The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-01-24
POOLING WITH DYNAMITE.
RECENT CASES ~ TTE PFvNSrL-
TiNII orr REGIONS
Wen and Horses aud vehicics and Houses Iu~
rtantly Blown to Atoms 81 An Old War
Tapping tue Crust of the Internal RCutons

Men and Horses aud vehicics and Houses Inc
stantly Blown to Atoms An Old War
Tapping the Crust of the Internal Regions
on CITY, Jan. 22-The dynamite explo.
sion at Bremerhaven has Interested the public In
this powerful explosive. In tho oil country nj
tro-Rlycerinc is used daily ri her In fuse form OF
aduterated, and known ~ dynamite. II IL con.
fined IN tin cases, lowered into oil wells. and
there exploded; the explosion opening the
crevices Of the rock. aud causing the oil to fov
more freely. In handling It daily men become
familiar and careless, and consequently terrible
accidents are frequent. The power Of this ex-
plosive Is tremendous. A single drop placed on
an anvil and struck with hammer, Is sum
Client to hurl the hammer through the roof OF
crack the anvil
The first explosion Of nitro clvcorine in tho
oil region, which proved fatal to life. was In the
infancy Of the business. y teamster was carry
Ing several cans VI the article On hi wagon from
Iitusvllle TO a small village. The road was
rough and STONY and he had been told to drive
with caution, as a slight conclusion will explode
the stun. soon after his departure an explo-
sion shook the ground, At the di lance Of half
q mile the horses were found. ono had been
Killed, but the other wa uniniured. The wagon
was In splintcts. aud the iron was twisted and
broken. After diligent search TIC thumb and
iorchnger of the man were found hanging 10 the
limb OF a tree some distance I'm the wooIs saw
eial hours work discovered other parts Of the
body, hut all the remains collected Of the un-
lucky teamster did not OIL cigar box.
In 1872 family living on Dennis Run near
Itdioute,was DESTROYED bv the explosion of "A tor
pedo containing dynamite. the family con-
sisted OF 70 man ANA wife and Guild The man
was moonlight tOrpeduist, or one who uuts tor
pedocs into well for which he has no latent.
For doing this he WIS luhlc TO arrest aud Inn
prlsunment. From the Circumst noes II was
inferred that lie was holding the torpedo he-
tween his legs. ana that while he was I'm the
act Of attaching the head Ii exploded. Ills
shoulders and head were thrown several
hundred feet In tnc air. The lower por-
uOns OF hts body and his eXlremities were scat
tered in every direction. His wife was killed
instantly. but her bOdv was not mutlated. The
house In which they resided was demolished.
IN the centre VI this destruction Law little baby
alive. her ONLY injury being a slight flesh wound.
In 1874 team-tcr. VINO was driving a load OF
nitrO-glNcerinc from Pofker to Petrolia, was
Killed bv the explosion. A portion OF his face
was found In the top OF a tall pne-tree, one
hundred feet from the place Of the accident.
The remainder Of his body was wholly DESTROYED.
some months ago an old man who owned
n WELL and was unused to handling torDe-
docs, nut one OF them down to the depth OF
l,5O feet and WAS unable to explode IT, lie
then let down another, aud for some reason this
also failed To explode. The old man became
very angry and ran down set OF drilling tools,
weighing several thousand pounds on top OF tho
tnrpedoes. The result was told by himself 40
follows:
81 hadn't no more than got ont about fifteen
hundred feet ~ range before I felt the earth
shake. and those tools shot up our Of the mole,
and the old well spuuted OIL and water like all
possessed. thought that I'd tapped the crust
OF the Internal regions and released the fires Of
hell