Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-08-06


"When the Roberts Company gained
monopolistic control of the torpedo
business the remaining five of our crowd
went to work for them. Everything
went on swimmingly for some time, but
at last three of the crowd had some
trouble, real or fancied, with the Com
eany, and the result was that the men
cut entirely and went to moonlighting
shooting wells at night in defiance Of
tie law giving the Roberts Company the
n cnopoly. Moonlighting is just about
t'.lea rs dangerous as torpedoing in the
Lawful way, and it wasn't long before
those three fellows were blown skyward.
/ wasn't bit surprised, for when a
mlu gets down so low as to go into
mUonlighting when he can make good
wages at alegitimate business, | natural
/ ly look TO see his death announced be-
1913 a great while in the papers.
"Well, that left justtwo, Tom Bailey
and LOT the original nine that went into
the business only few years ago. One
by ono cur boys have dropped off, until
today | helped to bury what remained
of poor Tom. Poor old boy. know it
want his fault, for he was the most
careful man | ever saw. There was
nina az us when we started-all banded
toe ether TO work for one another's In
tergts-and now they are all gone but
me. and | am-the- last-of nine"
Ills unsmoked cigar slipped from bis
neiyeloss fugers and fell to the grouLa
He trcmbled violently, as with the agn6,
,ianiejess horror and fear looking out
of his eyes into vacancy.
john" said /, gently touching his
arm, "cOme into the house; it is chilly
ont here"
J. Yes, yes, let us 60 in. But stay
-f;el-so strangely. | never thought
of il before, but if-my wife-should- -
should see me as | saw Tom Bailey to-
DAY It would-it would would kill
! her" and the strong man sank into a
chair, completely oyerpowered with the
hwHl thought.
\ Business called me away from Brad
Hforl and the oil country the next day,
aaC did not return for some weeks.
| Having business at Smethport, the
county-seat of Mexican County, l passed
through the village and started for
/ Bradford by way of the Bradford, Bor-
i7ael ( Kinzua Railway. When within a
few miles of Bradford an accident hap
pered to the locomotive, which would
del5y the train several hours. Being
! anxious TO reach the city as soon as pos.
Nsibl9, four of the passengers, including
Tny'eli, started over the mountains
afoot, hoping to reach our destination
by three o'clock in the afternoon. We
walked along quite briskly, and while
following the ridge of a mountain were
hailed by q voice which / recognized as
belonging to the torpedo superlntend-
ent, havingin charge the district belong
ing to John McWilliams.
"Halo! come over here?" the man
shouted, accompanying his words with
emphatic gestures.
r. Culiously wondering what Smollay
could want, we went toward him. Two
or three men were leaning against the
stump Of tree and merely nodded as VIC
approached. Smollay was searching on
the ground for something at some dis.
tarce from his companions.
whats the trouble, Smollay?" and
as I spoke the glycerine man raised g
pained-looking face and mutely pointed
his finger in the direction of the mcr
around the stump.
looked and saw strange sight The
wreoi. of an oil derrick and its machine
ry i&y scattered over the ground in small
pie ses. In an instant it all came to me-
there had been an explosion of nitro
glycelince. The derrick had been blown
to atoms and scattered far and wide
the ponderous bull-wheels were disman
tied and broken into a thousand frag
|, meuts. On every hand was ruin sucl
Us only nitro-g ycerine can produce
Tn, thought came, was anybody hurt
, l glanced inquiringly at the three men
One of them pointed silently at a small
baking powder box lying at their feet
| stepped forward.
sMy God John-John McWilliamsn
, ano | would have fallen had not one o
the men supported me.
The last of nine! ! stood and lookeC
down into a little wooden box filled will
gha,tly flesh and blood and bonos-al
tina was mortal of noble hearted JOIN
Nc Williams. A side of the head AM
face remained as noble and handsome a
in lie, but what remained of the bod,
! could have been placed in ten-quar
: pal Smollay came and leaned hi
arm against my shoulder in silent sym
patty.
8 "lIow did it happen, SmoIlay p
,, This after II long period of silence.
! 1.-The well made heavy flow of ga
: anC oil as John was lowering the torpe
y do, and when the shell came to the to-
, of Inc hole John stood there and caugh
! it his hands, and as he turned to tax
the thing away it exploded in his hand
with The result you see. There neve
o was 4 mere careful man than John"
. For years and years John McWilliam
= had laughed at nitro glycerine, and ha'
. toyed with it as with u shackled mon
. ster, ont at last the monster, waitin
patiently for years, had sprung upo
him AID avenged its wrongs. Sorrow
!. full, we lifted the little box and carrie
: it hVmsward. Along the mountain ridg
= we moved, melancholy procession
and whcn on the summit of Mount Rau
, we rested and looked down on the clu:
: teriag buildings of Bradford. In tn
= glory OF the afternoon sun even BRAD
q fori's homely buildings were beautiful
the city presenting the very picture {
: the loveliness of life, while over and bt
> You'd the hills, looking down in siler
: grandeur, were voiceless witnesses {
! Gods immortality.
4. one of the passengers who had com
+ with me from the train produced pow
0 elFul field.glass. Almost mechanical
D / turned and looked at John Newt
, lispls' hillside home. A door was stanC
D ing wide open and lace curtai
q streamed Idly from a window. |
e through the open door l could see tn
4 tea-table set and waiting. On the law
= - bpn1Somn oron nful yUOnon Yon,no