Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-06-25
TERRIBLE NITRO.GLY(VHINE.
Its Power OF AnnihiiatiOn MS Proved by
Many Dreadful Instances.

so frequently follow the handling of
nitro-glycerine, in TIE oil regions
said Myron X. Paige, formerly an oil
operator in Pennsylvania, "there is one
feature, the mysterious nature OF
which is startling. 1t has puzzled
scientific observation and study, and
do not believe to-day that any satisfac-
tory explanation can be given OF it,
This singular feature is the almost
complete annihilation of matter, cs-
pecially of the human body, which, in
majority of cases, results from
fatal explosion of this deadly COM
pound.
81 had a teamster once in my en-
ploy-poor Hank France. Like al.
men of his kind in the oil country
there was nothing either above, below
or on earth that he feared. He was
in the habit of carrying nitro-glycer
inc to any well where | wanted to use
it, and he and his companion, Warren
Jack, actually got so reckless in hand
ling the stuff that the other help had
would not stay at work when they
knew Hank was coming in with gly
cerine, but went to safe distance
until he had deposited the explosive
they required, and had gone away.
"Hank and Warren actually used to
unload the stuff the same as
they would q lot of bricks, Hank
standing in the wagon and throwing a
can to Warren some feet away, and
Warren catching it and placing it on
the ground in time to catch the next
one that Hank tossed him. AS 1t
takes a man with good set of nerves
to even ride in a wagon when he
knows there is nitrO-glycerine under
the seat, this manner of handling
compound that the slightest jar fre-
quently eXplodes, will give you an idea
of the sort of nerve these two men had.
Each one knew that if Warren hap
pened to miss catching can, there
would not be enough left of them to
cover the bottom of snuff-boX, but
hey had the daring to take the
chances
"No one ever knew what caused it,
and no one would ever have known
who it was that was wiped out, except
from the fact that they knew who 1t
was that would be coming that way
with nitro-glycerine just about that
time, and from one or two things we
found; but when we heard the eXplo-
sion that day we said: That's Hanks
last trip The glycerine had exploded
about quarter Of mile from the
well. We walked down there. There
was the usual cellar that few caus Of
the stuff always digs when it goes Of
and the usual lot of timber fell cd
Three hundred feet off to the right Of
the road in the woods, we found a
wagon tire. We found the tail of one
horse, and portions of the body of an
other In another part Of the woods a
mans knee was picked up, and, al
though we searched over an area that
it would have been impossible for any
of the wreck to have been thrown,
that was all we found except Hank S
greasy old cap lying by the side of a
stump, and his watch hanging on the
limb of tree
Gas thoroughly as that does nitro
glycerine do its work. All who have
had anything to do with it in the oil
regions have had illustration after
illustration of its annihilative power
The iron frames of wagons, and even
nitSo-glycerine safes, have been re-
moved from human vision by an eX.
plosion as effectually as if they had
never been formed. Look at that
poor reckless devil, George Doran, who
disappeared at Red Rock few year
ago. He was walking along with two
or three cans of glycerine slung over
his shoulder in bag. 10 rest him
self he shifted the bag to the other
shoulder. In doing SO he Jared to,
cans together and disappeared. with a
goodly portion of Red Rock. That
man weighed all of 200 pounds. All
that the most thorough search ever re-
covered of that 200 pounds of flesh and
bone was part of one foot-less than
one pound!
"Some savants have attempted tc
explain the mystery of this characters
tic of nitro-glycerine by the theory
of instantaneous vaporization of mat
ter. That might be true as to flesh
but could the great masses of bone in
the human body be vaporized in the
twinkling of an eye? Could iron be re
duced to vapor in an instant? II
doesn't seem SO to me.
"Others offer the theory of atomiza
tion of matter. This theory was dis
= proved by another most melancholy
occurrence in Allegheny County, N
: Y, two or three years ago. This cast
} was not characterized by such uttel
| annihilation as others. Charles Ber
ridge, a awell-known oil man, was blowr
) up by nitro-glycerine. The groun'
around was covered with spotless, new
r fallen snow. On either side was ;
0 high and abrupt hill, only II few rod
5 apart. Berridge was II very large man
of perhaps $50 pounds weight. Th
remains of the poor man were searched
, for carefully and long, for ho was
4 VI,