FAMOUS
“ Death's Hopper ”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
'T'ODAY’S yarn, boys and girls, is the story of a bird who
A thought fast—and acted fast. And a doggone good thing
for him, too. For if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be here telling
us the story today. He is Frank J. Zick of Centralia, 111.,
and if ever a man owes his life to the fact that he was able
to keep his wits about him, Frank is that guy.
I suppose there are plenty of folks who can keep their heads in times
of stress. I've written quite a bunch of adventure yarns about lads and
lassies who could still use the old noodle at a time when Old Lady Ad
venture was swinging haymakers right and left at them.
But the bird who can think in the middle of an avalanche is
a very darned good thinker, indeed.
And that is exactly what Frank did.
His Job Over the Dump Chute.
Frank is an electrician, and an electrician is the last man in the
world you'd ever expect to see in an avalanche. But then, It is always
the unexpected thing that Old Lady Adventure deals out of her thrill bag.
Frank's Job was with the Illinois Central railroad, and he worked in the
company’s shops at Centralia.
It was December 23. 1917, when, along about three o'clock in the
afternoon. Frank's foreman. W. C. Kelley, gave him the job of repairing
a light located over the coal dump chute where the engines took on fue'
before going out on their runs.
And since this is the spot where Frank was to have his adventure,
maybe we'd better describe it in detail.
That dump chute was a long one that opened into a hole In the
floor. Cars loaded with coal were run in over that hole and the coal was
dumped into the pit to the bottom of the thirty-foot concrete shaft. Down
there a system of moving blades crushed that coal—cut it up into lumps
amall enough to go Into the engine fireboxes.
Incidentally, those blades would cut up anything else that fell
into that chute—like a man, for Instance.
There was a grating of iron bars in the floor at the top of that chute—
Just to keep men from falling through when there was no coal car stand
ing on the track over the opening. But the holes in that grating were
pretty big. The bars had to be far enough apart to let the big hunks of
coal go through, and some of those hunks were as big as a man. Those
iron bars were a big help in keeping fellows from falling through, but at
the same time it was quite possible that some time, somebody MIGHT
fall through them.
Someone Threw the Levers.
Well, sir, Frank went to the dump chute to fix that light. The fore
man had told him he wouldn’t need a ladder, and sure enough, he didn’t.
A full car of coal was standing over the chute and right under the light.
And by standing on top of the piled-up coal in that car, Frank could
reach the broken wires with ease.
The car was one of forty-ton capacity—which meant, of course, that
with the car full, there were at least forty tons of coal in it. The coal
was unloaded through a hopper in the bottom, which opened whenever
the unloading levers were thrown.
Frank was reaching up to repair the detective light when all
of a sudden SOMEBODY THREW THOSE LEVERS.
The coal started downward with a roar. And Frank was on
top of it, and right over the hopper. “Before I could Jump,”
he says, “I felt myself falling, being pulled through the bottom
with the coal. 1 tried desperately to clutch at the side of the car,
but the falling coal pulled me away again. Down I went, into
the hopper, with forty tons of coal crashing down on top of me!”
And as Frank shot into that hopper he had a terrible thought. Right
below him were the iron bars of that wide-open grating. When he got
to that, forty tons of coal, bearing down on his body, was going to force
it straight through that grating. And below that grating was a fall of
thirty feet down a concrete chute, and ,then those knives would be work
ing on him, cutting his body to pieces.
Frank Did Sonic Fast Thinking.
And that’s where Frank thought—and thought fast! It doesn't take
you long to fall through a hopper, particularly with tons of coal on top
of you, helping you along. In fact, it took less than a second, but
Frank thought—AND ACTED—faster than that.
His only chance, he knew, was to keep from being pushed through
that grating. And the only way to escape was to spread himself out
and make himself as big as possible.
In the smallest fraction of a second, he acted. He threw his
legs as far apart as he could, stretched out one arm and covered
his face with the other. Then he hit the grating!
