IN A POOL OF VITRIOL.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

IN A POOL OF VITRIOL.

John Rapp's Awful Experience in a Chemical Factory.

At the chemical works of E. Grassell and Co., Cincinnati, John Rapp, a man about 37 years of age, is employed as a helper to the engineer. There are two large vats on the first floor of thr establishment. One division was about one hundred feet long and the other about twenty feet in length. The width was 33 feet, and the depth 22. The vats are made of sheet lead. The liquid vitriol is poured into these large receptacles preparatory to being used. Frequently the lead springs a leak, which can only be stopped by plastering the spot with white lead. Recently the workmen have had considerable trouble of this kind, and' lately there were two serious breaks. The first occurred early in the afternoon, and caused great excitement among the employees. Rapp with more presence of mind than the rest, hurried to the leaking chamber and stopped, the hole with white lead. . , ~■-■... About 3.38 o'clock another and more serious break was discovered. The workmen shouted to Rapp, who came running immediately to the rescue. The acid was running over the floor.- At the time there were only two or three inches of vitriol in the larp-er vat, but the smaller one contained about two feet. The two vats were separated by a low lead fence. Rapp hurriedly put on wooden shoes and climbed down into the big vat. He found that it would be impossible to stop the leak in. the -usual way, so he shouted for an axe,- which was let down to him. He made his way to tlie small fence, his intention being to cut it. He had made only one or two slashes when his foot slipped. The axe slinped from his hand, and was thrown inM'the big pool of acid. Rapp had fallen over on the lead fence, and, as the vitriol splashed, a large quantity struck him lull iii the face and breast. As he was working around the hot furnace he wore a. woollen sliirt and this was unbottomed and opened. His face, body, and uncovered arms, were deluged with the burnjng fluid. The acid 'blinded him, and, falling on his knees, he began t? crawl along the bottom of the big vat to two'steps at the upper end. • The vitriol had, in the meantime, eaten off his wooden shoes, and as he crawled his hands were buried in the fiery fluid and his clothing burned off wherever it came in contact with the fluid. He groped his way td the place of exit, where he was assisted by his fellow-workmen. Rapp's agony was frHitful when he was taken out ot the vat. hST -rolled about the floor, and crazed pain, begged for someone to hit him on tne Had anklm him. The workmen, with unpardonable indifference, allowed the blmded man to go out alone and grope his way to his Kβ Aich is not far distant A young Sever see put of them again. His face Si hands and arms were Sered, and his chest one mass of burned flesh The pain had somewhat subsided, but he was still enduring indescribable torture. • Between his groans from , pain he described with difficulty his terrible ex-periencein"-She vat, and harshly blamed EfsSlow workmen loathe way they had treated him after he, had been rescued.