The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-05-06
DYNAMITE STORIES.
SOME OF THE NOTED ACCIDENTS THAT
EXPLOSIONS HAVE CAUSED.
The Assassination or the Gar OF Rus
sia-A Can of NifrO-GIycerine
That was Used ss "a Foot
sfOoI-Other Strange
Incidents.
%lPhlladelphIa Press.l

philadelphia Press.l
Now that the Car Of Russia Is preparing
Il, ,renidution for his coronation. and the
Ministry in England are trembling with
sr;1bt at the threats OF secret assassination
| 90 The discontented Irish, dynamite assumes
On inheritance in public estimation that it
IT,. navor before held. The scientists know
al abort #. OF course, or think they do,
Itch is inst rs good, but the general pub
lic I'm England especially are but slightly
o,veero of the nature and characteristic oil
this Great destroyer. Dynamite - SIMPLY
n form Of nitrO-glycerine, the most
noverfnl explosive known to science
70 he capable Of comparatively saie
aonlication. 10 is about seven times
as strong as gunpowder, and Is, so TO
sneak. although more aggressive. II you
nut a pound OF gunpowder on a rock anu
touch it of it will burn quickly, put II WI
not break the rock, nor leave any Ilarh
upon IL save that OF the burning. D!ha-
mite thus placed will crush the rock ihto
fragments as far as its force goes H. II "
dangerous force and treacherous Wlinaii
but with strict care IL may be uSed ior III
ordinary purposes where explosions are
needed with safety. II Is portable WheIe
not unduly iolted. and has been known 10
withstand heavy shocks without eNplou'hg,
Still. recent accidents whose causes canno.
be traced prove that the experts have not
vet fnIIy mastered all the peculiar charac-
~teristics OF this Russian and English tel
%rorizer.
o STRANGE ACCIDENTS.
In 1865 a prisoner who was condemned
TO hard labor in a German mine "a l1te that
befaIls many evil-doers in the lhineiandl
managed to effect his escape. lie hau urtu
a po.ition OF some little confidence IN iilr
mine, and when he decamped ne succeeded
in taking with him q small tm-can' contain
ing about three pounds OF nttro-glycoIile.
Profoundly ignorant OF the nature ana zen
destructivencss OF the explosive ana
believing from the care with Whlch
he mad ALWAYS seen il served out
i'm the mines that Ii was oil cohsll-
eroble value. be chung to his treasure
Win tenacitv. and eventually embarked
for the United states. carrying the can with
him and using II on his long sea voyage as
o inflow. Arrived in New York, he sought
accommodations in a Greenwich-streel
~soilors' boarding-hOusc. There, pending
ms search for a purchaser. he put the can
IN the public bar-rOom, where 1t was used
bv the boarders as a i~O0t-rcst when lhc'
hacked their boots. This went on for rully
two weeks. and probably The little cln YVES
knocked about all that time Joy careless
mariners. who little know the danger thai
g they were iBcurrine. One day there
? was a fight i'm the bar-rOom, and
r the can was kicked by a stall
P wart German in his effort TO reach
3 one OF his opponents. That fight ended
f, instantly. simultaneously with the kick
J there was q general scattering OF AL the iW-
mates OF the room. q crashing OF railing
: bricks and splintering timbcrs, and "a ~
mort Ike a seyenty-iOur's hrOad-;de. u
horse that was passing in the street was
p struck bv some OF the bricks hurled from
- the building and pieces OF an iron pillar
l that had bccn shattered and instantly Kill
ed: but strangely enough the men IN The
e. bar-room escaped with slight bruises. the
kicker, even, being only stunned by the
I shock.
In 1866 there was destructive explosion
: on board the West India mail-packet Eu-
ropean, which was then lying at her dock
= i'm Aspinwall. on the Atlantic side OF the
lIsthmus OF Panama. Forty-scvcn persons
lost their lives 10y this disaster, and is
. origin was a profound mystery Tor some
! time. Subsequently if WAS discovered thai
= Z lNill oil the lIFl.ui ~ lllf NhNN'A N"" AArfN
, 0lycerine disguised under the apparently
innocent name OF "%glonYene, OF "slOn-
oin-oil~l. which was on it, way 70 the
p gold mining region OF the North American
poetic mining states. The vessel was de-
: showed. andthe loss was 81 100000. Ju>tai-
g Tor this a Pacific mail steamship was blown
+ nm nv nitro-glycerine i'm the harbor OF san
, Francisco, and eight persons were killed.
THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.
II is said that during the Crimcan waI
I the harbor OF CronstaGt was protected 10y
. nitro-glycerine torped0es, Jacob, the
: Cars chemist, possessing the secret OF is
= manufacture, but this assertion may be
taken as more or less couicctural. since It is
known that the harbOr was rendered prac-
tically unavailable by the sinking OF q
feet OF war-ships that were not raised
. for many years afterwards. il - q
Well-authenticated fact, however, that
, the explosive has figured largely in war by
7 land and by sea. At one time, during The
siegeO OF Petersburg. Va, by General Grant,
? the chances for the capture OF the city
=. looked extremely gloomy. Colonel Talid-
Ierro =. SchafueT. who bad served in many
: European countries as an engineer. and
-, was in some WAY connected with the man.
ufacture OF nitro-glycerine, suggested to
p General Grant the eXpediency OF blowing
: up the beleaguered city with the t. y
ploSive. His proposition was fayorably
: received. and the General and his
A, engineers began 10 make the necessary
preparations. IL was the purpose OF the
General 10 mineas near to the city as p0ssi-
! bic, and TO place $1,000 pounds OF nitro
glyccriuc in a mass at a point where the
f .l,.1I 80 f..l a. - rfr..HfW.
: Indeed. it was the opinion OF Colonel Schaf-
ner that the explosion OF that vast mass
would have utterly destroyed every build
= were pending, and just before the con-
, tracts were to have been signed. Peters
:. burg was evacuated, and thus the most
, stupendous scheme OF modern warfare was
/: thwarted.
WHAT EXPERTS SAY.
Nitro-glycerine has thirteen times the
? force Of %gunpowder, and it is not easy TO
conceive what would be the effect Of the
explosion OF SO vast a quantity within any
reasonable distance OF a city. IL is said that
two pounds would reduce the post-Ofice
to a ruin. and that 100 pounds, iudiciously
exploded, would destroy the majority OF
the largest buildings in Philadelphia.
IL is not wondered at, among men
who are familiar with the power OF
nitro-glycerine, that the doWncast pa
tnots Of Russia and Ireland should at
last resort to nitro-glycerine rs their means
Of salvation. Barring the sentimentality
that the use OF agencies OF this kind is re-
garded as barbarous, they say that despe-
rate diseases require heroic treatment, and
that tyranny cannot be reached save by
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