“Fortunately,” he says, “I landed face downward, with a big lump of
coal over my arm protecting my head. Coal by the ton came rolling
down on top of me, with a roar that drowned out every other sound in the
shop. How long I lay there before the coal finished piling up, I don’t
know. When it became quiet again I began to realize how lucky I was
to fall face downward. With my face turned toward the open chute I
could still get air.”
Under Tons of Coal.
But when Frank tried to breathe he found that getting air wasn’t
going to be so easy after all. Those tons of coal pressing down on him,
flattened out his lungs so that it was all he could do to get a bit of air into
them. He couldn't get a full breath.
For the first second or two he couldn’t get enough wind in his lungs
even to speak. But. on the second or third trial, he managed to let
out one loud cry for help. And luckily there was a workman out there
who heard him.
Inside of two minutes a dozen men were on the spot, working
frantically to get him out. Men from every department in the
shop were down under that car on their hands and knees, scoop
ing off the coal.
Frank doesn’t know how long it took to rescue him. All he remem
bers is that he collapsed as they dragged him out. But the total extent
of his injuries was a bruised body and a severe cut on the back of
his head, and in a day or two Frank was buck on the job again as
fit as ever.
C—WNU Service.
Egyptians Liked Colors
At the height of the glory of the
Nile in ancient Egypt, the people
had 18 or 20 different colors for
paint making. White they got from
an earth of Melas; red came from
an earth found in Cappadocia known
as red ochre; yellow came from
yellow ochre, an earth of iron and
clay which was used as a paint by
the Egyptians, Grecians and Ro
mans. Black came from charred
plant life nd from charcoal. Green
came from copper mines, and royal
and imperial purple came from
the famed an ancient Biblical city of
Tyre as early as 1000 B. C.
Tusks, Horns Nuisance
Sometimes the tusks and horns
of animals are a constant nuisance
to them. Numerous African ele
phants have tusks so heavy—weigh
ing from 200 pounds to 400 pounds
—that the animals are frequently
forced to rest them in the forks
of trees, while many Hebridean
rams have horns that extend so
far beyond their muzzles that they
cannot F.raze on level ground.—Col
lier’■ Weekly.
Nordic Drama of Creation
The old Nordic drama of creation
is much longer than the Bible one.
In the beginning, so the drama
starts, there was no heaven, no
earth, but in the middle a vast
abyss, Ginnungagap. A hot wind
struck against the ice of Ginnun
gagap, melting and dripping the ice
into living drops, and the drops took
the shape of man. Thus arose an
immense giant, Ymir, and while
Ymir was asleep a perspiration
started all over his body; in his
left armpit a man and a woman
grew out . , . and so on, for long
interminable pages.
Use of Word •‘Call’*
According to the dictionary, the
correct prepositions to use with the
verb call are as follows: “Call to
a passer-by; call after one who is
departing or fleeing; call on or up
on a friend, or at his house; call
on or upon one for aid or service;
call upon the country for troops;
he is called by the name of Lin
coln, after the great emancipator;
his integrity has never been called
in question.’’—Literary Digest.
tTbu/nkd about
Twilight of Knee Pants.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—
Since our diplomatic
group must shed the half
portion breeches they’ve
been wearing at official func
tions abroad, that means
others present will quit mis
taking them for footmen and
start in again mistaking them
for waiters, as formerly.
But the under-rigging doesn’t
make so much difference anyhow.
In the best plenipo
tentiarying circles.
It’s the top dressing
that counts — the
gold - plated cocked
hat; the dress coat
loaded with bullion;
the bosom crossed
with broad ribbons;
the lapels and the
throat latch lo deco
rated with medals
that, alongside one
thus costumed. Sol- Irvin S. Cobb
omon in all his glory
would look absolutely nude.
• • •
End of the Holdout Season.
THE baseball season couldn’t
start oil properly unless a cer
tain catastrophe impended before
hand. Every self-respecting player
who made a hit last year insists
on more salary for this year, else
he’ll never spit in the palm of an
other glove. This makes him a hold
out. The manager declares the play
er will take what’s offered him and
not a cent more. This makes him
a manager.
