The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-17
NITRO-GLYCERrNE PERILs.
Dangers Attendant Upon Transportation of
the Powerful Explosive.

Dangers Attendant Upon Transportation of
the Powerful Explosive.
Warren (Pa.) letter.
The lower Pennsylvania and Ohio oil districts
are supplied with nitro -gycerine by means of
boats run down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.
The boats stietto shaped craft, thirty feet in
length and four feet wide They are loaded
with 10000 pounds of nitro glycerine each and
manned by two men. A collision between one
of these boats and other craft on the river would
be followed by horrible consequences, and they
are given wide berth. The men who run the
nitro-glycerine boats are instructed to tie up
wherever night overtakes them, and not to run
q minute after it gets dark The mon, as may
well he imagined, are without fear, aud manage
their dangerous craft with a nonchalance and
independence that is a source of perpetual terror
to the crews of ordinary boats. and to the citi
zens of towns by which the deadly cargoes ara
run.
On ono occasion the crew of nitro-glycerine
boat was overtaken by darkness at lonely spot
In the woods. The night was cold and the men
were hungry, and they decided to keep on until
they reached the village of Brady's Bend, which
was three or four miles further down stream. 1t
was dark night, and when they within a
mile of the town they came suddenly in sight
of the dark form of a raft not more than leo
feet ahead of them. The had only time to shout
to the men on the raft to lump, for collision
seemed inevitable. AS they shouted to the RATS
men the men or board the nitro gycerine boat
jumped overheard and put as much distance
they could between themselves and the ex-
pected explosion, with little hope of escaping
with their lives at that. The men on the
raft did not understand or appreciate their dan
ger, as they could not see that torpedo boat
was bearing down upon them. The raft more
over, was being pulled in TO shore to tie up for
the night The nitro-glycerine boat came up
gently alongside of it, straight ahead and
scrape6 along its edge as it passed on down.
The moment it came alongside the raft the pilot
saw what the craft was and that it had been
ahnvA md hNyi 20 ErJ~ I'll
quences that must inevitably ensue if the boat
went on down the river with no one to guide it
struck the pilot at once, and, plungng from his
raft, he swan swiftly after the boat, caught up
with it, boarded 1t, and ran it safely ashore and
tied it up. The men who belonged to the boat,
fearful that the citizens of the place would
lynch them, did not put in an appearance at
Brady's Bend, and have not been seen in the oil
regions since.
Attending the frightful deaths that so fre-
quently follow the handling Of nitro gycerne
in the oil regions" says old oil operator of the
Bradford field, there is one feature the mysteri
Gus nature of which is startling. 1t has puzzled
scientific observation and study, and do not be-
ieve to-day tnat any satisfactory explanation
can be given of it, This singular feature is the
almost complete humiliation of matter, especial
~ of the human body, which, In a majority of
cases, results from a fatal explosion OF this
deadly compound. have noticed that in many
instances. | had teamster in my employ once
named Henry France. Like all men of this kind
in the oil country, there nothing either
above below, or on the earth that he feared.
He was in the habit Of carting nitro glycerine
to any well where l wanted to use it, and
he and his partner, Warren Jack, actually
got so reckless in handling the deadly stuff that
no other help had would remain at work when
they knew France and Jack were coming in
with load Of gycerne. These two men were
SO callous to fear that they used to unload the
stuff the same as they would a lot of bricks,
France standing in the wagon and throwing a
can to Jack, who stood some feet away, and
Jack catching it and placing it on the ground in
time to catch the next one his companion tossed
him. AS it takes a man with good set of nerves
to even ride IN wagon when he knows there is
nitro glycerina under the seat this manner of
handling compound that the slightest jar fire.
quently explodes will give idea of the sort
of nerves these two men had. One day in 1880
France was coming in with load of glycerine,
and when he was within quarter of mile of the
we'll we heard al explosion. No one ever knew
how it happened but it was one of the most
complete cases of nitro glycerine humiliation l
ever saw. We found the usual cellar that few
cans of glycerine always dig in the ground when
it goes OF. aud the usual area of timber felled.
Over 800 feet off in the woods, to the right of
the road. we picked up a wagon tire We found
the tail of one horse and the hoof of another.
In another part of the woods mans knee was
picked up, and that was all we ever found, ex-
cept Henry Frances greasy cap lying by the side
of stump, and his silver watch hanging on the
limb of tree
George Doran was blown to pieces by nitro
glycerine explosion at Red Rock a few years ago.
He was man that weighed 2G0 pounds. All
that the most thorough search ever recovered of
that 200 pounds of flesh and bone was part of
one OF the poor mans feet-less than one pound.
Charles Berridge, well-known oil man, was
blown up by tro-glycerne one winter in Allie
gheny county The ground was covered with
newly fallen snow. On either side was q high
and abrupt hill only few rods apart. Ber-
ridge was very tall man. and his weight
was $50 pounds The remains of the
poor fellow were searched for carefully,
but less than fifteen pounds of them could be
found The most curious part of the case, and
ono showing how completely humiliation &C
companies explosion of nitro glycerine. was
this: The greatest force of the explosive is al
ways expended upward. However infnitesimal
the atoms to which Berridge's body might have
been reduced by this explosion, in falling back
upon that spotless snow soma trace of them
must have been seen, but the snow remained as
spotless as before. Besides human bodies, the
iron frames of wagons, and even the ponderous
nltro-slycerine safes, have been removed from
human vision by explosion as effectually as if
they had never been formed. and the mystery of
their utter humiliation cannot be explained"
Liberal Law Laid Down.