Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-04-17
ITRO.GLyCERTyE.
Some Singular Stories Concerning its IRE
mendous Explosive Force.
nNau Nnrk GnuciaI

Some Singular Stories Concerning its Ire.
mendous Explosive Force.
New York Special
One of my friends in this conference
had been an eminent contractor, and
something wa said about the Irish
making a dynamite war on England, on
which this gentleman remarked: II
have had a good deal to do with nitro
~glycerine. i did some important Gov
eminent work, such as the making Of
breakwaters, where the rock was
brought TO me in large pieces, and we
had TO blow it up, and used nitro.
glycerine for that purpose. 1t is the
most destructive thing you can conceive
of. A little cartridge of it as thick az
the end of a musket barrel, dropped ia
the bottom of an oil well, will shatter
the most tremendous primitive rock
You can take a piece of it half as big
a. your hand and ii will blow a rock as
big as this room in which we are sitting
all to flinders. l can tell you of a very
singular property about nitro-glycerine.
On n occasion IN ordinance was
passed in a certain city where / was do
ing public work imposing a penalty of
$500 for bringing nitro-glycerine within
the city limits. | had TO have il. so |
told my foreman to put that glycerine
under my table, at which / sat writing.
As it is exploded by conclusion. YOU
may imagine that for a few DAYS / was
a little skittish. There was enough
glycerine there concealed by that table
cloth TO have blown up hall a dozen
blocks of that city. People used 10
come into my room, sit II few minutes,
and suddenly one or more would put
their hands to their head and complain
ct headache. Not being subject 10
headaches myself, ] could not under
stand it. ] suppose that from one-half
10 three-fourtbs of all my visitors who
sat with me mere than ten minutes
would have those headaches. One day
a man came into my ssce who had been
blowing ont oil-wells in Pennsylvania.
he sat there fifteen minutes and sud.
denly said: Why, / have a headache;
you must have nitro-glycerine here
oh, no. said /. with a smile. Yes
said be, this is a nitro-glycerine head.
ache, 1 link / smell il. too He lie.
gan 10 sniff his nose There j. a very
slight odor, hardly perceptible, in the
stun, and il looks like a box Of lard.
With this my visitor lifted the table.
cloth and said: Have you got Il thereY
pointing TO tho boxes. Yes said I,
with q laugh. that is nitro-glycerine
Well said he, IL gives the headache 10
a large proportion of people who sit
near it."
"Did you have any accident" said +.
~No, | did not: but q fellow-contrac.
tor. who was doing some work in Can
ala, wa driven out of that country by
an accident that happened to him in .
very simple way. He had been using
pitro-glycerine, and IL is supposed that
some Of il got spilled on the tire Of &
wagon, which was left unmoyed for
some time. One day he hitched a horse
TO the wagon and started TO drive II of,
and then that small amount OF stuff nd.
herring 10 the tire blew up $ tbe wheels
moved, aud really destroyed two-thirds
II That little town. Tho people around
we're killed. the hgtel wac blown TO
Jeces, two or three blocks we're devas-
bted, and my associate was unable u
10 any oorsmcting work in Canada
10 hastily sold what he left there 10 a
native, and crossed the river and came
ssny, otherwise they would have sued
IAN Tor all tue damage done 10 thai
own"