fire more than 20
houses for every day of the year.
Still worse, the careless handling of
gasolene burns to death more than 20
persons each week in the United
States, and dangerously burns three
times that many, leaving permanent
and ugly scars. .H-
In proportion to the number of
buildings set afire, the property loss
is small-about four millions dollars
a year. The reason for the loss being
proportionately small is, in most
cases, the screams of a badly blistered
woman bring the neighbors and they
bring the fire department to the scene
at once. Burns from it have dishg-
ured or destroyed thousands of chill
dren and mothers.
Gasolene, the liquid, cannot explode
II set afire it burns quietly. 1t con-
tinually gives off an invisible vapoI
which makes the air with which it is
mixed high explosive-six times as
dangerous as powder, but it is sold to
children to wash their hair-ribbons in
sold as freely as candy.
II is a Ghost
The vapor of gasolene does not rise
as other vapors do, to be waited away
but being slightly heavier than air il
sinks to the floor, spreads, and will
be drawn up to any blaze of any stove
or gas jet by the current of air Great.
ed by the stove or light.
GunpOwder is inert till a spark OF
blaze is taken to it, but this ghost OF
gasolene hunts a blaze to explode it
Gasolene if warmed will burst the car
containing it while gunpowder viii
not.
Gasolene gives off this vapor all the
time. If the air in a room is one-fiftf
gasolene vapor, it will explode with
greater force than if it were a room.
tull of powder. u.4.
The use of gasolene for wash-watel
should be limited to the so-called
''dry" cleaning establishments in
which its handling-is regulated by law
Laws to enforce needed care in its
use in the home would REQUIRE rnul
titude of policemen.
Invitation to Horrible Death.
An urgent invitation to a horrible
death is the washing of goods in (
pan of gasolene in a room in which
there is a fire.
Goods washed in gasolene shoulC
not be taken to dry into a room il
which there is a blaze of any kind
In Columbus a barber carried fresh
washed wig into a room heated by
stove and put it in a bureau drawer
In a little while he saw a flash from
the stove to the bureau Ia feet ava,
and found the wig afire.
In Ohio in one year five womel
were burned to death for adding gaso
lene to clothes in a wash-boiler Will
it was on the stove-an act almost in
variably disastrous. y
Take il Outside
For washing, gasolene should no
be used within the house and the
smokers should be kept away for tn
glowing tobacco in cigarette, cigar o
pipe will explode the vapor.
A spark which will explode tn
vapor may be produced by rubbin
silks in gasolene; this is true of tn
thinnest of silk gloves.
Many serious accidents are froT
gasolene being mistaken for kerosene
can or by a dealer filling a can fro1
WEOHk Jdnk, anu OCCdSlOudly dCCl
dents occur from gasolene being mis-
taken for water. A mother brough
gasolene from the store in a ii
bucket and her daughter filled tn
coffee pot with it and was burned
death by its explosion.
To dispose of gasolene after use b
pouring it into a sink or slop buckle
or in house sewer is to invite calan
ity, for it floats on water and continr
ally gives off its vapor. When dirty
should be thrown upon ground whic
will absorbe it while the four wind
dissipate it's gas.
Why Not Play Safe?
Clothing can be chemically cleanse
by ammonia or benzine soap withoI
danger. A safe substitute is geletir
lied benzine in which 25 per cent. ber
zine is added to a mass of soap, watC