The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-02
DYNAMITE EXPLOSION
TWO MEN HURT BY ACCIDENTAL
BURSTING OF A CARTRIDGE.
A Plumbers Apprentice Was Trying to
Tear Out the Electric Fuse When
the Thrrg Went off.

There once lived, in the long ago,
very wise man who advised the world
in general never to look for trouble.
Trotting in the same class is the latter
day sage who first cautioned the inn
prudent never to play with a dynamite
cartridge when it is loaded. Both Solo
mons knew whereof they spoke
Had Tom Gin, who lives in East Raj
eigh, out near the old Fair ground, heed
ed the warning of the dynamite expert
he would not to-day be tossing restlessly,
bandaged to the eyes his hands torn and
laceyated and the whole front of his
body as full of holes as is a pepper box.
Young Gill works at the office Of the
Spence Plumbing Company, under the
Academy of Music, on Martin street. lie
is there learning the business and does
work of any kind that comes to hand A
young mani of about 20 years. he is said
to be a splendid fellow by those who
know him-very Industrious and kind
hearted
Late Manday afternoon, as he was
just finishing up a job, preparatory to
going home for the night, he wanted
piece of wire to nold some rubber which
he had just wrapped around a flush pipe.
He went to a drawer in which all kinds Of
odds and ends were kept, rumaged among
it's contents and finally selected a knot
of insulated copper wire as best suited
for his purpose. This he united and
found that it was doubled and to one
end was attached a peculiar looking ball,
resembling a large pistol cartridge, ex
cept that there was no brass cap on it.
Little suspectng the deadly nature
Of the thing he held it in his hands, he
separated the wo wires at the loose end,
took one in each hand and gave them
a severe pull to tear them from the mys-
FERROUS looking cylinder at the other end.
The next instant a bright fame flashed
across the room, there was a thunderous
boom and two men were badly hurt.
They were Tom Gill and G.. NJ Spence,
his employer. Mr. Spence was standing
nearby at work when the explosion took
place. He was severely shocked and
about a dozen fragments from the car
fridge struck him on the legs and body,
passing through his clothes and burying
them in his body. Mr.. Gill was directly
over the explosion when the accident oc-
Cured and the fragments struck him in
the face, breast, arms, body and legs.
His skin from top to toe is almost like
seive, being perforated in more than
a hundred places.
nut MS nauUS were the most seriously
hurt, being terribly mangled and torn to
pieces. The flesh was literally blown
from his left wrist, and the blood stream
ed upon the floor at such rate that at
first it was thought that the artery had
been severed. This, however, fortunately
proved not to be the case, when the
doctors examined his wounds a few min
utes later. The explosion blew Gill
back several feet, and dazed and wound
ed, he staggered and would have fallen
had not Mr. Spence caught him.
Mr. Gill was getting along nicely yes
terday and was doubtless Of the opinion
that the man who first cautioned the
, impTudent never to fool with dynamite
cartridge when it is loaded was a great
fellow.
Upon investigation another cartridge
Of the same kind, attached to several
j feet Of insulated copper wire, was found
in the Office, and you can bet your
! bottom dollar it is now an object of the
most tender solicitude and is never
handled roughly, if indeed it is ever
| handled at all, except to hang it high up
on the wall, where there is no danger
of anything touching it. Those in the
office talk of taking it out and burying it
in deep hole in the ground.
1t is not known how the cartridges
came to be in the place No one there
remembers ever having seen them before,
| and they are at a loss to account for
their presence. The doubld insulated
wire attached to them is for the pur-
pose of setting off the cartridges by cleo
| tricity, when blasting in water or else
where
The great wonder Of the whole bust
ness is that the explosion did not result
fatally.