But fear not, little one. They’ll
all be in there when the governor
or the mayor or somebody winds up
to launch the first game and tosses
the ball nearly eighteen feet in the
general direction of the continent of
North America.
• • •
Changing Style Capitals.
HiOLLYWOOD and not Paris is
now the world center for fash
ions, if you can believe Hollywood—
and not Paris.
At any rate, both for men and
women, we do originate many style
creations which, in the best movie
circles, frequently make the women
look mannish and the men look ef
feminate, maybe that's the desired
effect; an oldtimer wouldn't know
about that.
However, there’s a new hat out
here for masculine wear which fas
cinates me. It is a very woolly hat
—a nap on it like an old family
album — and the crown peaks up
in a most winsome way, and there’s
a rakish bunch of tail-feathors at
the back which makes it look as
though it might settle down any
minute and start playing. I think
they got the idea for it from the
duck-billed platypus.
Civilizing Ethiopia.
CONQUERED Ethiopians attempt
to assassinate their new over
lord, Viceroy Graziani. Nobody is
killed, but several individuals get
bunged up.
So the conquerors arrest all na
tives of Addis Ababa in whose huts
weapons are found. They round up
2,000 “suspects'’ out of a total popu
lation of 90,000.
So promptly 1,800 of these black
prisoners are put to death in
batches. In former days the fir
ing squads would have worn them
selves to a frazzle in a rush job
of this sort, but no — well, who
would deny that the machine gun
is the crowning achievement of
white culture? Poison gas is also
much favored for pacifying rebel
lious savages, and plane-bombing
likewise has its advocates.
The Public’s Short Memory.
A FINANCIER, whose exposed de
vices are as a bad smell in
people's nostrils, summarily is oust
ed from his high place and the
shadows swallow up his diminished
shape. A little time passes, and, lo,
in a new setting, he bobs up, an
envied if not an exalted personage.
So-called exclusive groups welcome
him in; newspapers quote him on
this and that; he basks again, like
some sleek and overfed lizard, in
the sunshine of folks’ tolerance—
yes, the admiration of some.
No evidence that he has repented
of his former practices; no sign of
intent to repay any broken victim
of those fiduciary operations. The
private fortune which he took with
him when he quit is still all his.
And maybe there’s the secret of
this magical restoration to the fa
vor of the multitude.
IRVIN S. COBB.
©—WNU Service.
Farsighted, Nearsighted
In a cross-eyed person il either
one or both pupils turn inward, he
is farsighted; if they turn outward,
he is nearsighted. When the pupils
are widely dilated a drug, bella
donna or its alkaloid, atropine, is
usually responsible. Conversely, an
exceedingly contracted pupil, a pu
| pil of pinpoint size, is indicative of
I an excessive use of morphine.
1 IT HEN Max finally beat Ronny's
V V time with Jenny. Ronny went
around town telling people what he
was going to do to Max, only he
never done any of the things he said
he was going to do. In fact, after
I a few weeks he got real friendly
and wanted to be a good fellow
, about it all.
It is on a Saturday night when
Max gets the red-hot tip on Hoppity
Skip in the fifth race at Jefferson,
but on account of just paying for
an apartment and a marriage li
cense. he hasn't got enough in his
pocket to buy an appetizer for a
humming bird.
"How about your overcoat?” I
says. "Won’t Bugeye Banion take
it as security on a small bet?”
"I pawned that to get the li
cense.” Max says. "Anyway, Bug
eye has to have cash on the line.”
Then suddenly an idea popped into
his head. “I got it!” he says. "I
got it! Come on.”
"What good's a marriage li
cense to me?” Bugeye says. “I had
two wives already and I wouldn't
have another one if she had a mil
lion in cold cash. Anyway, how
could I get my dough back out of
a marriage license?”
"But don’t you see?” Max says.
"I simply gotta have it by two
o’clock tomorrow so’s Jenny and I
can get hitched. If I lose I’ll go
borrow the dough some place. It’s
too near race time now and I got
a hot tip.”
