Morning journal and courier., 1892-03-15

How Some Deadly Explosives are Manufactured-AT Ttckiish Visit to a Dangerous Place Some Remark able Facts A bout Dynamite and Hts Parent, Nitroglycerin Stirring a Sensitive Mixture.
 ILarle H. Eaton in Youths Companion.l "Come up to the factory some day, and I'll show you how we make nitroglycerin, '' was the invitation received one afternoon in the oil country from an extensive manu- facturer of the terrible explosive.
 The invitation was very cordial one, but there were considerations which made me somewhat slow in accepting it. "We have about seven tons of dynamite in one magazine, and two tons of dynamite in an other," said my would be host. These were among the considerations which deterred me.
 "But," he added, ''there's no particular danger in looking at the dynamite unless the building catches fire. You can play baseball with the cartridges, and they will never strike back, or you can pour the dynamite out on the ground and set fire to it without being injured. Uuconhned the explosive will burn harmlessly, but should not advise you to touch a match to a loaded cartridge. When the gases ex- pand they do so in extreme haste, and if anything tries to restrain them it breaks, and some one gets hurt"
 The nitroglycerin man laughed rather grimly. Then. apparently thinking that he hsd not made his invitation quite allur- ing enough, he continued: But it's differ ent with nitroQlycerin. Baseball and fire works are strictly prohibited. Glycerin is easily offended, and when it resents an af- front the world hears about it, but the ob- ject of it's displeasure never does.
 'Glycerin is as fckle and changeable, too, as the wind. One day slight shock will explde it, and the next you may hit a can with hammer and live to tell the story.
 "rhe glycerin's readiness or reluctance to explode doubtless depends upon its quail ity. One run of stock may be well washed and clean, and another may be full of i'm purities. If a can is filled to the very corks, too, so that the substance within has no opportunity to wash against the sides, do not think it will explode 10 cas- ily as one which is three quarters or seven eighths full"
 TONS OF DYNAMITE.
 I found the dynamite and nitroglycerin
 
 little valley, several miles from the town. Both structures were of very crude archi- lecture and resembled ordinary sheds or barns But from the moment we rode down into the narrow gu'ch the air seemed filled with whispers of death.
 When We entered the dynamite factory and the Rlycerin man pointed out the big boxes full of loaded cartridges, explaining that the dynamite made here was merely wood pulp saturated with nitroglycerin. I hardly heard what he said, but watched him with hawk like vigilance.
 He picked up a slender brown paper tube that looked like Roman candle, and which he said dynamite cartridge. held my breath until the tube was safely deposited on the table again. He poured some of the dynamite, which closely re- sembled sswdust, into a shell and rammed it down with a round stick as one would load a musket.
 Nothing of an alarming character hap pened, and began to breathe with more regularity. I was more at ease as we left the seven tons of dynamite behind, but the same horrible feeling of suffocation and coldness came over me again as we ap- preached the more dangerous nitroglycerin manufsctory.
 This building contained several huge wooden vats, few psils and barrels, an engine and great iron, kettle-like recsp- tscle.
 The iron receptacle was called an "agi- tator," and, simply described, consisted of a small kettle within a large one. The space between the two was constantly filled with O stream of cold water from a tank on the hillside. The inner kettle was fitted with several paddles, which were turned by a crank.
 About fifteen hundred pounds of acids, sulphuric and nitric mixed, were poured into the smaller kettle. A thin but con tinuous stream Of glycerin slowly followed; 1; the engine began to pant, the crank re- volved, the paddles churned the glycerin and acids, and the manufacture of nitro glycerin was going on before my eyes MAKING THE DEADLY LIQUID.
 My host controlled the flow of glyeerin by means of 6 stopoock, and watched the sgitstor and the thermometer, which reg.