The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-03-06
TALK WITH A +.DYNAMITER.s
what an Expert In the Article Say
About If.

ABOUT H.
Probably no man has handled more dy-
Mantle than Mr.. NJ. Bennett, Of Chicago,
and yet it would make him very angry if
he were classed as a ''dynamiter. Mr..
Bennett is an expert, who represents in
the Northwest the Judson and Giant Pow
der company, which employs seventy-fve
men at its mill four miles from the village
of Rustic. n. j., and 100 men a few miles
from San Francisco.
To a Tribune reporter. who talked with
him, he said:
dynamite is made Of glycerine oil and
nitric acid mixed with sawdnst. a boy
can make it, and there is no law to prevent
it, nor is there a law restricting the sale of
it. You may send your office boy or ser
want girl for a few pounds. and no ques-
tons viii be asked. The sale Of opium
and poisons * restricted. but dynamite.
the greatest and most terribly destructive
engine of the nineteenth century. may be
bought by any one at t~hirty-six cents per
pound. The wet sawdust on a saloon floor
10 ~ liGilciF Int Afudfliibt tildb even 4
could not tell the difference until | tasted
1.-THE glycerine imparts a sweet favor to
it. Dynamite may be made out of a hum
dred and one different things, such as sui
phur, salpetre and birthstone. Generally.
however, glyeerine and nitric acid. which
we all call nitro-glyeerine. are mixed with
such an absorbent as wood pulp or saw
dust; this is lone to enable its safe hand
ling 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.
IF PLACED IN WATER
it will sink almost as rapidly as lead. /
should say, however, that giant powder is
much darker than the other dynamites. for
the reason that instead of sawdust we use
pulverized 'cannel coal dust. imported
from France, and very gassy. Dynamite
is worth from 36 cents to - cents a pound.
That which is very powerful is worth 60
cents to IS cents, and is used for subma-
rine blasting and heading tunnels. For
what we call a fifty cent powder, we take
fifty pounds Of sawdust and add fifty
pounds of n~itro-glycerine oil: and for what
we call g~eIatine, 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 the reason that
an idiot can compound it. We do send a
few schooners to old Mexico and to the re-
publics Of South America, but none is sent
from here to England, as a man can make
it in his bedroom in a few minutes. For
ordinary purposes dynamite is put up in
cartrides eight inches long and from three
quarters of an inch to four inches in diam
eter. These cartridges are made of heavy
brown paper. and when filed the ends are
folded and the cartridge dipped in paraffine
oil to keep it air and water-tight. You
may place a few grains upon an anvil and
explode it by a
BLOw FROM 4 HAMMER.
Il have known premature blasts to occur
where a pick or sledge has struck it mad
vertently. It is not used in collieries, be-
cause it would shatter the coal and pulver-
ize it. In stone quarries, iron mines and
in tunneling it is used daily, and there are
thousands of men manufacturing it and
tens of thousands hourly handling it. I
tried to get my life insured two years ago,
but no company would take the risk, and
| don't know a single man in my line who
is insured. Less than half an ounce will
throw a 60-pound %bombshelI over 1000
feet, and two pounds will blow a ten-ton
rock to atoms. The heaviest blast | ever
saw was in a limestone quarry in Glendon,
Pa, when 80, 600 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 Oh the ami
MAJ. lie must have used too much, for
nothing more was ever seen Of the mule.
He used a th%ree-quarter pound cartridge.
which retails at G5 cents. A 4xs cartridge
contains about five and o~ne-quarter pounds,
but the medium size is 14xS, and contains
about s ounces.
Il might place a pound Of common gun
powder GA 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 would shatter
this room and the entire basement and
foundation, for dynamite strikes downward.
Unlike g%uupowder, which to forcibly ex-
plode must be confined, dynamite may be
placed on the surface OF the sidewalk or in
an ~uneonfined place and it is ready for
work. There is one compound, however
tina is more terrible than dynamite, be-
u you can imprison more explosive
force in given quantities. This is
FuLMINATE or MERCURY,
and I think it was this agent that was used
to blow up the British House of Parlia-
ment. 1t looks very much like fine, white
flour, and is worth 81 an ounce. So ex-
plosive is it that a flip of the finger or tap
of your pencil will do the business"
Yes said old Farmer Jones to a trav-
eler who was stopping with him over
night, Eve got as good a wife as any man