Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-10-19

"a cartridge of dynamite is pretty
much like woman-you can never tell
what it is going to DO next, because 1t
doesn't know itself" said boss blast
er. Il have seen a powder salesman
throw a cartridge of dynamite into the
redhot fire box of Il 20 horse boiler,
and the stuff just burned like lard.
Next day | saw a cart boy repeat the
experiment with n blacksmith's forge
and n pill of dynamite no larger than
4 pea-and there will be n wholesome
fear and soft coal in that boy rs long
as he lives.
Il have seen case Of 100 sticks Of
dynamite fall SEC feet down a shaft
and never wink. and I've seen an In
dian drop Il half cartridge from his
hand to his boot and not a grease spot
did the poor fellow leave behind. At
that tie poor fellow deserved a better
fate. for he made q desperate fight for
it before he scattered.
He was lCau!Dg a block hole at the
time and had just broken a cartridge
in half when he dropped one Of the
pieces. Before it could touch the
ground he sort Of half caught il. and
then began n desperate brief juggling
act Again and again he half caught
the deadly thing. Then hc missed it.
lie made one last effc.t and stuck out
his foot 10 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 Ike woman. bCc@@rr IN
my time las" dropped similarly h:A
dreds of cG.:;yi6.;cs OF dynamite. and
still ! ain here "and with a good di-
gcSticn.
''Bgt it is in winter. VIXEN dynamite
freezes. that il is most capliciuUs.
Then If you want it to 20 off 1t simply
refuses, or burns with dun roar.
like 4 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
dynamitc-onc by placing the car
tridges on steam boiler or within safe
distance Of a fire; the other by immers-
ing them in pals of hot water. As the
latter method draws out considerable
of the nitro2lyccrin from the car
tridges, and therefore wcakcns them,
it is often discarded in favor of the
more risky thawing by an open fire.
Il once saw an experienced powder
man thaw n dozen cartridges by an
open fire. though, as the sequel will
show. lie completely lost his head
4.
usual emergency. He had placed the
cartridges within n 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 il to burn itself out the
chances are thousand to one that
nothing very startling would have hap
pencd, for it Is conclusion and not fire
that eXplodes dynamite. Instead, he
rushed forward, picked up the burning
stick by one end, and holding 1t up
ward like a 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-
citement he threw the cartridge to the
-
on 1t with his heels as If he were kill
ing a 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.
zone day Il 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
newspaper on to n block of iron. The
professor said the experiment proved
most interesting, as he had discovered
among other things that dynamite
works downward aud not upward, like
black powder. Our way Of proving
that In Il quarry is to lay Il stick Of
dynamite on top of n bowlder. After
the shot the bowlder Is smashed to
bits.
But the professor had his own no
tions. He carried three round blocks
Of iron six inches In diameter and
three inches thick. Then he took n
newspaper from his pocket and spread
one sheet over the face of the block.
| placed half stick of dynamite on
top and covered 1t with 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 1t dis
tinctly-of course, the type appears
backward-thc printing Of that part OF
the paper which covered the block qt
the time of the explosion.
'But the professor had another
wrinkle up his sleeve. He picked mn
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
the surrounding white of the paper.
therefore the impression.
THE professors third block Is not on
exhibition for the reason that we never
found piece of IL larger than Glove
and that reminds me. what do you
sayr The reporter said Eyes. Chi
caGo Inter Ocean.