Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-04-24
j. o. ANDREW,
ROBT. PAINE,
john EARLY,
III. II. KAvANAUGH.
The Explosion at San FranciscO-
NitrO-GIy cerine, or Blasting Oil
A Dangerous New Chemical
Compound. ~
From the New York Hersldl

Compound.
From the New York HersldJ
The frightful disaster which occurred on
the 10th April in or near the Office of Wells,
Fargo & Co.'S Express, in the city of San
Francisco, killing Instantly iiteen to TWEEN
ty persons, and dreadiully injurlng many
Others, destroying nearly whole block of
buildings, and resulting in damage OF
more than two hundred thousand dollars,
is. beyond any doubt the result of the ex-
plosion of nitrO-glycerine, or blasting oil.
According TO information taken here (in
New York;, the Superintendent of a New
York mining company, whose Office was in
the building No. 2G Pine street, where also
the office OF the New York Nitro Glycerine
or Blasting Oil Company is situated, had
sent some weeks ago, TO san Francisco. by
the Pacific Mail Company, several boxes OF
nitro glycerine, weighing about two hun
dred pounds. imported from the factory of
Mr.. Alfred Nobel. of Hamburg. Germany.
1t was intended to sell this oil TO the
mining companies in Nevada. Idaho and
Colorado. the immense exploding power of
the new chemical compound offering great
advantages, not only in the saving OF labor
OF drill holes, but also in freight. because
one pound of this blasting oil does the same
destructive work as twelve to fifteen pounds
The Herald was the first paper which
called the public attention to this wonder
tul and dangerous invention, on the occa-
sion of the Wyoming Hotel Greenwich
street, explosion, which took place on the
9TH of November, 1865. The writer of the
Herald article, giving chemical analysis
OF the compound, exposed the great dam
gers which could, under ''certain cirCum-
Stances" result from the transport and
storage of this really "demoniac oil" He
pointed out the dangers of shipping this
''eXplosive" by the European steamers or
emigrant vessels, showing that one pound,
exploded by some unforeseen accident on
board of a two thousand ton vessel, would
tear the vessel to pieces, and that If cargo
of fifty or one hundred pounds should eX-
plOde on board the greatest ship, with all
her freight, and hundreds of living beings,
would disappear from the surface of the
ocean, not leaving a wreck to testify to the
destruction, or human soul to tell the sad
story.
Tie blood stirs if we think that the two
hundred pounds sent by the Pacific mail
steamer had exploded during the sea vOy-
age, tearing to pieces and burying in the
waves the seven or eight hundred pasSen-
gers on board. And could not the accident
which .oOk place at the freight office of
Wells & Fargo's Company, in San Fran
cisco, without any apparent cause, have
happened quite as well on board of the
steamer which carried the dangerous and
mysterious freight?
The inventor and patentee of the demon
lac compound. Mr.. Alfred Nobel, a Swedish
engineer, answered our article on the wy
oming Hotel accident, in very gcod-hu-
mOred letter, stating that, according to
numerous experiments he and hundreds OF
miners and engineers had made, his oil WIS
without danger of self-ignition, and would
even not take fire if in contact with burn
ing match, requiring Tor ignition a special
ignitor, also the invention of the patentee.
But he seemed to ignore that new chemi-
cal compound may he subject to quite un-
forseen chemical influences, under which it
may change its character completely; IN
hnences of which science cannot think or
dream of, and which only long years of eX-
perimentS can bring to light. 1t may be
deComposed by a constant contact with the
tin cases or the glass bottles in which it is
transported, or by the intense heat in ships
hulk III tropical climates; it may be affect
ed by other chemicals, or chemical vapors
of goods stored in the neighbOrhOod. Even
the. manufacture of this kind of chemical
compounds is subject to accidents and cir
cumstances quite beyond the control of the
manufactures. .
In the small city of BOchum, in one of
the coal districts of Westphalia, Germany,
a storekeeper kept for sale to the. miners
some stock of NObels nitro glycerine.-
One morning a miner came TO buy two
pounds, and brought with him tin can, to
carry it, the glass bottles in which il was
sold being inconvenieut for him. The clerk
opened the bottles, and poured the oil into
the tin can; but, 10, in the same moment it
exploded, tearing to pieces the poor clerk,
killing the miner and destroying the store.
The Prussian Government appointed a
commission tt' investigate the matter, aud
it was found that the tin can contained tur-
pentine Oil, and that tGrpentine oil In con-
tact with nitro glycerihe possibly would
occasion a. sudden explOsiofE TSingularly
enough, the accident happened on the same
day that the Wyoming Hotel accident took
place In this city.ilua s'ssaI sf .uojgsna 8
Near Glatz in the Prussian province of
Silesia, a laborer, who was occupied in
blasting away some rocks on the railroad
track came very early in the morning
(January g. 1860 to his work. He was to
pour oil in his urill-hole, but found 1t hard
frozen over night--she oil having the pecu-
liar faculty OF freezing six degrees above
the water freezing point The oillwas in a
gutta- -percha flask, and little being lett, the
unfortunate workman cut open the flask,