The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-11-15
MOVING NITRooLYcERIN.
PeriIous Occupation In which Men En-
gage With Absoluts Indifference.


From the Pittsburg Leader.
Outlines at night when the twin
cities are wrapped in slumber, when
only the might owls" are out. and ev-
cry sound can be heard with greater
ease than in the daytime. a close OBJ
server stationed on one of the many
bridges that cross the Allegheny river
from city to city might detect a small
craft, perhaps a skin, going down the
river. II an attempt were made to
learn more about the boat and Its &C.
cupants or cargo IL Is probable that
the self-appointed investigators would
be at once repulsed. From the mystic
rious actions of this crafts crew any
ordinary mortal would, quite innocent
ly and naturally suppose that 1t would
be fit subject for police investiga-
ton. The observer would call up sto-
ries he may have heard OF the river
rats of London who have frequented
the old piers of London bridge. that
has been falling down in the songs of
childhood for many decades, but which
still sustain the weight of tramping
multitudes. The Thames river Is yet
so infested with river thieves that a
separate and peculiar system of police
service patrols its waters nightly and
explores its secret places when they
may be discovered. However, the AL
leghany river does not compare In any
way with the shiny and ill-famed
Thames. neither are the cities Of Pitts
burg and Allegheny infested with the
parasites known as river rats" the
worst of all thieves and thugs. The
man that may be in the little boat and
keeps so strangely away from all
things animate or inanimate is not en-
ployed in any questionable work, but
on the contrary is engaged In calling
that is most strictly honest and terri
bly, dangerous. The curious observer
whose inquisitiveness might be aroused
would If he knew the business of this
exclusive individual, give him wide
berth and heave a great sigh of relief
when he disappeared down the Ohio.
1t is quite possible. and more than
possible, ii is probable that the thou
sands of sleepers in the downtown dis
tricts of the two cities, and the hun
dreds of night toilers and idlers, may
some night be awakened and startled
by the noise of a most tremendous ex-
plosion. such as will shake the very
foundations of the cities and leave no
trace of its destruction unless Ii be the
remains OF a few spans of several
bridges. For these men who slip
through so silently and unobtrusively
on the waters between the shores of
the Pittsburg and Allegheny are en-
gagged in carrying that dreaded explo-
sive, nitro-glycerin, from where 1t is
made UP on the Allegheny river to
places down the Ohio and on the Mis-
sissippi and other rivers. This greasy
explosive cannot be transported by
railroad for obvious reasons and only
men who by constant contact with the
substance and who have had bred in
them a contempt or carelessness for it's
dangers, can be induced to take it, for
even a short distance, in wagons fitted
with the incest adjustment and safest
springs. Thus the placid waterways
are perhaps the safest highways
whereby this most dangerous substance
can be transported. Half dozen or
perhaps more men are engaged in this
perilous occupation. They go past large
places like Pittsburg in the night time
when they will encounter very little
traffic and the waters are at rest. They
are the terrors of rivermen. No mat
ter how anxious a pilot MAY be TO
reach port, the sight of vthe uttle red
flag shown by these wanderers OF the
waterways is more than sufficient for
him to have the engines stop TO let the
boats glide past each other with as
little agitation on the aqueous as pos
sible.
A year or more ago the towboat Pa
cifc left Pittsburg for Cincinnati. 1t
had not gone down the Ohio river very
far when lone boat asked for a lift.
q
man is out in a skiff to tie to a tow and
thus be taken the length of his jour-
ney. This individual tied up and went
along all day. 1t was noticed that
whenever another boat passed he would
sc out and keep his sliff away from
the baIges. and was altogether very
solicitoUS regarding its welfare. The
strange caution and the strained man
ners of the lone traveller excited the
suspicious of the captain and the crew
and II was demanded of him what the
boat contained, to which he replied that
he was taking a load of glycerin to be
shot in the oil and gas wells of ,Indi-
ana. This Information blanched the
faces of the crew, who recognized that
they were harboring instant death, and
they gave him two minutes to cut loose
and get away. He did so. and the cap
tain very gingerly helped push the boat
away, so that there would be no acci-
dental bump against the barges.
A witness to the terrible explosion
out in the river from Parkersburg. sew
eral weeks ago, during the hot spell
early in June, told a Leader man that
the explosion was probably due to the
excessive heat or a sudden change of
temperature. He said he saw the man
wet a blanket and lay 1t over some
thing, as II to protect II from the sun.
The next instant he heard G mignty
defamation and saw the fash OF the aw-
full explosion. Many steamboat men
are OF the opinion that the steamer
Cargo, which blew up In the Alleghe-
ny river. opposite Eleventh street, sew
en- years ago, was blown up by nitro
glycerine 1t is thought that a can had
somehow been dropped intu the river
and washed to the city. where the boat
struck IT. A big hole in the river bot
tom after the explosion made this theory
very plausible. These men are ostra-
cised just about as much as they os-
tracise other people for their own safe
ty. When on their trips their lives
hang on on the mere possibility of their
being able to keep their boats from
being Jared. They are avoided as
Asiatic cholera.