Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1878 — A MAN-BAKE. [ARTICLE]

A MAN-BAKE.

Horrible Fate of Two St. Louis Workmen. An accident which is almost without parallel in the horror of its details occurred, a few days ago, at the Belcher sugar refinery at St. Louis, in which two men lost their lives, and their bodies were blackened and charred almost to a crisp. A local paper gives the following account of the horrible affair: In one of the departments of the refinery there are fifty sheet-iron tanks used as boneblack filters for purifying the sirup from which clarified sugar is made. These tanks are of similar size and construction, being eighteen feet in height and four and one-half feet in diameter. The lower ends rest on the ground floor of the building, and the other ends extend through the floor of the story above. At the bottom of the tank there is a small opening with an iron door, which in times of use is kept closed, and is capable of being made air-tiglit. At the top of the tank is a similar hole, both being just large enough to admit the shoulders of a man. These openings, or “man-holes,” as they are called, are only of use when it becomes necessary to clean out the tanks. During most of the time the tanks are kept filled with simp with the filtered sediment of bonedust, but it is the custom of the establishment to stop the machinery at least once a year for repairs. During this period of rest it is also customary to have the tanks cleaned, dried and painted with coal-tar on the inside for the purpose of preventing rust. In order to do this the workmen must crawl through one of the small openings (usually the one on top) and get inside of the tank. Each tank is provided with a small plank platform on the inside, which may be elevated or lowered by means of a pulley. In painting the walls of the tank the workman sits upon this rudely-con-Stracted elevator and raises or lowers himself at will. Contrary to the ordinary method of painting, however, the tarring process is begun at the bottom, and the brash passes over the walls as the elevator ascends, until the work is completed, when those engaged in the work crawl out of the upper manhole, thus saving their clothing as much as possible from contact with the tar. The inside of this peculiar man-trap is filled with the darkness of a cavern, and the tarring of the inside is done by the light of a miner’s safety lantern, which is generally suspended above tho heads of the workmen. Two men— John Leich, aged 32, and Henry Weise, aged 40—entered tank 50 with a lantern, two tar-brushes, and a bucket of tar. The elevator was lowered to the bottom, and the men had been inside about fifteen minutes when one of them was heard to exclaim, “ Oh! oh! oh!” and soon after a sharp tongue of flame leaped through the lower manhole. A man on the lower floor, who stood near the tank, attempted to pull one of the men out, but the flames drove him away. The Superintendent of the department, Herman Munsberge, was on the floor above, and, seeing the fire and smoke escaping through the upper opening, closed down the lid. This stopped the draught, but the fire continued to burn until the lower opening was closed, some minutes later. The fire burned altogether fifteen minutes, and when the tank was opened the bodies were burned black and hard. In order to get them out a hole about four feet by three had to be cut in the side of the tank with a chisel. Both men were in a sitting posture—one with his head bowed and shielded by his arms, while the other had his face turned upward, the back of his head resting against the side of the tank. Every stitch of clothing worn by the men, and all the tar in the bucket, was consumed. The lamp was broken. How the fire started is a mystery. The light in the lantern was protected by a globe, and the lamp was filled with lard oil.