The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-09-03
Toy With Death.
How the Handlers Of High Ex.
plOSiveS Operate.
EXPERTS IN THE TRADE.
Foreigners Fearful of Dynamite
yet Careless of it-A Blood
Curdling Escape.

eternity every day and go to work
every morning with the thought chat
you may come home at night To your
sorrpwing family IN basket There
are men in this city who face deaf h
six days out of seven, and think
nothing of it, and it is death of the
most horrible kind. These men han
die the dynamite and nitroglycerine
which are used in blasting rock in
the different quarries, and they pay
but little heed to n handful of the
dim beyond IN the shape Of stick of
high explosive done up in yellow
wrapping paper.
These men are experts in their
trade, and hold the position as fore
man of the various gangs who do
the drilling and blasting in East
Longmeadow and Wilbraham. They
are young men mostly, the trade not
being conductive to old age. They
begin as assistant foreman and re-
main as such until pre- nature crash
causes IL vacancy. At first the fear
Of high explosives is drilled into
them until they regard the sawdust
lined boxes with horror. But in "a
few months they become accustomed
To their trade and handle the sticks
of dynamite as boy handles big
firecracker. They claim that dyna-
mite is not such terrible thing af-
ter all, unless you eat it, and then it
Will give yoE violent headache.
Men have often done this, aud it
makes them very i'll for short time
~ new assistant foreman is almost
always broken in in this manner.
Dynamite is an uncertain quaint
~, however. and acts differently at
different times 1t burns without an
explosion, and can even be dropped
on the ground without going oft, but
this is not a safe experiment to try.
Let stick be stroked with a piece of
metal, however, and If the man who
does il wishes to communicate with
mis- friends he will have to use long
distance telephone. oglycerine
is almost an unknown quantity, and
even the most hardened quarryman
handles it with the utmost care.
Anything will explode it, and many
men have been strewn over the land.
scape through its Offices,
y Wilbraham quarry gang is in
terestinS study in humanity. The
foreman is usually an American of
more than average intelligence and
courage, AMI the men under him are
Italians. These latter r.en drill the
holes in the rocks and make all ready
for the blast aud then the foreman
puts in the charge and fuse and then
lights it off. The Italians fear the
high explosives, yet they are en-
tremly careless in handling it, and
the death rate among them is CORE.
spondingIy large.
How the dynamite gets TO this
city is a mystery, and one that will
not he divulged. The foremen
say that when they want it they no.
tiiy the people they work for and the
next morning box Of dynamite, or
"Jelley," as the nitrogelatihe is term.
ed, is found beside the toolbox. 1t
is against the law to carry such high
explosives on trains, for dynamite
ranks 30 and "jellev" 90 per cent.
Both come in what are termed sticks
and weigh about one half pound
each.
Thoy are packed in boxes holding
perhaps twenty sticks, each stick be-
ing carefully packed in hose saw
/ WhNht Nt -iiNhN are tN1NA Fl4uL
inches long and one inch in diameter
covered with yellow paper The dy-
Mantle is yellow and looks like a
mixture OF va-eliue and .aw-du-t
aud the "ielley' looks like tbick
vaseline. Before using dynamite IL
is crumblel up 10 the hand into a
powder but the "ieley H quietly
and gently unro.led and placed tend.
erly zoo the hole which l- t9 De blast
OF course the quantity used depeuo
upon The size Of the rock To- Doe blast
cd. and 10 is necessary O, lamp YI
pack either down so that the fm
force " the explosion wilI not goo ou.
and cop When 10 b. umped rh,
force wIII go down o. a great extent
LOO loading @ rock With dynamite