The Portland daily press., 1894-11-05
MAXIM,S HAND BLOW0 OFF.
A Brother OF the Inventor Came to
Grief.

He Was Holding a Little Cake of Fulmi-
nate in His Left Hand While He
Touched Off Another Cake ON the Stove
A Spark Caused the Accident-Had His
Fingers Not Been Closed on the Cake 1t
Would Merely Have Kissed Off Like the
One on the stoye-Remarkable Nerve.
New York, November 3.--Hudson Maxim,
an inventor and chief engineer of the
Maxim Torpedo and Constructing company.
and brother of Hiram Maxim, the in
yentor of the Maxim rapid fire gun and
air ship, lost his left hand on Tuesday
morning by an accident unique in the
history of explosives. Mr. Maxim WAS per-
mitfed by his nurse last evening to outline,
In a few minutes conversation, how it hap
pened. He is Maine Yankee, with nerves
OF steel and unconquerable nature. Al
though his bandaged wrist throbbed with
pain, smile fitted over his rugged face as
he talked
Tne company has it's plant at little
settlement called Main, about four miles
from Farmingdale, New Jersey S. D.
Schuyler is President, William M. Cramp is
vice president, and Daniel W. McWilliams
of the Manhattan Elevated Railroad COM
pany is one of the directors. Mr.. Maxim
recently completed and has patented "a
illuminate compound for setting off high
explosives. 1t is made of per cent of full
inmate of mercury. Is per cent of nitro
glycefine, and 10 per cent of gunpowder.
large quantity of the illuminate was dry
ing in the form of disks, about the size of a
,%xrG
in the shop of the company.
Mr.. Maxim, to find out whether the pieces
were ready for use. set one ON a stove and
applied a lighted match to it. He had
picked up two CT the little disks and held
one in his closed left hand as he touched
off the other with the match in his right.
The disk on the stone barned brilliantly,
sending out golden shower of sparks. If
Mr.. Maxim, as he smilingly explained last
night. had held the other disk in his open
palm. he would not be In ned now. But it
happened that his fin gers were closed over
the terrible bit of illuminate. A spark from
the flashing compound on the stone found
its way through the open circle formed by
the junction of his little fingers with his
palm to the disk, and instantly there was
an explosion that sounded like the detona,
tion of giant cracker.
Mr.. Magina's left hand was blown into
fragments. He says he vibrated in every
fire with the thrill of the shock. Small
pieces of the bones Of his hand were i'm
bedded in his face and cut through his
clothing. He did not fall and had no
tendency 10 faint
There were six or seven men in the
workshop with him and they came over to
him. They observed merely that he was
unusually pale. He raised his left hand and
gazed just part of a second on the stump
of his wrist. Then kis Yankee nerve as
serted itself. He placed the broad ball of
his right thumb over the main artery and
thus damned The life tide that was rushing
out. Then he walked, unass.sted, into the
laboratory just off the shop. and showed his
wound to Mr.. Taylor, the assistant super
inlendent of the company, who is a
chemist, and as Mr.. Maxim says, "a little of
DOCTOR Mr.. Taylor made tourniquet
out Of rubber bands, and when this was
properly fitted on the w1iet, Mr. Maxim was
able TO take his thumb from the artery.
Then Mr.. Taylor dressed and bandaged the
wound.
He said last night that he believed that
the illuminate WAS sthe most powerful
mixture of its kind kno wn. He came to this
conclusion just after theSshock of the ex-
plosion in mis- left hand. He did not know
that his hand was gone until he looked at
it, He never had thought that so slig hit
enclosing of a piece of illuminate as his
loosely shut hand made would cause it to
go off in the way it did. He said the COM
pound was insensate to shock, and that
that was the reason he was sure that a
spark had done the misc hief. He will re-
sumo his work when he is able to go out.