The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-02-12
A Vision Of Death.

At q certain factory not q hundred
miles from Bradford were gathered the
members OF : firm engaged in manufac-
turing nitro-glycerine and some work
men. The gentlemen were intently
Watching the process Of manufacturing
the explodent, when one of them in
cautiously dropped his cigar-stub on the
floor, which was covered with running
water, bearing on the surface small par
ticles of nitro-glycerine. The latter
caught fire and burned brilliantly with
sputtering noise. To say that these
spectators were alarmed would be to
put it very mildly. They were simply
paralyzed with terror, and watched the
spreading fiery stream with the helpless
fascination with which victim is said
to look in the glittering eyes of rattle
snake. All around them were cans
filled with nitro-glycerine, enough to
annihilate an army, and every man
felt as though he was the VIC
tim of hideous nightmare
which held him powerless. Flight
was impossible; their limbs refused to
perform their Office, and an awful> death
seemed inevitable. The apparently
doomed men saw the little lake of fire
spread slowly but surely on the floor,
but the flames Kissed as though in tri-
umph at the certain death that seemed
to await their victims. None of the
spectators will soon forget this thrilling
episode in their lives, and money could
not hire them to repeat the experiment.
When the fire had almost reached can
filed with glycerine, one Of the work.
men aroused from his lethargy, and,
taking off his coat, spread it on the floor
and extinguished the flames. when. of
course, all danger ceased. One of the
gentlemen present, when describing his
experience, said: Il never knew before
what it was to be sick from fear. When
saw the internal stuff burning, and
felt that every man of us would be
blown to atoms in five seconds, every
muscle of my body seemed palsied. I
gasped for breath, my head swan, and
only felt deathly sensation of nausea
i'll nay stomach. All present turned an
ashy paleness of tho face. Then I
vainly wondered whether there would
be any pain in the death-stroke. The
remembrance of nitro-glycerine her
ror, where the still palpitating
heart of one of it's victims was
picked up minute after the explosion
came to my mind, and I SURPASSED
whether my heart would undergo that
strange experience after being torn
from my body. The thought of my
family caused me the most poignant
anguish, and tears coursed down my
cheeks. Then several incidents of nv
life, of which I can not speak with
pride, were wildly presented to my
minds eye, and induced vague reflec-
tions on the subject of future punish
ment. Sometimes in my dreams
have felt myself in the presence of
irightful peril, such as lying in the
path of an express train or totteriug on
the brink of vast abyss, but was ut
terly incapable of moving hand or foot
for my preservation. So I seemed in
this case. I could not lift finger,
or make q move. After what seemed
to be an eternity Of waiting for my in
evitable fate, my attention was arrested
by movement on the part of the work
man, who took off his coat hurriedly.
Then he bent forward, and, with the
utmost deliberation, laid it on the pool
of fire, moving it gently along and pat
ting it with his hands until every spark
was extinguished. The reaction from
the terrible suspense was almost over
powering, and I felt weak as child,
but on going out into the open air my
old-time spirits came back very rapidly.
May I never have another such expert
Bradford Era.