Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1884-07-04
TERRIBLE NITRO.GLYCERINr.
ITS Power of AnnihiIstion rs Proved by
Many Dreadful Instances.

Many Dreadful Instances.
attending the frightfuI deaths tina
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 /
10 not believe to-day that any satisfac
tory explanation Gun be given Of it.
This singular feature is the almost
complete annihilation of matter, e5-
pecially of the human body, which, in
a majority of cases, results from q
fatal explosion Of this deadly com
pound
Il had a teamster once in my em-
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. lie was
IN the habit of carrying nitro-glycer-
me to any well where | wanted to use
It, and he and his companion, Warren
Jack, actually got so reckless in hand
ing the stuff that the other help had
would not stay at work when they
knew Hank was coming in with gly
3erlne, 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 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 in time to catch the next
one that Hank tossed him. AS it
takes a man with good set Of nerves
to even ride in wagon when he
knows there is nitr0-glycerlne under
JllO DCdJ, JlllO DldllllCl VI nttllNllAAAS g
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 u can, there
would not be enough left of them t
cover the bottom of a snuff-boX, bu
hey had the daring to take tn
chances.
G mo one ever knew what caused
i. and no one would ever have know
5 who it was that was wiped out, exec
II from the fact that they knew who
was that would be coming that W
a with nitro-gly ycerine Just about IL
y time, and from one or two things
found; but when we heard the exp
sion that day we said: That's Hani
II last trip The glycerine had explod
ID about a quarter of a mile from t
y well. We walked down there. The
H. was the usual cellar that few cans
II the stuff always digs when it goes G
u and the usual lot of timber fell
Is Three hundred feet off to the right
the road, in the woods, we found
n wagon tire. We found the tail of OF
horse, and portions of the body of a
It other In another part of the woods
> mans knee was picked up, and, {
d though we searched over an area tn
i 1t would have been impossible for al
o OF the wreck to have been throw
that was all we oInd except Hams
greasy old cap lying by the side of
stump, and his watch hanging on Il
limb of tree.
"As thoroughly as that does nitr
y glycerine do its work. All who ha,
had anything to do with it in the {
i, regions have had illustration aft,
4 illustration of it's annihilatiye powe
The iron frames of wagons, and eve
a nitro-glycerine safes, have been r
moved from human vision by an e
plOsion as effectually as if thev ha
: never been formed Look at tn;
poor reckless devil, George Doran. WI
i, disappeared at Red Rock a few yea,
I ago. lie was walking along with tw
or three cans of glycerine slung oyt
his shoulder in bag. To rest hin
! self he shifted the bag to the otht
, shoulder In doing so he Jared tn
cans together and disappeared, with
goodly portion of Red Rock. Tba
> man weighed all of 200 pounds A
that the most thorough search ever re
covered of that 200 pounds of flesh an
bone was part of one foot-less tba
one poundl
"Some sayants have attempted I
explain the mystery of this characteri,
tic OF nitro-glycerine by the theor
OF instantaneous vaporization of mai
ter. That might be true as to Aest
but could the great masses of bone i
the human body be vaporized in tn
twinkling of an eye? Could iron be re
duced to vapor in an instantP 7
doesn't seem so to me.
"Others offer the theory of atomiza
tion of matter. This theory was di.
proved by another most meIanchol
occurrence tn Allegheny County n
T., two or three years ago. This cas-
was not characterized by such ute
annihilation as others. Charles Ber
ridge, well-known oil man, was blow,
up by nitro-glycerine. The groun,
around was covered with spotless. new
fallen snow. On either side was
high and abrupt hill, only a few rod
apart. Berridge was very large man
of perhaps $50 pounds weight m