Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-20
DYNAMITE.
How the Destructive Explosive is Manu-,
featured.

2OSbbA W AA0u
any other man in the country, tells a
reporter some interesting facts con,
corning the manufacture and use Of
this destructive compound:
dynamite is made of glycerine-oil
and nitric acid mixed in sawdust. A
boy can make it and there is no law to
prevent it, nor is there a law restrict.
ing the sale of it. You may send your
~ofice-boy or servant-girl for a few
pounds and no questions will be asked.
The sale of opium and poisons are lie.
stricted, but dynamite, the greatest
and most terrible destructive engine Of
the nineteenth century, may be bought
by any one at thirty-siN cents per
i pound. The wet sawdust on a saloon
floor is so precisely like dynamite that
even 1 could not tell the difference I'M,
til 1 tasted 1.-THE glycerine imparts a
sweet flavor to it. Dynamite may be
made out of q hundred and one differ,
| ent things, such as sulphur, saltpeter
and birthstone. Generally, however,
glycerine and nitric acid, which we call
| nitro-glycerine, are mixed with such an
absorbent as wood.pulp or sawdust:
this is done to enable its safe handling
and transportation. The color of dy.
Mantle is the color of sawdust, and that
of course depends upon the color and
nature of the wood.
THE word dynamite covers the
whole category of explosives, such as
| giant-powderand nitro -glycerine. Gun
cotton is similar, except that cotton is
used as the absorbent instead of saw.
dust OF pulp.
eff placed in water it will sink al.
most as rapidly as lead. | should say,
however, that giant-powder is much
darker than the other dynamites. for
the reason that instead of saw-dust we
use p%ulverized 'candle-coal' dust i'm.
ported from France and very gassy.
Dynamite is worth from thirty-six cents
to seventy-tive cents a pound. That
which is very destructive is worth sixty
cents to seventy-five cents, and is used
for submarine blasting and heading
tunnels. For what we call a fifty per
cent powder, we take fifty pounds of
sawdust and add fifty pounds of nitro
glycerine oil; and for what we call gela-
tine, which is very destructive, WE take
ninety pounds of oil to ten pounds OF
absorbent. generally sawdust. There
is very little, if any, dynamite imported
from or exported to Europe for tho
reason that an idiot can compound it.
We do send a few schooners to old
Mexico and to the Republics of South
! America, but none is sent from here to
England, as a man a make it in his
bedroom in a few minutes. For ordi-
nary purposes dynamite is put up in
cartridges eight inches, long and from
three-quarters of an inch to four inches
in diameter. These cartridges are
made Of heavy brown paper, and wAca
filled the ends are folded and the car.
fridge dipped in parat1inc oil to keep it
air and water tight. You may place a
few grains upon an anvil and exploded
it by a blow from a hammer. l have
known premature blasts to occur
where a pick or sledge has struck it
inadvertently. 1t is not used in col
l~ieries, because it would shatter tile
coal and pulverize it. In stone quar-
ries, iron mines, and in tunneling it is
used daily, and there are thousands OF
men manufacturing it and tens Of
thousands hourly handling it. l tried
to get my life insured two years ago, l.
but no company would take the risk, f
and l don't know a single man in my
line who is insured. Less than half an
ounce will throw a sixty-pound bomb
shell over 200 feet and twopounds will
blow a ten-ton rock to asoms. The
heaviest blast I ever saw was in q
limestone quarry in Glendon, Pa, when
10000 pounds were touched off. A
friend OF mine experimental with sew
eral things very successfully. On his
job of work he had a very refractory
mule which was SO stupid that he was
about to give it away, when he thought
he would try a few grains of dynamite
on the animal. He must have used too
much, for nothing was ever seen
Of the mule. He used q threc-quarter-
pound cartridge, which retails ct about
sixty-tive cents. AXIS cartridge con.
tains about five and one-quarter
pounds, but the medium size is / 1-4xs,
and contains about eight ounces.
81 might place a pound of common
gunpowder OF this carpet, apply a fuse,
and there would only be a flash and
puff. but if l placed the same quantity
of dynamite there and touched it off it
"Ou4N oAhGJC1 CuIS TOOlu anu VIC tutll0
basement and foundation, for dynamite
strikes downward. Unlike gunpowder,
which to forcibly explode must be con-
fined, dynamite may be placed on the
surface OF the sidewalk or in any I'm.
confined place, and it is ready for work.
There is one compound, however, that
is more terrible than dynamite, because
you can imprison more explosive force
in given quantities. This is tulminats
Of mercury, and l think that it was this
agent that was used to blow up the
English Houses of Parliament. 1t look;
very much like fine, white flour, and j;
worth one dollar an ouace. So explr
sive is it that atlip of the fingeror q tap
Of your pencil will do the business
Have you ever been approached pre-,
~fessionally by professed dynamiters:'
"No, and it wouldn't do them an!
good if l were. l don't believe that
C'Donovan Rosa himself had anything
to do With the recent explosions. he
IS . blowhard seeking notoriety. ws:
once shown an internal machine ths'
was nade here in Chicago. and a dread
ful contrivance it was. For these ma,
chimes they use corrosive acids instead