New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-05-01
NItro-Glyeerine,

/
On the morning of April Sd, the iron steamship
European, one of the line running from Liverpool
to Aspinwall was moored to the wharf at the last
named port, crowded with laborers engaged in
| disehargng her cargo, when an explosion of I'M
precedented violence took place in the hold of the
vessel. Seventy or eighty men were killed, O sub
stantial wharf was shattered, warehouse three
hundred feet long was demolished, steamship on
the opposite side of the wharf was greatly dam
| aged, and the European herself was reduced to a
mass of floating ruins. The burning wreck was
! towed away from the wharf, when second explo-
| sion occurred and the shattered remains of the
vessel sank. a...
Steam was not up, and there was no gunpowder
on board but an examination of the freight list
showed that there was in the hold a quantity of
nitro glycerine, weighing two or three thousand
pounds 1t was contained in seventy packages,
which were probably slowed in two or
more separate parcels, as the second ex-
| ploston would seem to indicate. The dan
| gerous compound was fraudulenty shipped
under the name Of gIonoin, the owners
| knowing that it would not have been received had
its nature been known to the agents of the vessel
or to the company insuring the ship and cargo
This is but one of series of like criminal frauds
as investigation proves that it had been shipped in
the same clandestine manner on four other ocean
steamers and been stored in large quantities in the
midst of populous cities.
Nitro.glycerine is an invention of a Hamburger
named Albert Nobel who arrived at New York
quite recently and was arrested few days ago,
together with his agents and manufacturers. He
naturally fraudulent designs, and offers to
prove by experiment thathis compound will not ex-
pode under less heat than three hundred and twenty
degrees. Mr., Nobel says that gunpowder is more
explosive and therefore more dangerous But
while all the qualities Of " villainous saltpeter
and its compounds are known to the public and
guarded against accordingly, those of the German
oil were quite unknown to the public until the re-
cent catastrophe, and are evennow butlitte known.
Shippers and warehousemen do not know the condi.
tons under which nitro-glyoerine will ignite and
cannot adopt the requisite precautions against
accident. The danger lies in this ignorance of
the nature of the oil. To store or ship this vol
canic chemical in large quantities where its explo-
sion would result in destruction to property and
life, even under its proper name and with state
ment of all the known means by which it may be |
ignfted would be scarcely less than culpable; but
to ship and store it clandestiney is in the highest
degree criminal. Betweenth the pirate who boards |
a ship on the high seas, saughters her crew and
burns her to the waters edge, and the man who
fraudulently placed ton of nitro glycerine on
the European which caused such frightful destruc
ton, there is but slight difference in guilt
--s-% s---
THE VARIETIES The performance of Hamlet"
at the Varieties last night was unexceptionably
one of the greatest dramatic feasts ever presented
IN New Orleans, and the very crowded and ele-
CANT house attesed that taste for the legitimate
1rama still lives among us. The audience enjoyed
he entertainment keenly. With the exception of
some slight faults visible only, perhaps, to those
who have seen the elder Booth and Macready per-
form the character, Mr.. Bandmann is the best
Hamlet we have had on our boards since those
great artists appeared. Foreigner, as he is, it is
doubtful if any one not previously eognzant of the
act would have discovered it. His pronunciation
s very accurate his reading scholarly and his act
ng finished.
The great success of the performance, however,
S not entirely owing to the abilities of Mr.. Band
mann. We doubt if he could find another com.
1any on the continent to give the same luster to
very part of the great play. Mrs. Chanfrau's
2pdelia we have never seen equaled except by
me lady, who left our stage long since and has
become an ornament of society in private life.
ir. Curran's Poyonius presented that singular
combination of seryility as eourter and
enderness and fidelity as a father the
treat dramatist compounded, and with striking
,ower. Mr.. Fiske's part as the grave digger gives
i'm but brief space on the stage, but in that
rief space he, as usual, made his mark In short,
very part was performed as if it were the speci-
lily of the player, and during the week the series
+ elegant dramas announced at this house will
i've the piay-going public something more than
'Volity to think Of.
Tonight the " Merchant of Venice will be pre-
snted.