Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-08

| seem to be the three cardinal lessons of
the entire campaign: the necessity of fight
| ing In skirmishing order. the extreme i'm
| portance OF bringing rife-fire to the high
| est pitch OF efficiency, and the increasing
| value-and not. as certain military theor-
| lists have argued. the diminishing value
| of the courage OF the individual soldier.
/ ->~>-
"NO DANGER IN DYNAMITE,
So Said Mr.. Snyder, Looking Surprised
ON the Left Side of His Face.
From the New Orleans Times Democrat
Blown forty feet through the air by
dynamite explosion. picked up for dead.
and now fighting his way slowly back to
| health. after lying unconscious for six
| solid days at the Hotel Dieu-such. briefly
| told. was the extraordinary experience of
| H, M. Snyder of Kentwood. who is now
at the Gruenwald under medical treatment.
| Mr.. Snyder is man about thirty years
| of age, and has followed a queer trade
! during the whole of his active life. He is
| professional dynamiter. not in the
| archistic. but In the commercial sense. In
| other words, he makes business of ham
| ding dynamite in all sorts of work where
that explosive is used-in levee construc-
| ton, road building. shaft sinking, quarry
| opening, and excavating in general. His
| speciality Is blowing up stumps.
| Nowadays dynamite plays a very i'm
| portant role In all the lines mentioned. 1t
has immensely simplified the labor of re-
| moving large masses of earth and rock,
| and has reduced It's average cost nearly
| third. But. as everybody knows, it is
perilous stuff to handle. and for that rea-
son contractors are glad to employ an eX-
| pert to attend to that branch of the job
Hence Mr.. Snyders sphere of usefulness.
| In the latter part of last June he was
| engaged by the Urbana Lumber Company
| of Kentwood to clear away the stumps
| from fve-acre field. in which 1t was pro-
| posed to construct an artificial lake. In
which to unload logs for the mill. The
| plan, which was decidedly ingenious, was
| to dump the timber direct from the cars
| into the water. and thus save the labor
| and expense Of piling. The field had been
densely wooded and was but recently
| cleared of its trees.
| The method employed In blowing up
| stumps Is to drill a hole in the base. ex-
| tending into the roots. and to charge 1t
| with from two to six pounds of dynamite,
which is ignited by a fuse and decorating
cap. As rule, several are fired at the
| same time.
On the morning Of the 18th of June Mr.
| Snyder loaded" six large stumps near the
| middle of the field, and after lighting the
! fuses hurried off a short distance to await
| the explosions. In few moments there
| was quick succession of terrific crashes
| and the air filled with dirt and debris
When the smoke cleared, however, 1t was
| noticed that one stump still remained in
| tact, and 1t was SurmiSed that the fuse
| had gone out. After waiting little while
| as matter of precaution, Mr.. Snyder
! started toward the spot to make q new de-
tonating connection.
He had reached the stump and was
| bending over to insert the fuse when the
| charge exploded. His helpers were horri-
| fed by a deafening roar. and through the
| cloud of shattered fragments they the
| unfortunate dynamiter flying bodily through
| the air. He struck the ground forty feet away.
| as was determined afterward by actual
| measurement, and was to all appearances
| stone dead His clothes were torn to rags
! and the rags were on fire; his body was
| blackened from head to foot, and blood
| was oozing from his nostrils. When he
| was picked up he was seen to be breath
| ing, but he was totally unconscious, and
| everybody supposed he would die in a few
| moments.
| Incredible as it may seem, no bones were
| broken, and after several hours had
| elapsed and the man still lived telegram
| was sent to stop the afternoon train bound
| and upon arrival was conveyed direct to
| the Hotel Dieu; there he lay unconscious
| until the evening of the Sd of July. Except
| that he breathed. he was to all intents and
| purposes dead man, and the puzzled ply
| sicfans were about to resort to heroic
measures when he suddenly opened his
eyes and returned to his senses.
The patient proved to be paralyZed
| the right side, but in a few days he grad
ually regained control of everything ex-
| cept the muscles Of his face and neck. He
| made no further improvement he came
| back to New Orleans a few days ago for
| medical aid His present condition Is very
| curious. The left side Of his face is nor
| NAL, but the right side Is simply mask Of
| flesh All the lines of expression stop at
| point exactly midway, which might be rep
resented by line drawn from the center
| of his forehead to the tip of his chin. The
| right eye was totally blind for some time,
| but Its sight is slowly coming back. The
! physicians treating Mr. Snyder with
| electricity, and hold out hopes of an entire
| recovery.
The victim Of this astonishing adventure
| told his story yesterday to reporter
81 have been handling dynamite all my
Hfe," he said, "but this Is the first accf-
dent I have ever had. l remember the
| events of the morning perfectly up to the
| time reached the stump. Then came a
| blank and the next thing l knew 1 woke
! up in the hospital. I was never so con-
J fused and surprised in my life. and as 1t
| happened, none of the attendants were in
| the room at the time to tell me what had
| happened. 1 had never been inside the
| Hotel Dieu before. so all the surroundings
| were strange, and I hadn't the least idea
| where I was. / glanced out of the win
| dow and saw an unfamiliar street, and I
| was even uncertain about the hour of the
| day.
| II was terribly alarmed. of course but
| tried to control myself, and did my best to
| pick up the threads of my memory, but
| could go further than that unlucky
stump. Just then the nurse came in and
soon set me to rights. but it was some
time before I could realize that 1 had
actually met with such a mishap. was
pretty weak at first, but / rapidly grew
stronger. and in few days l was able to
go back to Kentwood. I have returned be-
cause my face is still paralyzed. as you
see, and / wanted treatment for 1t. / am
getting better and l hope to be all right
soon"
"Will you still go on handling dyna-
mite?" asked the reporter.
''Why, certainly" replied Mr.: SNYDER.
looking surprised on the left side; there
is no danger in dynamite"
Lafayette Kissed q Belle.
From the Ladies' Home Journal.