The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-07-11
INCIDENTS OF cARB1.EssNEss.

plosives. 1t seems that the average per-
son will persist in growing careless
when he handles dynamite. like the man
in the old Joke, who just before his de-
mise cried out:
Mike, hand me the sledge. The dyna-
mite cartridge is too big for the hole"
j know II is so myself, for one cold win
ter day / was carrying, wrapped In a
piece of newspaper. n stick of dynamite
that had been discovered In u park.
was on my way to the arsenal when
spied n policeman, intent on nothing but
counting the snowbirds. The tempta-
ton to call him to the possibilities of his
position was irresistible, and 1 asked:
How many are there?'
How many w1at?" said he.
How many people carrying dynamite
on your beat?"
What do you mean?"
Then showed him my parcel. and In
an unwilling way he asked me TO come
along. My badge saved me, but II Dug ut
not to have had that power. 1 deserved
trouble for trifilng with serious subjects,
even if my frozen dynamite was harm
less as a bundle of ashes.
Occasionally l was brought to a vivid
ideu of the perils of my occupation.
There was complaint brought to our
office that gang of workingmen were
using too heavy charges In blasting
within ;he city limits. / was sent to An.
vestigate and saw AN italian ramming
down one cartridge after another
Take that out" | cried. and he grab
bed the last cartridge by Its detonator,
hauling " out In a way that made me
feel faint. He started to pry the second
one out with a stick. excused myself
and walked away-in fact long way
Off Only mysterious Providence
saved that son of sunny Italy. His
! method OF removing the "sawdust" was
% nrh hn a.. oil
to-day. / am not sure.
MY UGLIEsT ASSIGNMENT.
The ugliest assignment Is when one
Is sent TO gather In any great quantity
of explosive. In the days when I
dealt with dynamite 1 had on one oc-
casion TO carry 10 the arsenal over q
ton of dynamite. private magazine
belonging to magazine contra a. or had
been coniiscated because 1t was within
the city limits. Big parcels are NOT al
lowed on the street cars and so hired q
team. could not get Il driver and
had to take the re!ns myself I had
no trouble ITO secure help In loading
the wagon. but no one would ride with
me over the cobblestones to the city ar
senai. drove In solitary state The
only pleasure in that ride was in the
enormous authority l exercised had
put 10 announce the character OF my
load TO be given wide berth and plenty
oil room to guide the innocent horses.
III would seem to me that cities ought
10 nave big wagons upholstered inside
| and with pneumatic tires on the wheels
IneSe vehicles should be painted red
with the word Dynamite" in large let
tiers on the sides
mad with me on that "trip dynamite
enough to blow to atoms the British
navy ana IL Is my belief that the i'm
In
nios!Ves are being perfected 10 a. degree
lhat VIII before many years make pow
der obsolete in the art of war.
USE OF DYNAMITE IN WAR
Dynamite. however. as have remor,,-
a, oe,oe, Is most uncertain quantity.
AZ recent trial of the pneumatic gin
dynamite was thrown great ristoncas
win exceeding accuracy. When. how
ever the gun was tried with n dummy
ciaIseo with ordinary powder it ex-
1t in any fort more deadly than the
enemy. The trouble was that the pun
parrel was slightly cloggcd, and The
sasses generated by the powder were
;t ss'luiieG. Just what would happen
| u smell loaded with the high explosive
should meet with a similar accident n
Is difficult to tell
10 avoid explosion by shock this new
gun consists of three tubes. two of
$500 90 sithei sue Oh the main barrel.
form air chambers which start tho mo
Jectile from the main barrel without
any great shock. Then there is for the
same purpose sort of cushion to the
prolectlie. When 1t has finally left the
mouth OF the gun at n tremendous yelo
Guy tnere Is no danger of it's explo6inp
until II hits the desired object.
singular fact about the dynamite
conhscated by the Government whom q
CUBAN filibustering expedition is caught
IN New York harbor is that the officers
oi the various forts refuse absolutely TO
nave anything to do with it, Indeed. II
would seem that soldiers are as fearful
oi dynamite as ordinary policemen.
nen me bermuda was captured on
her iirst attempt to get away to Cuba
the dynamite was q difficult problen
Inc United States army officers ey
pressed no desire to experiment with II
ana positively refused to let IL he mn
somewhere. and ii was finally placed in
the city magazine, where its giant now
der slumberS without danger of any
rude awakening.
The use of dynamite by the Cuban in
surgents has been too frequently de-
scribed TO need lengthy comment. II
makes the railroads practically useless
10 the Spanish troops. Indeed in cuba
dynamite is as muchsa means to warfare
as gun powder and in the event of CON
fiict between the great nations will nm
douotedly play prominent dreadful
part. vi
The discovery Of gunpowder was made
oy the Chinese. who hid the secret of the
explosive and only made use of IL tn add
proper emphasis OF their religious cere
monies. soaring OFF the devils and other
eEil splrlts. II seemed to the philoso-