Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1899-07-27
DYNAMITE is TICKLE.
YOU CAN NEVER TELL WHAT A CAR
FRIDGE WILL 90 NEXT.
Some Interesting Stories of the
Cranky Nature of the Stuff, Which,
a Boss Blaster Says, Is as Contra
dictOFy as n Woman

a Boss Blaster Says, Is rs Contra
dictory as a Woman.
IA cartridge Of dynamite is pretty
much like woman-you can never tell
what it is going to do next, because it
doesn't know ITSELF" said a boss blast
er. 81 have seen powder salesman
throw cartridge Of dynamite into the
redhot fire box of a 20 horse boiler,
and the stuff just burned like lard.
Next day I saw cart boy repeat the
experiment with blacksmith's forge
and pill Of dynamite no larger than
a pea-and there will be wholesome
fear and soft coal in that boy as long
as he lives.
81 have seen a case of 100 sticks of
dynamite fall 500 feet down a shaft
and never wink, and I've seen an In
dian drop a half cartridge from his
hand to his boot and not a grease spot
did the poor fellow leave behind At
that the poor fellow deserved a better
fate, for he made a desperate fight for
it before he scattered.
"He was loading block hole at the
time and had just broken cartridge
in half when he dropped one Of the
pieces Before it could touch the
ground he sort of half caught it, and
then began desperate brief juggling
act Again and again he half caught
the deadly thing. Then he missed it.
He made one last effort and stuck out
his foot to break the fall against the
hard ground, but it didn't work There
was bang, and it was lucky no one
stood near him. Which shows that
dynamite is like woman, because in
my time have dropped similarly hun
dreds of cartridges of dynamite, and
still l am here and with good d.
gestion.
"But it is in winter, when dynamite
freezes, that it is most capricious
Then If you want it to go off it simply
refuses, or burns with a dull roar,
like boiler blowing off steam. 1t is
in thawing dynamite that most of the
accidents happen about which you
read. There are two ways of thawing
dynamite-one by placing the car
tridges on steam boiler or within safe
distance of fire; the other by immers-
ing them in pals of hot water. AS the
latter method draws out considerable
Of the nitroglycerin from the car
tridges, and therefore weakens them,
it is often discarded in favor of the
more risky thawing by an open fire.
Il once saw an experienced powder
man thaw a dozen cartridges by an
open fire, though, as the sequel will
show, he completely lost his head
when suddenly confronted with an un-
usual emergency. He had placed the
cartridges within a foot of an open
wood fire and had seated himself near
by to await developments when one
of the cartridges caught fire.
Had he left it to burn itself out the
chances are a thousand to one that
nothing very startling would have hap
| pened, for it is conclusion and not fire
that eXplodes dynamite. Instead, he
rushed forward, picked up the burning
stick by one end, and holding it up
ward like candle began to blow and
blow until he was black in the face.
He never let go until the flame began
TO nip his fingers, and then in his eX-
c1tement he threw the cartridge to the
| ground and began to stamp and grind
on it with his heels as if he were kill
| ing snake; and, by thunder! he
stamped out the burning cartridge and
lived to tell about it! The cart boys
called him Angel after that, because
by rights he ought to be an angel now.
"One day professor from Stevens
Institute Of Technology came to the
quarry and asked me to perform a
certain experiment for him. We
printed with dynamite direct from a
newspaper on to a block of iron. The
professor said the experiment proved
most interesting, as he had discovered
among other things that dynamite
works downward and not upward, like
black powder. Our way of proving
that in a quarry is to lay a stick of
dynamite on top of a bowlder. After
the shot the bowlder is smashed to
bits.
But the professor had his own no
tons. He carried three round blocks
| VI ilOu SlA IlcileS III diameter ana
three inches thick. Then he took a
newspaper from his pocket and spread
one sheet over the face of the block.
placed half stick Of dynamite on
top and covered it with a little heap
Of sand and touched her off. You
would hardly believe the result, but
you can see the block on exhibition in
a glass case in the Stevens institute
library, and you can read on it dis
tinctly-of course, the type appears
backward-the printing Of that part of
the paper which covered the block at
the time Of the explosion.
But the professor had another
wrinkle up his sleeve. He picked an
| ordinary oak leaf and spread It over
the face of second block. prepar.
ed charge similar to the first and
this time the ribs Of the leaf and even
it's outlines appeared distinctly press
ed into the iron surface According
to the professor, the action Of the dy-
Mantle was SO quick that the ribs of
the leaf had not time to burst apart
before they were impressed on the
iron. In the case of the newspaper
the printed letters were harder than