The Arizona champion., 1884-06-21
NITRO-GLYCERlNE.
Its Power of Humiliation as Proved
 by Dreadful Instances


 so frequently follow the handling oi nitro-glycerine in the oil regions,' said Myron K. Paige, formerly an oil opera tor in Pennsylvania, "there is one feat ure the mysterious nature of which IS startling. It has puzzled scientific ob- servation and study, and l do not be- lieye to-day that any satisfactory eX- planation can be given of 1t. This singular feature is the almost complete annihilaton of matter, especially ot the human body, which in a majority oi cases results from fatal explosion oi this deadly compound. l have noticed 1t in many instances, and the fact was again called to my mind by the article l read in the Sun the other day about the finding of a human hand by fisherman in an isolated portion of the oil regions and the absence of all trace oI any other remains. The story, by the way, was doubtless a startling 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.
 'I had a teamster once in my em- ploy-poor Hank France. Like all men of his kind in the oil country, there was nothing either above, below, or on the earth that he feared. He was in the habit of carting nitro-glycerine to any well where I wanted to use it, and he and his companion, Warren JacF, actu- ally got so reckless in handling the stuff that other help l had would not stay at work when they knew Hank was coming in with glycerine, but went to safe distance until he had deposited the explosive they required and lad 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 can to Warren some feet away, and Warren catching 1t and placing it on the ground in time to catch the next one that Hank tossed to him. As it takes man with good set of nerves to even ride in wagon when he knows there is nitro-glycerine under the seat, this manner of handling a compound that the slightest jar fre- quently explodes will give you an idea of the sort of nerves these two men had. Each one knew that if Warren happened to miss catching can there wouldn't be loft oft thay, tn thn hoItnn of snuff box, but they 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 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 tripr The glycerine had exploded about quarter of mile from the well. We walked down there. There was the usual cellar that few cans of the stuff always digs when it goes off, and the usual lot of timber felled. Three hun dred feet off to the right of the road, in the woods, we found wagon tire. We found the tail of one horse, and portions of the body of another. In another part of the woods mans knee was picked up, and, although 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 Hanks greasy oil cap lying by the side of stump and his watch hanging on the limb of tree.
 "As 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 illus tration of its annihilative power The iron frames of wagons, and even nitro glycerine safes, have been removed from human vision by an explosion as effectually as if they had never been formed. Look at that poor reckless devil, George Doran, who disappeared at Red Rock few years ago. He was walking along with two or three cans of glycerine slung over his shoulder Tn a bh6s AO iCo | llllllNtll llt NllllltNl lilt bdk to the other shoulder. In doing so he jared the cans together and disappeared, with 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 a part of enc foot-less than one pound!
 "Some savants have attempted to ex- plain the mystery of this characteristic of nitro -glycerine by the theory of in- stantaneous vaporization of matter. That might be true as to flesh, but could tho great masses of bone in the human body be vaporzed in the twink ling of an eye? Could iron be reduced to vapor in an instant? It doesn't seem so to me.
 "Others offer the theory of atomiza- ton of matter. This theory was dis | proved by another most melancholy oc- | currence in Allegany county, N. r., two or three years ago. This case was not characterized by such utter annihi- lation as others. Charles Berridge, a well known oil man, was blown up by hitro-g -glycerine. The ground around was covered with spotless, new-falen snow. On either side was high and abrupt hill, only few rods apart Berridge was very large man, of perhaps of ISO pounds weight. The remains of the poor man were searched for carefully and long, for he was good man and a pop ular one. The coffin in which they were borne to the grave, contents and all,