Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-06-14
TERRIBLE NITRO-GLYCERINE.
Its Power Of Annihiiation as Proved by
Many Dresdful Instances.
New York Sun.


New York Sun.
Attending the frightful deaths that so
frequently follow the handling Of nitro
glycerine in the oil regions" said Myron
K Paige, formerly oil operator in Penn
sylvania, "there is one feature the mys-
terious nature of which is startling. 1t
has puzzled scientific observation and
study, and do not bsllos.S to-day Tat
any satisfactory explanation can be given
of it. This singular feature isthe almost
complete annihilation of matter, espei
cially of the human body, which in
mai 1rity of cases results from a fatal
explosion of this deadly compound l
have noticed it in many instances, and
the, fact was againicaIled to my mind by 4
the article / read rin5s The Sun" the
other day about the finding of human
hand by fishermen in an isolated pol-
tiop Of the oil regions and the absence
of all trace Of any other remains. That
story, by the way, was doubtless "a start
ling one to many who read it, but to any
one who ever lived in the oil country it
was simply the telling of the old tragedy
in new FORM .g..aii. .....n. .l.l.-i
81 bad a teamsterI once in my remploy
poor Hank France, Like all men of
his kind in the oil country, there was
nothing either above, helow, or on the
earth he feared. He was in theiiabit of
|eartlng nitro glyeerine to any wellwhere
/ wanted to use it, and he and his COM
panion, Warren Jack, actually got SO
reckless IN handling the stuff that other
help I'hsd would not stay at work when.
they knew Hank was coming in with
nitro-glycerines bat toya safe dis
tance until he had deposited the explo-
sive they required and had gone away.
Hank and Warren Actually used to
unload the stuff the same as they would
a 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 an time to
catch the next one that Hank tossed him.
As il takes man with a good set of
nerves to1even ride in wagon when he
knows there is nitro-glyeerine under the
seat, this manner of handling COM
pound that the slightest jar frequently
explodes will give you an idea of the
sort of nerves these two men.had. Each
one knew. thatif Warren happened to
miss catching a can there wouldn't be
enough left of them to cover the bottom
of snuff box, but they had the daring
to take the chances.
"No one knew what caused il, and no
one would ever have known who it was
that was wiped out. except from the fact
that they knew who It 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
explosion that day we said. That's
Hanks last tripp The glycerine had ex-
ploded about quarter of mile from the
we'll We walked down there. There
was the usual cellar that q few cans of
the stuff always digs when it goes off,
and the usual lot of timber felled, Three
hundred feet off to the right of the road
in the woods, " e found wagon tire. We
found the tail of one horse, and portions
of the body of another. In another part
of the woods a mans knee was picked
up, and, although we searched over an
area that il would have been impossible
for any of the wreck to have been thrown
that was all we found, except Hanks
greasy, oil cap lying by the side of the
road and his watch hanging OH the limb
of tree. .-....t. ,..s.......s
"As thoroughly as that does nitro gly-
cerine do its work. All who have had
anything to do with it in the oil regions
have had illustration after illustrationoof
titslannihilatiye power, The iron frames
of wagons, end even nitro-glycerine safes
have been removed from human vision
by an'explosion as effectually as if they
had never been forDed. Look at that
POOR reckl ess devil. George Don IN, who
disappeared at Red Rock few years ago
He was walking along with two or three
leans of glyccrine slling over his shouldei
in a bag forrest himself he shifted the
tbagto the her.shoulder. IN doing SC
he Jared the cans together and disap.
peared, with a goodly portion of Red
4 Rock. That man weighed all of 2O(
pounds. All that the most thorough
search everrecovered of tn at 200 poands
of flesh and bone was part of one foo,
less than one pound ,.sgo sIs tx,
II ~Some sayants have attempted to, ex
plain the mystery of this Characteristic
of nitftSglycerine by the theory Of IN
stantaneous s.rvapofizstionia Of matter
That might be true, as to flesh, but cuulG
the great masses of bone in the human
body be yaporized in the twinkling of ar
eyer Could iron be reduced to vapor il
an instant p IL doesn't seem 80 to me.
/, rOthersoffer the theory of fatomizatiof
1ISf matter This theory was disproveC
nv another mOet rnelapchalv occ,Irroncs