Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-30
SAVING THEIR MEAT.
Woman Used Dynamite as De-
Tense Against Thieves.

tense A2ufnst Thieves.
Yes" said the manager of a Tennessee
coal min" to a Star reporter. I'VE do now
and then have an experience worth re-
latng, and one that l recall just now you
may have to add to your list. 1t happened
when / was opening a mine about ten
years ago. and when the mountaineer peo-
pie of Tennessee ard Kentucky didn't
know dynamite so well as they do now.
My bank boss had three assistants and
one Of these whose first name was Jack
Harris, was yOurg man of about twenty
five. nd unmarried. Near the mine lived
an old farmer with a pretty daughter, and
the latter Jack married within six months
of the date of his first meeting her. They
occupied one of the com7any's houses Just
on the edge Of Ter fathers farm, and used
an old log cabin belonging TO him as a
SIN ike house, which the old man stored
with viii ter's supply of meat. The meat
house vas about hundred yards from the
dwelling. and the negro miners tried to
rob f. on several occasions.
Finally Mrs. Jack concluded she would
set trap for the thieves. ard consulted
her husband on the merits OF dynamite as
a thief preventive. II struck Jack as
quite an OF ginal idea. and he told her that
he would fix up i dynamite cartridge for
protection that would shake them up in a
way they would not forget So Jack. who
was in charge OF our dynamite supply
fixed up small cartridge tfat would make
a lot of noise and do some damage, and
arranged IL near the door. so that II the
door was fore ed open a weight would drop
on the cartridge and set II off. His wife
insisted that the amount Of GyI amite was
so small that 1t wouldn't hurt a fly, but
Jack told her she di Int know dynamite
and thu best thing she could 10 was to let
him attend to that part of It,
Woman like, she submitted. but when
Jack went down to tho company's store
that night after he had set his trap. Mrs.
Jack slipped into tie powder magazine and
got what she thought was enough to be OF
some service. How much she did get no.
body ever knew, for ste maintained a dis
Greet silence on that point. She got IT,
though, and laid IL in with the amount
Jack had put in, and went to bed without
saying a word to her husband. Along
about 1 o'clock in the morning, when Jack
sleeping the sleep of the just he was
slung out Of bed by a sudden jar. and Mrs.
Jack and most Of the furniture in the room
We're piled UP On top OF him. What II
meant he didn't know. ard Mrs. Jack
couldn't tell, becaUse she was scared into
a dead faint.
at wasn't long until the entire commu-
nifty out in the midnight air. fright
ened almost into fits anG looking around
to find wi at the mater was. The powder
house found to be safe, and then a
rush was made for Jacks house, and he
was met at the door carrying his wife out
in his arms. BY this time he had Couclud-
ed that 1t must lie the powder house, but
the peoole told him that was safe. Then
he thought OF the smoke house, and
having brought his wife to- he took the
crowd across the field to see what had
happered II ere.
What had happened will never be
known, further than that some uncertain
amount OF dynamite had exploded for
there wasn't anything eft but a hole in
the ground. Neither will il ever lie known
who or how many or if any thieves had set
the shot off for there was no sign OF them
either. Jack ALWAYS Insisted that his wife
must have tFken a whcelharrow load and
dumped it before the meat house door. but
Mrs. Jack vowed just as strenuously that
there wasn't even an aprCnful. and little
bit like that couldn't have done so much
harm. Whatever there was Of 1t, the
blow-up that night stopped meat stealing
from one smoke house at least, and COM
PEELED Jack to buy his supply for the VIM
farf