"O. K.," Bugeye says finally. "I’ll
let you bet four bucks and you’d
better have that dough in here first
thing after the race. How do you
want to bet it?”
For all I know Hoppity-Skip, the
nag Max bet on, hasn’t come in
yet.
• • •
It is ten o’clock Sunday morning
before we can raise enough dough
to redeem the license and pay the
minister. But when we get down
to Bugeye’s place, Bugeye just
gives us a funny look. "Why,” he
says, “you sent for that license and
redeemed it. What kind of a fast
one are you trying to pull?”
"I didn’t send for no license,”
Max says. “I just now raised the
dough to pay you.”
"Didn’t you send Ronny Nash
down to get it?”
Max turned all white around the
gills. "That double-crossin’ so and
so!” he says. "So that’s his little
game, is it? And you give it to
him?”
"Sure. He hands me the four
bucks and says you sent him.”
"Come on,” Max says, "we gotta
find Ronny quick. Why, I’ll mess
up the street with him—pullin’ a
trick like that on me.”
But we didn’t find Ronny, and
when we got to Jenny’s house it
was nearly one-thirty, with the wed
ding scheduled for two. We met
Ronny coming out the door and
there was a grin on his face a mile
wide.
"So you had to go tell her, huh!”
Max rages. "You double-crossin’
lug!” He lets one go from his
heels that s£nds Ronny rolling down
the steps like a hoop. When he
reached the bottom he lay quite
still, almost too still, in fact.
The door pops open suddenly and
out comes Jenny, all excited. “Why,
Max, what happened? What did
you do to him?”
"What’d I do to him? What does
it look like? I took a poke at him,
of course.”
"What did you hit him for?” Jen
ny demands, stamping her foot.
There is fire in her eye.
"He ran off with our marriage
license, that's what he done. So I
socked him—see? Why, honey, what
makes you look at me so funny?
What's wrong, sweetheart?”
But Jenny has knelt down beside
Ronny and is taking his head in her
lap, sort of shaking her head and
crying.
Another form came out on the
porch and took the shape of a min
ister.
Jenny is caressing Ronny’s head
where it has bumped the steps
and sort of moaning to herself.
The preacher came down the
steps. "May I inquire what all the
trouble’s about?”
"Sure.” Max says, "this guy ran
off with the marriage license and
I socked him. Fine way to double
cross a friend!”
"Ran off with your marriage li
cense?” the preacher says. “I’m
afraid I don’t quite understand. He
came to the parish only an hour
ago to get me. Said some friends
of his were going to get married
and he wanted to do them a special
favor by providing the minister. He
gave me the license. I have it here.
Made out to Jenny Miller and Max
Horwinsky. Is that you, sir?”
"Sure, that's him,” Jenny says,
caressing Ronny's head. "But I’m
not marrying him—not after what
he’s done to Ronny, who was only
trying to be nice. The marriage
is off.”
So that’s how Max swore off bet
ting on horse races. He had to after
that, only of course, after she’d
thought it over all night Jenny did
change her mind after Max had
apologized to Ronny. She’s Mrs.
Horwinsky now and Max has more
than one shirt to bet, which is some
thing he never had before.
HOJ^RE
Ifoup&m
/dr. JAMES W. BARTON
T*lk» About C
Safe Reducing Diets.
SOME of o*ir overweight friends
tell us in a profound manner
that they have studied the matter
of weight reduction and have come
to the conclusion that so far as they
are concerned, they are not eating
more than they should. They have
estimated that for their height and
weight (some like to include the
idea of age also) they are getting
just the proper
number of calories
or heat units. Thus
they feel that if they
ate less they would
become weak and
consequently t h e j
might collapse.
Now what these
overweights fail to
remember is that
the amount of food
—calories or heat
Dr. Barton units — that their
body requires
should not be estimated for their
present weight but for their proper
or ideal weight.
