The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-04-21
THE SAN FRANCISco ExPLoSToS,
Nitro-GIyeerIne Oh me Cause OF The
mysterious and Fatal Explosion In
Kelna. Enrro nasr..


Nitro-GIyeerIne on me Cause OF the
mysterious and Fatal Explosion In
We1lss FarEOdE Co.'S Omee.
The frightful disaster which occurred
on the 18Th of April, in or near the ONCE
of Wells, Fargo & Cas- Express, IN The
city of San Francisco, killing instantly
hftsen 10 twenty persons, and dread
fully injuTing many others DESTROYING
nearly whole block of buildings, and
resulting in damage OF more than
two hundred thousand dollars, Is, be-
yond doubt, the result of the explosion
OF nitro glycerine, or blasting oil.
According 10 information taken in
New York, the superintendent of New
York mining company had sent some
weeks ago TO San Francisco by the Pa
cific Mail Company, several boxes OF
nitro glycerine, weighing about two
hundred pounds, imported from the
factory of Mr.. Alfred Nobel, Of Ham
burg, Germany
1t was intended to sell this oil to the
mining companies IN Nevada, Idaho
and Colorado, the immense explosive
power of this 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 deStruct-
i've work as twelve to fifteen pounds OF
common blasting gunpowder.
Public attention wzs drst called 10
this wonderful and dangerous inSen-
ton on the occasion Of the Wyoming
Hotel {SeW York; explosion, which
took place on the 9Th of November
1875. The writer of the article, giving
4 chemical analysis Of the compound,
exposed the great dangers which could,
under certain circumstances, result
from the transport and storage OF this
really 4iemoniac oil.'H Hepolnted out
the dangers of shipping this ''explO-
siVe'i BY the European steamers or en-
iErant vessels, showing thai one pound,
exploding BY some unforeseen accident,
on board OF a Two thousand ton vessel,
would tear The vessel 10 pieces, and that
If cargo Of my or one hundred
pounds should explode on board, The
greatest ship, with all her freight, and
hundreds OF living beings, would dis
appear from the surface Of the ocean,
not leaving wreck to testify 10 the de-
structfon, or human soul TO tell the
sad story.
me blood stirs If We think that the
two hundred pounds sent by the Pa
cIfic mail steamer had exploded during
The sea voyage, tearing TO pieces and
buryinY in The waves the seven or
eight hundred passengers on board
And could not the accident which took
place At the freight ofhse of Wells q
Fargo's Company, in San Francisco,
without any apparent excuse, have
happened quite as well on board of the
steamer which carried the mysterious
and dangerous freight
The inventor and patentee OF the
demoniSe compound, Mr. Alfred No
bel, \ Swedish engineer, answered our
article on the Wyoming Hotel accident,
in very good humoFed letter, stating
that. according to numerous expert
y,,sv,1S - rp5 hundreds Nf miners and
engineers had made, his oil was with
ont danger of selEignition, and would
even not take IRE If in contact with a
burning match, requiring for ignition
special iguitor, also the invention of
the pstentee-
BE seemed to ignore that q new
chemical compound may be subject TO
quite unforeseen chemical Influences,
under which it may change its chaFac-
ter Observation-Disclosures of which
science cannot think or dream of, and
which only long years of experiments
bring to light II may be decomPosed
by . constant contact with the tin cases
or the glass bottles in which ii is trans
ported, or by the intense heatin ships
hulk in tropical climates; 1t may be
affected by other chemicals, or chemi-
cal vapors of goods stored in the neigh
borhood. Even the manufacture of
this kind of chemical compounds is
subject to accidents and circumstances
quite beyond the control of the manu-
facfurer.
In the small city of Bochum, in one
OF the coal districts of Westphalia,
Germany, a storekeeper kept Tor sale
TO the miners some stock of Nobel's nj
tro-gIycerine. One morning miner
came 10 buy two pounds, and brought
with him tin can 10 carry it, the glass
bottles in which it was sold being in
Fr,Vh Tho le.rl- af1I
the bottles and poured the oil into the
tin c n; but 10, in the same moment it
exploded. tearing 10 pieces the poor
clerk, killing the miner, and destroying
the store. The Prussian Government
appointed a Commissioner to inyesti-
gate the matter, and it was found that
the tin can had contained turpentine
oil, and that turpentine oil in contact
With nitro-glycerine possibly would
occasion sudden explosion.
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 6, 1859 to his work.
He was to pour oil in his drill-hole but
found it hard frozen over night-the oil
having the peculiar quality OF freezing
six degrees above the water freezing
point. The oil was in gutta-percha
flask, and little being left, the unfortu-
nate workman cut open the flask, and
took Ratchet to cut of piece of the
frozen oil. The moment the Ratchet
touched the frozen lump it exploded,
killing instantly the poor man, whose
limbs were scattered in fragments, and
found two miles distant from the place
where the accident happened.
These and many other similar acci-
dents which might be stated, proves
that Nobel's oil is really not quite
so innocent as the inventor alleges, but
on the contrary, very dangerous 70