Delta chief., 1884-02-27
A MAN EXPLODED.
V VALENTINE.

..It's fact Never was suicide like
it," said an old sailor 10 a Cincinnati
Enquirer reporter. at occurred in
Making, the capital Of the province of
Kiaugsu, China. which is about ninety
miles up the Yang g-tse-Kiang river. /
was n sailor before the mast, and our
vessel, the Ella, an English one, had
carried out cargo Of cutlery and gin
ssng, and was to take back load of
tea. We had sailed from Baltimore,
and while there one morning fellow
came aboard and begged so hard To
go with US that the captain put him to
work He was willing. and worked
like trooper; never complaining
sither at the food before him or the
task he had to do. We had not been
out long before the lads began TO like
him. He WAS so quiet and clever He
had restless look about his eve, and il
WAS not until we had been several days
out that his uneasiucss seemed 10 wear
AWAY. He was rcticent about his pre-
yious life and at mess or on watch when
the lads were won, to speak of their
travels and experiences. while he lis
tened he rarely had anything TO say.
We had u quantity of dynamite on
aHu NV 'aihh4h. i'i
some reason or other. wanted il moved
TO another part Of the vessel; vet not
understanding the. handling of il, asked
IL any Of us knew anything abou, it.
Tom Bowshcr. for that was the name
he went by, nj once spoke and said:
Captain. ! undcrt tHnd that stuff.
used TO work for the Roberts Torpedo
company. who blast out the wells in
the Pennsy svanin oil regions. and ] can
handle Il safely OF course he WAS
given the Job
The dynamite WIS all removed by
him. and no accident happened. Moth
ing worthy of note occurred during til.
voyage. and ". reached our destination
ip safety. and had unloaded our cargo.
II was during grand festival Of some
sor;-l think the beginning Of the new
year aud the natives were making
great preparations for big pagan blow
out. Nsnking. you know, is the great
center of learning in China, II was
formerly the capital. butts now only a
large commercial city. We sailors had
the run Of the port, and often went
ashore and had grand old times wan
dcriuc around and seeing the sights.
The drink Of the country j. arac. kind
of firc-proof whisky. terribly intoNicat-
in-. and made by distilling rice, Bow
shcr had been ashore with MS several
times. and seemed to take great in
terrSt IN all the ct;=so:;S sights of the
town. He was particularly struck with
I'll. porcelain tower. which is one of the
greatest wonders of the world. II is
two hundred feet high, and made APP
parcntly out of n solid piece of this
brittle glassware. He stood round il.
and walked about II, examining with
care every minute portion. and then
was unusually moody and silent. / well
rccollect that days II was impossible TO
get word out of him. and when we
we're ready to 20 aboard he wanted to
go cut and take farewell look at the
tower. That night IL was my turn on
watch. and while ! lay coilcd up on a
pile Of ropes long time after midnight ]
saw Bowshcr coming along in his night
clothes, carrying Uncovered can. !
thought he must be walking in his
sleep, and so determined to watch him,
that no harm should come to him. He
proceeded to the part of the boat where
he had stored the dynamite, and then,
striking light, he appeared to be ex-
amining closely the cans which con-
tanned the stuff. Thinks TO myself.
What is he going to dop Blow us all
upp So | watched his every motion,
and soon he found can that seemed to
suit him. and without moving it, by
the aid of small knife. he cut in at the
top, and carefully removed quite n
quantity. laying IL noisclcssly in his
own can. This finished, he blew out
his light, and carefully carrying his
treasure, walked back TO his bunk.
taking care TO hide II in some of his
clothes that hung in his quarters.
thought this n queer proceeding. and
tho next day found II so. AT first !
thought would report 1t to the cap
tain. but on reflection l determined to
keep an eye on Bowshcr and await de-
velopments.
"And they soon camcP'
yes; sooner than expected. The
next day Bowshcr worked hard, and
at night got permission to go ashore.
assuring the captain that he would be
on hand early in the morning. With
some reluctance the captain gave his
consent, for on tho morrow there was
to bc grand performance In one OF the
Joss houses that stood near the porce-