The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-02-20

dent seemed mysterious. A neighpor
solved it by putting one drop of the
, supposed lard oil on an anvil and
striking 1t with hammer. The force
of the explosion knocked him down,
Nitro glycerine congeals very easily
and freezes much more quickly than
water. 1t cannot be used in frozen
state, and often in winter the shooters
are compelled to thaw it out at the
wells. This is done by lmmerslng the
cans in barrels filled with hot water.
Several frightful accidents have been
caused by the thawing-out process In
fact, at no time or place is the handling
of nitro-glycerine conducive to long
/ life.
James Feeny of Bradford went
through an explosion, and lives to tell
the story. With another shooter he
was driving along the road with load
of ntro-glycerine. The sleigh tipped
over and the shot exploded. Feeny's
companion was blown to pieces, but
Feeny fell into a rut and was buried
under a shower of mud and fence rails.
He was badly SCARED and his hearing
was destroyed. He says that the only
impression he had was that house
had fallen on him. When he came to
/ he dug the mud out of his eyes and
discovered that an explosion had taken
place. He had no feeling from his
shoulders to his toes, and at first was
only able to drag his body along with
| his hands. 1t was many days before
/ the paralyzed feeling wore away en-
tirely.
A drunken shooter entered Red Rock,
Pa, one evening with bag containing
two caps of nitro glycerine thrown
across his shoulder. He handled the
bag in a style that scared the villagers,
but they did not dare attempt to take
it from him. They were happy when
he left the town and started up long
hill. Half way up he slipped and fell.
There was a loud report and the hap
less shooter was distributed over many
acres of ground. Such is the effect of
mixing whiskey and nitro glycerine.
Last March an employee of the High
Explosive company was driving along
a mountain road in Mexican county
with Load of five hundred quarts of
nitro glycerine. Going UP a steep hill
one of the horses slipped on the icy
road and the wagon rapidly backed
down the hill. Over the embankment
4 1t went and the wagon and team
! lodged against a tree far below the
road. The wagon box was torn off,
4 and the cans of nitro-glycerine We're
scattered about in every direction, but
no explosion took place. Just why, is
| one of those mysterious things that no
,1as, I,.fxY n IN
repeat the experience for all the money
that was ever minted. But he picked
up the cans the next day, and is still in
the business.
/ There is no man alive to-day who
has had a more exciting experience
than a shooter named John McCleary
While he was filling a shell in the der
rick the well exploded, wrecking the
derrick and tossing McCleary to the
\ ground. AS he arose four cans on the
derrick floor exploded. The force of
the second explosion sent the shooter
fifty feet through the air, and filled his
pack with tin and splinters. He fell
stunned and bleeding, but survived his
injuries, Near Wildwood, Pa, a shoot
er had a similar experience. The we'll
flowed, and as the shell came UP out OF
the we'll he threw his arms about it and
held 1t until the flow Of oil ceased. 1t
is that kind Of experience that is calcu-
lated to turn mans hair gray in
short order.
There was one shooter of whom no
\ trace was ever found, and that fact led
4 to trouble. Doc Haggerty was haul
ing a load of fourteen hundred pounds
of nitro giycerine near Pleasantville,
Pa, one stormy day in November, 1888.
He was seen sitting on his wagon a few
minutes before the explosion took
place A few pieces Of his horses were
picked up, but not one atom of Hag-
gerty. He had disappeared as COM
pletely as If he had been kidnapped by
spirits from above the clouds. An in
surance company refused to pay a five
thousand dollar policy on the ground
that there was no evidence that he was
not alive. The matter was taken into
the courts and the insurance company
beaten Experts testified that the
heat of the explosion was sufficient to
cremate every particle of the body and
clothing instantaneously.
But there is a bright side to the sto-
ry of humiliation. A story is told of a
giant blacksmith who suffered. He
came into the oil country and applied
for a job. Asked if he could strike a
greater blow than any man employed
in the shop, he answered that he could.
A test was arranged. Two or three
drops of what looked like lard oil was
poured on the anvil and the big man
! | hlutoa1 hit11Sa1f for q TnNhrfl1l HOW
The sledge came down With the force
of pile driver and struck the glyce-
rine There was deafening report
the sledge went through the roof, and
the big blacksmith was banged against
the side of the shop hard enough to
knock off half dozen boards When
he crawled out and surveyed the havoc
he had wrought, he only said:a
II t-t-told you ] co-could h-lli-hit a
he-he-hell of a b-b-blow.'
it seems strange, but it is neverthe-
less true that men have been brave
enough to rob nitro glycerine maya
zines. A magazine near Bradford blew
up one night in October, 1882, after sew.
eral Intellectual attempts had beer
made to rob it. Who the thieves Were
was never learned. Traces of blood
and portions of flesh on the stones and
brush near by indicated that at least
. two persons were engaged in the lob