The Washington times., 1901-09-01
TRAFFIC In EXPLOSIVES.
Empty NitrO-Glycerine Kegs a
Constant Source of Danger.
How to Dispose of Them Is N Dif-
fcult Pr0bIcm-A Boston Man Who
Has Had Many Narrow Escapes
Relates Some of His Experiences.

There are scores of men about Boston
| who handle every day enough dynamite
| to blow themselves and their immediate
neighborhood into the adjoining States.
| and yet an explosion is so rare that 1t is
almost a curiosity. They are expert dy-
Mantle handlers, and have become well
versed in the vagaries and the uncertain
| ties of that powerful and mysterious sub
stance"
Mr.. Anton Colman. n veteran dynamite
man, is respo nsible for that statement,
and 1t is vou:neu for by the numerous
contractors who are using the giant ex-
plosive about the city.
Out in Roxbury on the many lodges
that are being blasted away to make
| room for buildings or to put a lot of stone
on the market the dynamite handler is
| most frequently found; he abounds, how
ever, in Brookline and parts of Brighton
and some few places in Dorchester He
is generally an American, well advanced
in life, fun of experience in blasts and
| blasting, and brought up, one might say,
on dynamite. He has handled it for years
and perhaps gingerly cared for its ances-
tor and progeIiitor the savage nitrogiy-
cerin.
Mr.. Colman is perhaps one of the old
locking after high explosives for the past
twenty-five or thirty years; he has been
on most of the big jobs in Massachusetts
and in many parts of New England and
has had many hairbreadth escapes and
exciting adventures. He was on the
Hoosac tunnel work for some time. and
has seen service in many important ex-
cavationS and cuttings
Mr. Gilman is abo,tt qeyaptv Naars old
and was boz in Maine. He spent the
early part of his life working on his
uncle's farm near Lisbon but left it when
he was young man to come to Boston
to make a living. He drifted about
through many different occupations until
he finally got job with contractor who
was blasting an old quarry down near
Providence and served with MIN in many
capacities. He went to the war and on
his return went back to contracting, and
for a time he was in business for himself
and did some important work around the
city.
Dynamite and the blasting powder
which we have today is much different
from what it used to be in the days when
/ first started in the business said Mr..
Colman, "and 1 am not as well posted
on everything as might like to be, but
there are some things about handling
powder that when a man learns them
once he never forgets them as long as he
lives. and no matter what kind of pow
der is used or how much the style changes
It Is all the same. they will still be care
full and watch their business mighty close
OF course. Of all the explosives nitroglv-
cerin is the most dangerous and the
hardest to get along with. 1t has as many
moods and Is as hard to manage some
times as the spoiled child or a woman
who wants her own way.
II never got over my great respect for
this explosive, and even today I treat it
with every Difference. and will be as
gentle and peaceful IN its presence as
any tyro. A man can never get any ex-
perience In handling nitroglycerin; the
more he handles it the less he Is liable
to know about it. For he realizes more
and more how uncertain 1t is
why. even the kegs that nitroglycer-
in comes in are white elephants on
mans hands, for they are mighty hard
to get rid of. tell you. The wood has
been SO thoroughly saturated with the
stuff that it cannot be burned and can
not be broken up. and they can't be left
lying round loose for some one is sure to
come along who does not know anything
about them and bang something into
them and off goes the roof.
Il remember a fellow out in the west
ern part of the State several years ago,
who came along with hammer in his
hand. He sat down on an empty nitro
glycerin keg and playrully amused HIM
self by tapping the slaves with his ham,
mer. l saw him and ran to a safe place
and tried my best to warn him by shout
ing, but II was no use; the keg finally
blew up with a loud report, and the poor
fellow fingered in the hospital about two
weeks before he died
Il am even more afraid of these empty
nitroglycerin kegs than 1 am of the ex-
plosive itself or of any other kinds of
powder or dynamite. You can always tell
when to be careful when the real stuff is
around. but If some one happens to leave
an empty keg or barrel in the way YOU
might not know it until you had dropped
a crowbar or a sledge-hammer into it or
tipped it over and then, after you found
it out, you would be in no condition to tell
any one of your discovery.
1.-The only way TO get rid of those
empty kegs or barrels is to take them out
into an open field and fire pistol at them
from a safe distance, and even that
sometimes is not an undertaking that 1
would advise a person to try, for l re-
member a case of a fellow who went out
with three kegs. and instead OF placing
them side by side and letting one shot
do the business, 1 guess he was anxious
to see them blow UP one by one. for he
placed the first keg and left the other two
on the team.
HE fired his gun and the bullet did
x.yha tad Of = hut lras
ploded with such terrific force that the
man was Mortified when the concusson
caused the two remaining kegs on his
team to follow suit Immediately. killing
his horses, wrecking his wagon complete
ly, while he himself received a splinter in
his face that ruined the sight of one eye.
After that If he ever went out / am sure
he was more careful.
Il have known of a fellow who lost his
foot by the explosion of drop of the ter
rible stuff, and another man who lost his
hand by suddenly hitting a board on
which can of nitro had rested and
drop or two of the liquid oozed out 1t
is mighty bad stuff, and L am afraid of
it, and If | live to be 200 l will be more
afraid of it than ever. Nowadays there
is none OF it used in New England-not
drop. 1t is not necessary; We do not
have the blasting that requires 1t. Dy
Mantle is amply sufficient, and we do
not have to have the purest quality of
that, either; 40 or 50 per cent is powerful
enough, and in extreme cases we can
call for 70 per cent mixture. Above that
we get in the dangerous territory, and
the dynamite becomes bad to handle.
Below 20 per cent there is no safer ex-
plosive made than dynamite; that is. take
il all around You cannot set II off by