The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-06-15
A DANGEROUS OCCUPATION.
sTAEEIrNG EXPERIENCES OF A III
TRo-GLxCERINE MAKER.

Fatal Mishnpg aud iinirbrcndth Escapes
from Dcaih-An Explosive Which Rarely
Toiernics Pooling.
A few days ago a reporter, travelling
on the Pennsylvania railro I'd, met II
man whose appearance would not de-
note that he had passed through NOR
narrow escapes than ordinary men are
usually subject t.. He was the pro-
pr. etor of IL nitro-glycerine factory.
lie laughingly said that he was differ
ent from most tradesmen, for he car
RED no samples with him.
ayes. sir" he said, as the reporter
gradually drew him into conversation,
81 have seen some pretty hard sights
in my time. / think the worst,
though, was when l saw the remains
of four men sticking all over the
branches of a tree. The way it hap
p ned was this: In one of our tanks
we had stored a small quantity of gly-
cerine that b long to a friend. We
were keepingi it for him. We allowed it
TO remain there for some time, as there
was no can for it. But one day, on
coming to the tank, we found some
one had been tampering with the lock,
and that it was impossible to get it
open. This wa a fine fix Well, the
next day vas Sunday, so as there was
no busineS rs on hand, the owner of the
stuff announced his determination to
get that tank open, and three men
were induced to join him in the at
tempt. We tried to persuade him to
let it alone, but off he started. Well,
sir, it wasn't long before we heard the
awfulest explos.o on you ever heard.
1t was frightful. We hurried up to
the place, and all we could find of those
men was to be seen on the trees, little
pieces Of their bodies, parts of their
fingers, and so on. We never knew
what caused the explosion, whether
they had tried to burst open the tank
and thus caused the glycerine inside to
go off or how it was"
"Probably you get very careless in
working around the stuff ? was re-
marked.
Yes, indeed" he returned, tive
get sc that we think very little about
it-not any more than if it was so
much milk. In fact, it does look some
thing like milk. A great sport with
the boys is to touch Off the empty cans
with a fuse. One of our men was very
careful, and in consequence he was
made considerable fun of by the rest.
He always used a very long fuse. But
n day, in consequence of the ridicule,
he said that he would try a short
enough fuse. So he took some empty
cans, made a fuse shorter than we ever
used, and touched it off. He started
to run, but he had not gone far, when
he stumbled and fell, and as he did so
the ans went off. Well it was a
mighty lucky thing for him that he
fell, or he would have been blown to
pieces. AS it was he vas completely
riddled with tin. 1t was as though he
had on a coat of mail-he was so
coated. He did not get over that for
many a month, and he always said
that he would never lie such a fool
again, no matter how long it took TO
touch off a can"
GLOW high salaries do you pay
pretty good?'
81 can get all the men l want for
SIS a month";" he answered, and al
ways have more applications than
places"
"why do you stay in such bust
ness?"
ats a good paying business and
needs but little help. L earned &c.,
900 the first few months, and eXpeotto
clear much more in the next few. /
attend to the hooks and the business
now myself. but | know every branch,
and can take hold at any time if our
help uns short, and go to work my
self. l am now going on to see about
a contract we have for opening a tun-
mel in the east"
"How do you get the stuff to them
by %railroad?"
"Oh, no: we don't send them the
fluid. We furnish only the solid-the
dynamite. That is harmless enough.
If you should put a little on the floor
there and touch it off it would merely
flash like powder. You see it won't
do so use the liquid around a railroad
where there are so many workmen,
many of them ignorant of what is
being done. 1t will do at the oil wells,
for there the men have got used to it
and know enough to get out of the
way when we are going to 'blow in
In taking the glycerine around we
have to use wagons made especially
for it. They are made with compart-
ments under the seat lined with cot
ton, and in these the can are placed.
l remember the first time j rode On
one of these wagons. The fellow who
drove ratified along as though we had
only a load of cabbages. lie laughed
when l tried to get him to drive more
carefully. Poor fellow, his time
came. He was driving along n day
with a friend. In going by a bad
place in the road the wagon tipped.
His friend sprung out just in time, for
over the wagon went"
"Well, were they hurt?"
"They never found an thing of the
driver, horse or wagon he answered,
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