The Indianapolis journal., 1883-05-02
DYNAMITE STORIES.
A Can of the Explosive Used as a Foot
stool.-Its Proposed Use at Petersburg.

A Can of the Explosive Used as a Foot
stool.Its Proposed Use at Petersburg.
Philadelphia Press.
In 1865 prisoner who was condemned to
hard labor in German mine "a fate that
befalls many eviidoers in the Rhinelamd)
managed to effect his escape. He had held
position of some little confidence in the
mine, and when he decamped he succeeded
in taking with him small tin can, contain
ing about three pounds OF nitro-glycerine.
Profoundly ignorant of the nature and fell
destructiveness of the explosive, and believ-
ing from the care with which he had always
seen it served out in the mines that it was
of considerable value, he clung to his treasure
with tenacity, and eventually embarked for
the United States, carrying the car with him
and using it on his long sea voyage as a pill
low. ArrivedJin New York, he sought ac-
cOmmodations in Greenwich street sailors
clearinghouse. There, pending his search
for purchaser, he put the can in the public
bar-room, where it was used by the boarders
as a foot-rest when they blacked their boots
This went on for fully two weeks, and prob
ably the little can was knocked about all
that time by careless marines, who little
knew the danger that they were
incurring. One day there was fight
in the bar-room, and the can was kicked
by stalwart German in his effort to reach
one of his opponents. That fight ended in
S1dullys OluullaueOuSly Win the KICK JneC6
was general scattering of all the inmates of
the room and crashing of falling bricks
and splintering timbers, and a report like a
Seventy-four's broadsde. A horse that was
passing in the street was struck by some of
the bricks hurled from the building and
pieces of an iron pillar that had been shat
tered, and instantly killed; but strangely
enough, the men in the bar-room escaped
with slight bruises, the kicker, even, being
only stunned by the shock.
In 1866 there was a destructive explosion
on board the West India mail packet Eu-
ropean, which was then lying at her dock in
Aspin wall, on the Atlantic side of the 18TH
mus of Panama. Forty-seven persons lost
their lives by this disaster, and its origin was
a profound mystery for some time. Subse-
quently it was discovered that part of the
freight of the vessel was nitro-glycerine-
disguised under the apparently innocent
name of "glonvene," or ''glonoin oil'-which
was on its way to the gold-mining region of
the North American Pacific mining states.
The vessel was destroyed, and the loss was
$lOOO,OO0 Just after this a Pacific mail
steamship was blown up by nitro-glycerine
in the harbor of San Francisco, and eight
persons were killed.
1t is said that during the Crimean war the
harbor of Cronstadt was protected by nitro
glycerine torpedoes, Jacobi the Cars chem
ist, possessing the secret of its manufacture
less con ectural, since it is known that the
harbor was rendered practically unnavigable
by the sinking of a fleet of war ships that
were not raised for many years afterward
1t is a well authenticated fact however, that
the explosive has figured largely in war by
land and by sea. During the siege of Peters
burg, Va, by General Grant, not long be-
fore the brows Of that hero were adorned with
the laurels OF Appomattox. the chances for
the capture of the city looked extremely
gloomy. At that time Colonel Taliaferro 2.
Schafner, VITO had served in many European
countries as an engineer and was in some
way connected with the manufacture of
nitro-glycerine, suggested to General Grant
the expediency of blowing up the beleaguered
city with the explosive. His proposition was
favorably received, and the general and his
engineers began to make the necessary prep
arations. 1t was the purpose of the general
to mine as near the city as possible, and to
place $4,000 pounds of nitro-glycerine in
mass at point where the explosion could
not fail to be effective. Indeed it was the
opinion of Colonel Schafner that the explo-
sion of that vast mass would have utterly de-
stroyed every building in the city. While
the negotiations were pending, and just be-
fore the contracts were to have been signed,
Petersburg was evacuated, and thus the most
stupendous scheme of modern warfare was
thwarted