Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-09-12
A rIsIT TO DIN ANTE woRKs.
with an Argument as to the ExpIosivenes
of This Chemical CoInpound.

With an Argument as to the ExpIosivenes,
ofTlis Chemical Compound.
Whether dynamite explodes easily u
not, is apparently moot question. All
least, IL is one that dynamite workers
are not agreed on among themselves,
according to Cleveanl Muffet's repori
IN st. Nicholas, OF a conversation he
took Fart in, not long ago.
Farther down the road, he writes, |
came to railroad track whtre "A long
freight train was standing on siding.
Some men were busy here loading a car
with clean looking wooden boxes that
might have held starch or soap, but did
hold Dynamite neatly packed in long
fat sticks like huge iireoraclsers. Each
box bore this inscription 10 red letters
High Explosives. dangerous. - |
looked along the train and saw that
there were several cars closed and
sealed, with sign nailed on the ont
side: Powder. Handle Carefully
In this case powder" means DIS ia.
mite, for the product Of dynamite
factory is always called powder. L
think the meE feel more comfortable
when they use that milder name. There
was POWDER enough on this train to
wreck q city, but nobody seemed TO
mind. The men laughed and loitered.
They might have been laying bricks,
for any interest they showed
L asked one OF them IL it is oousid-
cred safe to haul car loads OF dynamite
about the country. He said that some
people considered it aafe, and some do
not; some railroads will carry dyna.
mite. while others refuse It,
Suppose man were to shoot "A rifle
ball into one OF these cars" | asked,
do you think 1t would explode?''
Ibis led to an argument. One Of the
group was positive it would explode.
Concussion, he declared, was the thing
that sets off dynamite. Another knew
OF experiments at the works where thew
had fired rife balls into quantities Of
Dynamite, ana had only concluded that
sometimes 1t exploded and sometimes
it didn't.
Then a third man spoke I'D with an
air OF authority. You We got to have
red spark, said e,"to set off dyna.
mite. I've handled it long enough to
know. Here's an experiment that's
been tried: They took an old flat. car
and loaded it with rocks; then they
fastened a bux Of dynamite to the
bumper, and let the car run down n
steep grade, bang into another car
anchored at the bottom. And they found
that the dynamite never exploded uu-
less the bumpers were faced with iron.
II didn't matter how much concussion
they got with wooden bumpers, the
dynamite was like that much putty
put as soon as red shark jumped into
IL Gut OF the iron, why, off she'd co."
Ihen he inHtanoed various oases
where powder.cars had gone Through
railroad wrecks without exploding.
although boxes of dynamite had been
smashed open and scattered about.
How about that car OF ours the
other day up in central New York? ''said
the first man. "Everything was blown
to pieces, and six lads were killed. .
he smiled grimly, but the other per-
sisted: THAT collision only proves
what | say. The red. hot locomotive |
plowed through car of dynamite, and |
OF course she went IN. But il wasn't |
sparks. "
All right, the other man said. his
friend could sit ON dynamite. car when
ever anybody began shooting rifle balls
into 1T. The friend was positive it would
be safe enough place to sit, il the
rifle. balls didn't strike iron.
You say that it takes red shark. ,,
observed, to set off dynamite Do
you mean that white spark wouldn't
That's what mean, - said he. st
seems queer, but it's fact. Put a
white hot poker into box Of dynamite,
and it will only burn: put in a red.
not poker, it will explode. :"