Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-05-16
NITRO.GLYCERINE.
Some Singular Stories Concerning It's
Tremendous Explosive Force.

Tremendous Explosive Force.
A gentleman well acquainted with
the properties of nitro-glycerine says of
this terrible explosive:
81 have had a good deal to do with
nitro-glycerine. | did some important
government work, such as the making
of breakwaters, where the rock was
brought to me in large pieces, and we
had to blow it up, and used nitro-gly-
cerine for that purpose. 1t is the most
destructive thing you can conceive Of.
A little cartridge Of it as thick as the
end of a musket barrel dropped to the
bottom of an oil well will shatter the
most tremendous primitive rock. You
can take a piece of it half as big as your
hand, and it will blow a rock as big as
this room in which we are sitting all
to flinders. | can tell you of a very
singular property about nitro-glycer-
inc. On one occasion an ordinance
was passed in a certain city where |
was doing public work, imposing a
penalty of $500 for bringing nitro-gly-
cerine within the city limits. l had to
have it, so told my foreman to put
that glycerine under my table, at which
| sat writing. AS it is exploded by
conclusion, you may imagine that for
few days | was a little skittish.
There was enough glycerine there con.
cealed by that tablecloth to have blown
up half dozen blocks of that city
People used to come into my room, sit
a few minutes and suddenly one or
more would put their hands to their
head and complain of headache. Not
being subject to headaches myself, |
could not understand it. | suppose
that from one-half to three -fOurths of
all my visitors who sat with me more
than ten minutes would have those
headaches. One day a man came into
my Office who had been blowing out
oil-wells in Pennsylvania. lie sat
there fifteen minutes and suddenly
said, why, have a headache; you
must have nitro-glycerine here oh.
no. said |, with Il smile. Yes said
he, this is a nitro-glycerine headache.
| think | smell it, too He began to
sniff his nose. There is very slight
odor, hardly perccptible, in the stuff,
and it looks like a box of lard. With
this my visitor lifted the tablecloth
and said, Have you got it there:'
pointing to the boxes. Yes said !,
with a laugh, that is nitro-glyccrine.
Well said he, it gives the headache
to a large proportion of people who sit
near it,
"Did you have any accidents?' said
"No, | uld not; but a fellow con-
tractor, who was doing some work in
Canada, was driven ont of that country
by an accident that happened to him
in very simple way. lie had been
using nitro-glycerinc, and it is suppos-
ed that some of it got spilled on the
tire of a wagon, which was left un.
moved for some time. One day he
hitched a horse to the wagon and start.
ed to drive it off, and then that small
amount of stuff adhering to the tire
blew up and really destroyed two
thirds of that little town. The people
around were killed, the hotel was
blown to pieces, two or three blocks
were devastated, and my associate was
unable to do any contracting work in
Canada. He hastily sold what he left
there to a native, and crossed the river
and came away, otherwise they would
have sued him for all the damage done
to that to"n.'