THE VENGEFUL ITALIAN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 439, 14 February 1912, Page 6

THE VENGEFUL ITALIAN.

Iu June, 1907, I was in the employ of the Bessemer Steel Company, at Bessemer, North America. I had charge of a gang o[ forty Italians labourers and platelayers. Amongst them was one fellow of about thirty years of age, who had the reputation of being a skulker and bully. One day I had cause t.o give liim a severe wigging over some dirty triciv he had played upon a young Englishman. He went away muttering threats, aut I took no notice of them. At that time we were cngagsd upon building a branch line connecting the sight miles of railway belonging to the company with the main line. We had to pass through very hard rock, which required blasting, and it wa~ my duty to lay the charges. It was also my duty, when these charges had gone off, to run up and see how they had worked.

One morning I lai'd a charge which duly exploded, and I was about to 3xamine the result when I was called away by the excited gestures ol the young Englishman about whom I had quarrelled with the Italian. 1 went up to him, and was just about to ask him what was the matter when another terrific report came from the spot wbere my charge had exploded.

It appears that the Italian had placed a second charge there, and timed it to explode when I should have been examining the result of the first charge. The Englishman had suspected him, and, by preventing me going to the spot, undoubtedly aaved my life, for I should have been blown to pieces by that second charge, which did twice as murh damage as tha one I had laid down. The Italian decamped, and we were never able to trace him. —"Tit-Bits."