Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-11-29
TORPEDO DICK.
How Singleton GrappIcd with the
Forces OF Destruction.

How Singleton GrappIcd with the
Forces of Destruction.
Dick Singleton, known 10y many rs
'sTorpsdo Dick" was one of tho best oil
well shooters in the Bradford field. He
had all the qualities which enter into the
make up of a successful juggler with
death. : agencies He had shot hundreds
of wells and transported glycerin all over
the country in all kinds OF weather and
over roads which, at certain seasons, had
/ no counterpart for all round ViIlainy any
where.
One day Singleton started out to shoot
: a well located near Bradford. The well
had been drilled in two or three days
/ before, but the shooter had been too busy
to put in shot.
Arrived at tho well, Singleton proceed
! ed TO I'LL the shells with glycerin from his
cans. That Is n proceeding OF some deli
| oacy, as glycerin allows no liberties to he
| taken with it. Care must be exercised in
! pouring the stuff from the cans into the
shells.
! However, all went we'll. and Singleton
| began TO lower n cylinder into the hole.
! Several persons stood i'll the derrick watch
| ing operations with the curious interest
which custom may abate but cannot Kill
| utterly. Tho we'll was about 1,SOO feet
/ deep and during the interval since drilling
Z
accumulated in the hole.
There was nothing unusual about that,
but something unusual did happen speed
lily and most inopportunely; something
calculated TO turn ones hair gray and
make such an impression on the memories
of the men present IS time could not
eGace.
The glycerin she'll had been lowered
several hundred feet, and Singleton WAS
slowing paying out the cord, when he fclt
the line slaCkon. Immediately lie heard an
OminOuS roar. 1t was n sound TO appal
the stOutest heart.
The well had started to Gow!
Singleton knew the meaning of that
sound. He knew that a column of oil
LOCO feet high, obeying the impetus OF
the mighty forces of nature, then in con-
vulsion 1000 feet underground, was fore
ing TO the surface, with the velocity of a
cannon ball, shell containing 30 quarts
of Glycerin.
If Singleton had lost his head or hest
tated for only a fractional part of n second,
six men would have been blown into
eternity and another horror would have
been added to the long list charged to tho
account Of nitroglycerin.
But ne did not lose his head He knew
that flight was useless-no time for that.
Whether he should run or stay, death
seemed TO be inevitable.
II he should stay, there was one chance
only one. 1t came to Singleton like an
inspiration. The one chance decided him.
Desperate as it was-a million to one that
it would fail--he resolved to take 1t.
Who can say what passed through the
mans mind during the inapprociablo frac-
tion of time that he waited TO put his plan
into execution?
Perhaps Singleton himself could not de
scribe what his mental vision beheld in
that brief interval between the warning
and the appearance of tho messenger of |
eternity.
He was conscious OF nothing but the |
peril which was rushing uron him and his |
companions and OF the stern resolve to |
stand at his POST and do all that heroic |
marhod could do to avert the impending |
doom.
Men think quickly at such times. Sin
Gleton's mind acted with the celebrity Of
lightning. His muscles oheyed the man
date OF the will with electric Tromrtitudc
He made his title clear to heroism on
that eventful day. He braccd himself,
and as tho shell shot from the hole 10
threw his arms around it, not knowing
but the sudden arrest of motion would cx-
plOde the charge and not believing that I
he could hold the shell at all
Desperation gave him strength There
he stood, victor over death, surprised to
find himself alive, and smothered in the
thick, greasy fluid which flowed from the
well and fell in torrents upon him, but Re
held fast to the prize which his alert mind.
quick eye and prompt action had won in
the hard to hand grapple with the forces
Of destruction.