Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-12-02
BURSTING OF A SAND BOX,
A Mysterious Explosion Which Was SUBJ
sequently Explained satisfactorily.


Bolton had spent the winter wander
ing among the West India islands, and
when he got back had medley of Curl
osities which he had picked up in his
travels. Among them were all sorts OF
beans and pods of tropical trees, and of
The former were John Crow beans, the
wary, the horse-eye, Jobs tears and
many others. There were the long
scabbard-lilSe pods of the crimson-how-
cred acassia; cocoa pods, which ratified
with the dry chocolate seeds inside
them; and he also had two pods of the
sand-box tree, curious, circular store
houses for the seeds, deeply ribbed,
each rib running from top to bottom of
the pod. These two latter received
places of honor in lacquer trays. the
smaller beans finding room around
them Bolton is natty man, and on
his mantel shelf in his bedroom were
arranged these treasures, presided over
by four statuettes of nude goddesses.
The vegetable ornaments of the shelf
were the most innocent looking things
imaginable, and he never dreamed for
a moment that nature was still busy
bringing operfection those sand boxes.
He had gone to bed after a hard days
work and was sleeping the sleep of the
just, when he was awakened by what
he thought was a pistol shot in his
room. At the same time missiles were
flying all around the room. AS he
jumped out of bed to light the gas there
was second explosion, and this time
he was peppered with all sorts of mis-
siles.p The carpet was strewn with
objeetslswhich, were not pleasant to
tread ON, and in his anxiety to escape
them and get al. the jet he nearly broke
tho Small toe of his right foot by jam
ming it against a'chair leg He nursed
lit affectionately,. but sadly for some
| time, sswsaring, in an undertone, but
afraid to give loud expression to his
pent-hp' feeling lest there might be
another fusillade.
Atlast, like a cat walking over hot
bricks he reached. the jet and lighted
! the gas. The treasures of the. mantel'
piece were scattered 'about the room,
! The goddesses had been hurled from
their high places andlooked like Roman
remains, headless and armlessa The
lacquer trays were in small pieces, while
| the pods and beans were scattered all
over the room. The goblet even had
been broken and the water was stand
| ing in puddles about the carpet, The
! 10 olal
around carefully There was no trace
so far as he could see, of the cause OF
the explosions He gathered up his
broken and scattered treasures, finding
among them segments of the sand
boxes, and then, leaving the gas alight,
tried to sleep. OF the strange occur
rences he said not word TO his friends.
The other day friend was in his
rooms, and, looking over the collected
remnants, remarked; 'Hullo! here are
pieces of sand box"
"What is that?"
"Well, it's the fruit of tree that
grows in the West Indies, and got its
name owing to the planters using it in
the days before blotting paper was in
vented, for sand boxes. The seeds were
cut out of the center, and the pod was
then filled with sand 1t was rather an
unsatisfactory box, however, as it often
exploded"
Exploded What do you mean?"
"This is the fruit of hura crepitans, a
large tree something like the tulip
tree of this country. AS soon as the
seed is ripe it explodes with report
like gun, the seeds and outer shell Of
the pod being scattered in all direc
tions. So great is the force of the ex
plosion that the broken pieces are
thrown forty or fifty feet Fowls as
soon as they hear an explosion run to
ward the tree and are soon busy look
ing for the seeds, which they greedily
swallow"
THAT explains it" said the other, anc
he then told the story of his scattered
works of art Chicago Times.