St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-08-02

West placed the cans care1uily III Tue
box Palmer appearing rather care
less, West cautioned him to be more care
full, to which Palmer laughingly replied
that he would risk an explosion. AS /
West was placing the thirteenth can in
the wagon an explosion occurred at !
the magazine which pulverized Palmer,
but left the wagon and contents intact, |
whereupon West leaped into the wagon |
and in his terror lashed the horses into !
a gallop. at which pace he drove |!
through the streets of Titusville to Rob |
erts' residence, the packages of glycer- |
inc bouncing around in the wagon at
an alarming rate, at least it was alarm
inc to the terrified citizens who saw
him pass. West miraculously escaped
that time, only to meet his fate few
weeks later at Reno. The terrible
shock of Palmer's death decided West
to quit the business, ard one day in the
early autumn he left his home in Oil
City to put in what he said would be
'.his last torpedo" The torpedo was
lowered in the well at Reno. but failing
to explode when the weight was
dropped, West drew it out. Just at
the top of the hole it exploded, launch
ing Is victim into eternity.
In the spring of 1873 ''Doc" Wright
torpedo agent. and a young man named
Wolf, telegraph agent at Scrubgrass
Station, were blown up at Roberts
magazine, near Scrubgrass. In mid
summer of that year, Andrew Dalrym-
pie, ..moon-lighter" living near Tidi-
Quite, was blown up in his house and
killed, together with his wife. 1t was
supposed that he had been filling
shell when the explosion occurred. The
house was turned into a pile of kindling
wood by the torce of the explosion, but
Dalrvmple's two-vear-old child was
rescued from the debris almost unin-
iured, and was afterwards adopted into
the family of a wealthy Tidioute man.
In July the following year. John
Osborne was blown up while driving
his torpedo blackboard along Bear Creek
Valley below Parker. In 1873 Alonzo
TAYLOR drew an unexploded torpedo
from well at Troutman. Butler
County, and to guard against danger to
his companions carried the shell into
the woods to take off the cap. An eX-
plosion followed. which killed TAYLOR.
February %, 1876, very cold day,
James Barnum, then torpedo agent at
St. Petersburg, drove to Edenburg for
three hundred pounds of glycer1ne.
On his return trip he was accompanied
by fellow-townSman, who rode with
him until he turned off the main road
to drive up to his magazine, and only
left him then at his request His COM
panion had Just reached the town when
be was Mortified by terrific explosion
in the direction of Barnums magazine.
The excited crowd that soon gathered
at the locale of the magazine witnessed
a horrible scene. The ground was torn
up; trees were denuded of bark and
limbs: one of Barnum's horses terribly
mutilated, was dying in agony. The
other had been blown to atoms, and the
buggy was reduced to splintsrs. Frag-
ments of human flesh and horse flesh,
clots of blood and pieces Of bone
covered the ground for rods in every
direction from the spot where the maga
zine had been. and were seen clingine
to the branches of neighboring trees.
One of BarEum's ears was afterward
found nearly a mile from the scene d
the explosion.
4, july, 1876, w. H. Harper, patented
of Harper's torpedo, drew one Of his
shells, which failed to explode, from s
well at Keating's furnace. In his en-
deavor to ascertain why it did not work
the shell exploded, driving pieces o
tin through his body. After nine day:
of intense suffering he died. August l
1876. William Clawson was killed nea1
Edenburg. The writer met him on thu
; road near the scene of the explosion al
honr before the occurrence. when Claw
son told me he intended to put in M
. more torpedoes after that day. HI
, had with him at the time q six
quart, four-quart and two
: quart shell. The first two were ex
| ploded safely. but the two-quart sho
failed to 90, and in the attempt to draw
r it out it was exploded at the top of tn
, hole, beheading the well-known moon
, lighter. December 10, that year
, Daniel Smith and William Humphrey
, were killed at Roberts magazine a
, Petrolia. where they had gone to unloa
= six hundred pounds of nitro glycerine
The explosion was most terrific one
e Nav p. 1877, man by name of ALI
, son, and others found 4 ten-year oil
, gunpowder torpedo on the river bank
: near Scrubgrass. Allison expressed
\ an intention to "disSect it," saying h
a had ..seen lots of them i'm the old days.
, He was advised not to fool with it, bu
$ went on trying to pry the top of. Th
4 explosion killed him instantly. Ot
tober ?, j. I. Smith, of Titusville, wa
$ killed at Roberts factory on Boil
r var Run, near Bradford, and Co
+ onel Roberts and his nephew Owe
b were both injured. The factory was
y new one, and the accident resulte
1 from experiments with the first run
K glycerine. December D. Eller
: Bartlett, Roberts agent at Red Roc
? was exploding empty cans. One whic
d had been placed on the fire was slo
n going, and Bartlett picked it up to loo
o for a cause. The main part of his r.
! mains were divided from one leg an
e an arm. April 10, 1873, while JOSEF
S Either was lowering an eight-qua
| Mcintyre torpedo in a well ne:
Q Gilmor, it exploded, cutting him in tt
y side and splitting open the head
n Frank Hill, pumper. September !
l. an explosion took place on the Curt
e farm, two miles south of Bradfor,
, which resulted in the death of n.
,r Pulver, agent of S. o. Gotham.
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