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    tae worry over. Tbe fat lassie will gi' nae trouble, and what's necessary
    we'll see to when the panic's bye."
    As be spoke, the two were standing close to Big Lil on metal gratings which
    formed the floor of the cathedral-like turbine ball. The monstrous
    turbine-generator, a city block in length, sat perched on concrete
    pedestals, each of the unit's seven casings resembling a beached wbale.
    Immediately beneath was a massive steam chest with high pressure steam
    lines going in from the boiler and out to the turbine, as well as other
    service facilities. Both men were wearing hard hats and protective ear
    pads. Neither precaution, however, was of help in the explosion which
    occurred with a deafening roar an instant later. The chief and Plant
    Superintendent Danieli took the secondary force of a dynamite blast,
    originating beneath the main hall floor, which initially breached a
    tbree-foot diameter steam line, one of several running from the boiler
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to the steam chest. A smaller lubricating oil line was also pierced. The
    explosion, combined with escaping steam, produced an overwhelming noise,
    deep and thunderous. Then the steam, at a thousand degrees Fahrenheit and
    under pressure Of 2,400 pounds per square inch, rushed through the
    gratings on which the two men were standing.
    Both died instantly. They were cooked, literally, like vegetables in a
    steamer. A few seconds later the entire scene was obscured by dense black
    smoke from the ruptured oil line, now burning-ignited by a spark from
    flying metal.
    Two plant workers, painting on a scaffold high above the turbine room
    floor and in danger of being overcome by the rising black smoke, tried
    to clamber blindly to a walkway some fifteen feet higher. They failed,
    and fell to their deaths below.
    Only in the plant control room-two hundred feet away and protected bv
    double doors-was total disaster averted. The fast reactions of a
    technician at No. 5's control panel, aided by automatic devices, ensured
    that Big Lil was shut down without damage to the turbinegenerator's vital
    components.
    At the La Mission plant it would take several days of inquiry-a
    painstaking sifting of debris by experts and questioning by sheriff's
    deputies and FBI agents-to discover the explosion's cause and circum-
    stances. But a suspicion of sabotage would emerge quickly and later be
    proven true.
    In the end, the accumulated evidence provided a fairly clear picture of
    the explosion and events preceding it.
    At ii:4o that morning, a white male of medium build, clean-shaven,
    sallow-complexioned, wearing steel-rimmed glasses and in the uniform of
    a Salvation Army officer, approached the main gate of La Mission on foot.
    He was carrying an attach6-type briefcase.
    Questioned by the gate security guard, the visitor produced a letter,
    apparently on Golden State Power & Light stationery, authorizing him to
    visit GSP & L installations for the purpose of soliciting funds from
    utility employees for a Salvation Army charity-a free lunch program for
    needy children.
    The guard informed the Salvation Army man that he must go to the plant
    superintendent's office and present his letter there. The guard gave
    directions on how to reach the office which was on the second floor of
    the main powerhouse and accessible through a doorway out of sight from
    the guardpost. The visitor then left in the direction indicated. The
    guard saw no more of him until the visitor returned and walked out of the
    plant about twenty minutes later. The guard noticed he was still carrying
    the briefcase.
    The explosion occurred an hour later.
    If security had been tighter, as was pointed out at a subsequent coro-
    ner's inquest, such a visitor would not have been allowed into the plant
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unescorted. But GSP & L, like public utilities everywhere, faced special
    problems-a dilemma-in matters of security. With ninety-four generating
    plants, scores of service yards and warehouses, hundreds of