The average adult man doing of
fice or light factory work needs
2,500 to 3,500 calories daily, and the
adult woman doing house or of
fice work requires- 2,000 to 2,500
calories. This is for a man 5 feet
7 inches tall weighing 150 pounds,
and a woman 5 feet 4 inches tall
weighing 125 pounds. In most over
weight cases it will be found that
from 25 to 35 per cent more than
these amounts is being taken. "If
less than this amount of food is tak
en daily a demand will be made up
on the fat deposited in the body. If
the food is properly chosen it is
easy to take as little as twelve to
fifteen hundred calories and yet
have a sufficient amount to eat so
that the appetite is fairly well sat
isfied and the individual does not
have a feeling of emptiness.”
Safe Menus.
Menus that are safe for over
weights who want to lose weight
are suggested by Prof. E. V. Mc
Collum, Johns Hopkins university:
Breakfast: stewed prunes without
sugar; small dish of oatmeal with
skim milk; one slice of toast; cof
fee with small amount of milk.
Lunch: chicken soup, two soda
crackers, lettuce and cottage cheese
sandwich, one muffin, buttermilk or
skim milk.
Dinner: small steak with onions,
small serving of mashed potatoes,
string beans, lettuce salad, one roll,
baked apple.
Breakfast: grape fruit, plain ome
let, two slices of crisp, lean bacon,
one slice of toast, coffee with milk
or a dash of cream.
Lunch: fruit salad, one roll, skim
milk.
Dinner: broiled halibut with lem
on, mashed potato (small serv
ing), spinach with hard boiled egg,
tomato salad, one roll, fruit jello.
Breakfast: orange, poached egg,
two slices of lean, crisp bacon, one
slice of toast, coffee with a small
amount of milk or a dash of cream
but no sugar.
Lunch: vegetable soup, two soda
crackers, lettuce and tomato salad
with a small amount of French
dressing containing but a small
amount of oil; or salt, pepper and
vinegar; one roll with butter (but
one cube of butter allowed per
day); buttermilk.
Dinner: one small lamb chop,
small baked potato, Brussels
sprouts, celery and cabbage slaw,
one roll, skim milk, grape fruit.
* * *
The Mental Patient.
When a patient consults a physi
cian, the physician is not satisfied
with what the examination reveals,
but asks the patient a number of
questions and encourages him to
tell all about his symptoms—where
the pain is located, whether the
pain is sharp or dull, just when it
comes on, what seems to make it
worse and what seems to relieve
or at least make it easier to bear.
If it is not a pain then it may be
a “heaviness,” a discomfort or oth
er feeling that should not be pres
ent.
By putting together the objective
symptoms, the symptoms he found
by the examination—the tempera
ture, the pulse, any sounds that
shouldn’t be present, any lumps that
are not normal, the blood pres
sure, the richness of the blood in
iron or lime or both, and then
learning the subjective symptoms
from the patient, as mentioned
above, the physician makes up his
mind just what ailment is present,
and treats the patient accordingly.
But this, until recently, has not
been the method of examining a
mental patient. The usual physical
examination was made but if the
patient were shy, did not like to
talk about his fancies, his difficul
ties, his desires, he was not en
couraged to any extent to tell ev
erything that was on his mind. To
day, however, the physical examina
tion is made as usual but the pa
tient is encouraged to tell every
thing. If he seems to be “side
stepping” or avoiding a certain sub
ject he is kindly but firmly ques
tioned along these subjects.
This means that the patient really
does most of the talking and once
started will “let loose” and speak
about conflicts, difficulties, and oth
er subjects he has heretofore kept
hidden.
Copyright.—WNU Service.
‘‘Keep A-Gour”—
Persistence in Efforts Likely to
Bring About Fulfillment of Ambition
p ERHAPS it is my fondness for
* violets that made me stand and
watch him. Anyway, there he was,
with a wonderful basket of scented
loveliness, tempting the home
ward-going throng on a Saturday
afternoon.
“Violets, violets, lovely violets.
Quarter a bunch. Lovely violets.”
Like an unending song, his husky
voice cried his wares, and during
the ten minutes that I stood near
him on the pavement, watching
and listening, he kept up his cry.
