The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-09-22
A 1,HRILIING MOMENT
THE DARING ACT OF HEROlSM OF
AN OIL WELL SHOOTER.

Box and Twenty Quarts of Nitroglycerin
Doing Service as the Ball.
One of the most thrilling experiences
recorded in the annals of shooters ca
reers was that in which Dick Singleton,
an old time Bradford shooter, played
the role of hero. He played it we'll too.
That the sensational drama did not turn
out to be tragedy in which six lives
were taken in the last act is due to the
hero's cool head, quick decision and SUI
perb nerve in the face of almost certain
death.
Singleton was one of the best known
shooters in the Bradford field. He had
all the qualities which enter into the
make up of a successful juggler with
death s agencies He had shot hundreds
of wells and transported glycerin all
over roads which at certain seasons
had no counterpart for all round vii
lainy anywhere, but his reckless caution
had always averted catastrophe.
One day Singleton started out to shoot
we'll located near Bradford. The we'll
had been "drilled in" two or three days
before, but the shooter had been too
busy to put in shot.
Arrived at the we'll Singleton pro-
ceeded to fill the shells with glycerin
from his cans. That is proceeding of
some delicacy, as glycerin allows no
liberties to be taken W it'll it. Care must
be exercised in pouring the stuff from
the cans into the shells.
The we'll was about 1900 feet deep,
and during the interval since drilling
had stopped about 1000 feet of fluid
had accumulated in the hole.
There was nothing unusual about
that, but something unusual did hap
pen speedily and most inopportunely;
something calculated to turn ones hair
gray and make such an impression on
the memories of the men present as
time could not efface. ,.
The glycerin shell had been lowered
several hundred feet, and Singleton was
slowly playing out the cord, when he
felt the line slacken. Immediately he
heard an ominous roar. It was a sound
to appall the stoutest heart.
The we'll had started to flow!
Singleton knew the meaning of that
sound. He knew that column of oil
1000 feet high, obeying the impetus of
the mighty forces of nature, then in
convulsion 1900 feet underground, was
forcing to the surface with velocity of
a cannon ball shell containing 20
quarts of glycerin.
He realized that the Propulsive energy
of that column of oil would project the
shell against the timbers of the derrick
with tremendous force. No need to
speculate on what would follow the i'm
pact.
All this was flashed upon Singleton 8
consciousness as he stood leaning over
the hole. The thought flash and the
signal of peril were coincident in point
of time.
1t was an awful moment-such a
moment as no man had ever experienced
and lived to describe.
Singleton's companions understood
the import Of that terrifying sound.
Acting upon a natural impulse, they
turned to flee, seeking in flight the
safety which they knew it was futile to
impart motion to their limbs the catas-
trophe would befall.
If Singleton had lost his head or hes
itated for only fractional part of Sec
ond, six men would have been blown
into eternity, and another horror would
have been added to the long list charged
to the account of nitroglycerin.
L. \ L, t.
knew that flight was useless. No time
for that. Whether he should run or
stay, death seeemd to be inevitable.
If he should stay, there was one
chance-only one. It came to Singleton
like an inspiration. The one chance de-
cided him. Desperate as it was-a mil
lion to one that it would fail-he re-
solved to take it.
Who can say what passed through
the mans mind during the inappreciable
fraction of time that he waited to put
his plan into execution?
Perhaps Singleton himself could not
describe what his mental vision beheld
in that brief interval between the warn
ing and the appearance of the messenger
of eternity.
He was conscious of nothing but the
peril which was rushing upon him and
his companions and of the stern resolve
to stand at his post and do all that he
roic manhood could do to avert the i'm
pending doom.
Men think quickly at such time. Sin
gleton' s mind acted with the celebrity Of
lightning. His muscles obeyed the man.
date of the will with electric prompt
tude
He made his title clear to heroism on
that eventful day. He braced himself,
and as the shell shot from the hole he
threw his arms around it, not knowing
but the sudden arrest of motion would
explode the charge and not knowing
that he could hold the shell at all.
Desperation gave him strength.
There he stood, victor over death, sur
Iprised to find himself alive and smoth-
cred in the thick, greasy fluid which
flowed from the well and fell in tor
rents upon him. But he held fast to the
prize which his alert mind, quick eye
and prompt action had won in the
hand to hand grapple with the forces of
destruction.
i Singleton is still living somewhere
in the lower oil country, and he occa-
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