The Washington times., 1901-09-01

hiiiB- II Is ike a SNAKE, anu may DC
colled at your feet all ready to strike
when you step on it. Dynamite. or even
nitro. is something tangible; IL you see
wish to avoid them all you have to do Is
to walk the other way. but you can tell
nothing about the naphtha
Il knew a promising young chap who
came to work with me. out In Long
meadow, near Springfield, and who was
as good man as you could want to have
around you. Well he had the most religi-
Gus horror of dynamite for the first year
that you ever saw, and after that ne got
careless. Wen, one day he put several
sticks of it in a tool box for safe keeping
for a few hours and forgot all about it,
and the consequence was that when the
laborers came home from work they
chucked their things into the box and
there was n tremendous explosion. Two
men were killed and three others injured
for life. The young fellow lost his job
and gave up the dynamite business for
good.
In Boston all high explosives are kept
on ships down the harpor. and no sup
plies are landed except as they are want
ed by the contractors. A man sends in
his orders for two or sometimes three
days supply at time. and the stun is
procured for him from the storage in the
harbor. 1t is brought over in small
boat, and shipped across the city. in an
express team. and when 1t reaches the job
is kept in a place especially designed for
it, usually unknown to any one and in
accessible The number of pounds al
lowed to be transported without a special
permission is about sixty. When it Is de-
sired to send more than that across the
city the fire department has to be noti-
fled and man is generally designated to
go with the team and see that the proper
care is taken. He rides to the city limits
only. This is formality and is done be-
cause it Is required by law.
I'm shipping the stuff to Boston great
care is exercised The railroads from
New York will not handle it only on GER
tain conditions, and charge n good price
for moving it: In fact, an exorbitant price,
for it is as safe as many things they take
aboard their cars, and there is a record
of several collisions In which a. whole
carload of dynamite has been untouched
and unexploded o. the shock, although in
one case the car itself was knocked to
spiinters. The stuff when sent by the
railroad has to go as freight. for 1t is
State to transport 1t on vehicles where
passengers ride. The roads are exempt
from carrying it as common carriers and
many of them take advantage OF this ex-
emption.
THE most of 1t comes, therefore, from
New York by sailing vessels, and it is
landed directly onto the hulks in the har-
Dor that receive it for storage. L have
known cases, however, where contrac-
tor was hard up for some Of the stun and
had to send a man to bring it to him in a
valise. 1 made such a trip once from Bos-
ton to Springfield, and l can tell you l
was uncomfortable. felt in my bones
that the thing was safe, but knew dyna-
mite well enough to know that it cannot
be trusted, and hated to take chances
with 1t.
II remember there was a youngster In
the seat in front of me, with his mother
and he leaned over and by degrees in
weighed me into some sort Of a game.
did not mind 1t, and as 1t amused the kid
kept it up. Well, turned my head for
a second to look out of the window and
you can imagine my terror when 1 heard
a shrek and turned n time to see the
youngster fall over the back of the seat
square onto the bag full of the dynamite.
My heart stopped for a minute and pick
ed that child up so tenderly and with
such a concerned look that its mother
talked to me all the rest of the way. I
did not tell her what had in the bag.
Frozen dynamite is a bad thing. too.
The stuff can stand only very little
cold, and becomes hard as a brick at
about 45 degrees, and Is useless unless 1t
can be thawed out. That is to say, It Is
nearly always useless. for have known
some bad explosions to occur from fro
zen dynamite, and there are some con-
tractors who will tell you that the frozen
stuff is worse than any other kind. and
they are not altogether wrong either. 1
knew a chap who was more afraid Of dy-
Mantle than anything else in the world,
much too afraid OF it to work with it. for
he was always being made the victim
of some practical joke or other, and was
never at peace.
zone of the men who was most prom
inent in teasing him discovered a stick of
frozen dynamite one morning, and feign-
ing to be intoxicated, he got into an al
tercation with the timid man, and then
seemingly in the height of a drunken
frenzy. dashed the frozen stick on the
ground with an oath The other fellow
fell like log. and was sick for good
many days from fright, but there was no
explosion. l saw that same chap who had
played the joke drop frozen stick over
a cliff one morning, and he was nearly
scared to death when it went off with
terrific sound and threw fragments of
rock high in the air. He became deathIy
pale when he realized how serious his
joke might have been. and was ever care
full thereafter how he fooled with high
explosiyes.-Boston Globe.