The Billings gazette., 1899-08-08
DYNAMITE is TICKLE.
YOU CAN NEVER TELL WHAT A CAR
FRIDGE WILL 90 NEXT.

Cranky Nature of the stun. which.
a Boss BlHster Says. Ii ns Contra
dictOry a. ~ Woman.
"a cartridge Of dynamite Is pretty
much like a woman--ycu can never tell
what 1t Is going to do next. because 1t
doesn't know ITSELF" said boss blast.
er II have seen a powder salesman
throw cartridge Of dynamite into the
redhot fire box of a 90 horse boiler.
and the stuff just burned like lard.
Next day saw Il cart boy repeat the
experiment with II 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
II have seen a case Of 100 sticks or
dynamite fall 800 feet down shaft
and never wink. and I've seen an In
dian drop a half cartridge from his
| hand to his boot and not 4 grease spot
did the poor fellow leave behind. At
that the poor fellow deserved better
fate, for he made a desperate fight for
| II DeIOFe lie ScHlteIeu.
"He was loading block hole ut 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 It, and
then began n desperate brief Juggling
act. Again and again he half caught
the deadly thing. Then he missed 1t.
p ia las aHnVt md sfYrl,
his foot to break the fall against the
hard ground, but it didn't work. There
was a bang. and 1t 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 am here and with a good di.
gestion.
"Rut 1t is In winter. when dynamite
freezes, that 1t Is most capricious.
Then II you want 1t to 90 off 1t simply
refuses. or burns with dull ronr,
like a 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 a 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,
II Is often discarded In favor Of the
more risky thawing by an open fire.
II once saw an experienced powder
man thaw 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 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 1t to burn itself out the
chances are a thousand to one that
nothing very startling would have hap
pened. for 1t is concussion 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 60 until the fame began
to nip his fingers. and then In his ex.
citement he threw the cartridge to the
ground and began to stamp and grind
on 1t with his heels as IL he We're kill.
ing a snake; and. by thunder! he
stamped out the burning cartridge and
lived to tell about 1t! The cart boys
called him Angel after that. because
by rights he ought to be al 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 4
newspaper on to 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 quarry Is to lay stick Of
dynamite on top Of bowlder After
the shot the bowlder Is smashed to
bits.
But the professor had his own no.
tlOns. He carried three round blocks
Of iron six inches In diameter and
three inches thick, Then he took
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 q little heap
OF sand and touched her off. You
would hardly believe the result, but
you can see the block on exhibition In
glass case In the Stevens institute
library, and you can read on it dis
tlnclly-of course, the tyre 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, lie picked an
ordinary oak leaf and spread it over
the face OF second block, | prepar,
el n charge afIniIar IN tho frat and