Unable to resist the temptation,
I bought a bunch, and even as he
served me, he punctuated the deal
with. “Violets, all fresh and love
ly.”
Persistence Counts.
I remarked, as I waited for my
change, that he had a large basket
to dispose of.
“Yes,” he said, “that’s right,
gov’nor. But they’ll all go. (’Ere
you are, sir, lovely violets, all
fresh.) Only you ’as to keep a-go
in’. Everybody’s in a hurry to get
'ome, and if you ain’t persistent—
(yes, lady, smaller bunches four
pence)—you don’t sell ’arf as
Ask Me Another
0 A General Quiz
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
1. Is a waterspout at sea com
posed of salt water?
2. What is meant by a favorable
balance of trade?
3. What is a flambeau?
4. What next to Russia is the
most populous country of Europe?
5. Is a lunar month shorter or
longer than a calendar month?
0. What does “fin de siecle”
mean?
7. What is the difference be
tween an aria and an area?
8. What does “centripetal”
mean?
9. In what sea is the Isle of
Man?
10. What is the difference be
tween an oboe and an obi?
11. What voice is sometimes
called “treble”?
12. Which bird stands up to
hatch its eggs?
Answers
1. No; it is composed of fresh
water in the form of rain or
cloud particles.
2. An excess of exports over im
ports.
3. A torch.
4. Germany.
5. Shorter.
6. End of the century—up-to
date.
7. An aria is an air introduced
into an oratorio or opera, etc. An
area is an enclosed space.
8. Tending or drawing toward a
center.
9. Irish sea.
10. An oboe is a reed musical
instrument and an obi is a broad
sash worn by Japanese.
11. The soprano.
12. The penguin. The eggs are
held off the ground in the pen
guin’s feet.
many. ’Ere you are, sir, your
change. Thank you very much.
Violets, lovely violets. All fresh!”
A well-known athlete once told
me that he had won many a sec
ond and third prize by simply
keeping on. Dogged does it. Even
when he realized that he couldn’t
beat the winner, he set his mind
on being in the first three, and got
there.
I walked away with my purple
bunch—and a lesson in my mind.
“Keep a-goin’.” What a motto!
It reminded me of a little jingle
that is oft quoted by a rolling
stone friend of mine, who brought
it back from the West of Canada,
where he first heard it. It goes like
this:
If it rains or if it snows,
If it’s calm or if it blows.
What’ll happen no one knows.
So keep a-goin’.
A Motto for Many.
Keep a-goin’ is a motto not only
for rolling stones and athletes and
violet-sellers. It is a motto for
housewives who are faced with a
tiring washing-day, for families
who are faced with no very bril
liant outlook for the future, for
those who are apt to lie down un
der the weight of present troubles.
Nothing stands still. Things ei
ther get better or worse, and they
are far more likely to get better
if we persist in our efforts to
make them so.—Editor of London
Answers.
miles
No Chance
Mrs. Richer—Jimmy, did you
greet the new nurse? Run down
and give her a nice big kiss.
Jimmy—What? And get my face
slapped like Daddy did?
Wants Supplied
“Any ice today, lady?”
“No, the baker just left a cake."
“Giddap.”
KNEW HIM
Bob—What makes your wife so
suspicious of your stenographer?
Michael—It just happens that
my wife was my stenographer be
fore I married her.
It Made Him Soar
The two sweet young things
were discussing boy friends, at
usual. “What makes you so sure
that Jack has a tender spot for
you?” asked one, bitingly.
The other smiled sweetly. “Fa
ther kicked him off our front porch 1
last night!” she explained.
*1 tol’ you Skagway
wass dat turn to
de right!”
a
go MxmeF*.
BEFORE YOU NEED A QUART
Prove It for yourself with the
“First Quart” test. Drain and refill
with Quaker State. Note the mile
age. See how much farther this oil
takes you before you have to add
the first quart. The reason is:
••There's an extra quart of lubrica
tion in every gallon." Quaker State
Oil Refining Corp., Oil City, Pa.
The retail price is 35^ per quart.
WWfTTI
