The Washington times., 1901-10-20
PLAYING PLA I IHG WITH With ETERNITY
Nervy Toiiers Who Handle Dyna-
mite Every Day.
The Trade Not Conducive TO Old Age.
High Explosives Lose All Terrors
to Experienced Laborers-some
Very Narrow Escapes Related.

/ very Narrow Escapes Related
4, 1t takes some nerve to toy with eter-
nis%y every day and go TO work every
morning with the thought that you may
! come home at night to your sorrowing
| Iamiily in basket. There are men in
this city who face death six DAYS out OF
seven, and think nothing of It, and 1t is
| death Of the most horrible kind These
men handle the dynamite and nitroElycer-
me which are used in blasting rock In the
different quarries. and they pay but lit
| tie heed to handful of the dim beyond
in the shape OF a stick of high explosive
done UP In yellow wrapping paper
These men are experts in their trade.
and hold the positions Of foremen OF the
| various gangs who do the drilling and
blasting in East Longmeadow and VIII
oraham They are young men mostly.
| the trade not being conducive 10 old age.
They begin as assistant foreEnen and re.
main such untii a premature crash causes
| a vacancy. AT first the fear of sgh ex-
piosiVes is drilled Into them uatii they
regard the sawdust-lined boxes with hor-
! ror. But in few NOR tbs they become
| accustomed to their trade and handle the
DIG sticks OF dynamite a boy handles
big hreeraeker. They claim that dyna-
| mite Is not such a terrible thing after all.
l
you violent headache. Men have often
done this, and it makes them very in for
a short time. A new assistant foreman is
almost always broken in in this manner.
Dynamite is an uncertain quantity. how
ever, and acts differently at different
| times. 1t burns without an explosion and
caa even be dropped on the ground with
out going off. but this is not a safe ex-
perfne mt to try. Let a stick be stroked
with piece Of metal. however, aud If
the man who does 1t wishes to commune
cate with his friends he viii have to use
lons-distance telephone. hitroglycerine
Is almost an unknown quantity, and even
the most hardened quarryman handles 1t
with the utmost care Anything will ex-
piode II. and many men have been strewn
over the landscape through its Offices
WilbTaham quarry gang is an inter-
esting study in humanity. The foreman
Is usually an American of more than
average intelligence and courage. and the
men under him are Italians These lat
ter men drill the holes in the rocks and
make ali ready for the blast, and then the
foreman puts in the charge and fuse and
lights it off. The Italians fear the high
explosive, yet they are extremely careless
In handling it, and the death rate among
hAtih GCETGSpOuuluSIy large
How the dynamite gets to this CITY ia
a mystery. and one that viii not be d.
vulsed. The foremen say that when they
want 1t they notify the people they work
for and the next morning a box of dvna
mite, or jelly" as the nitroglycerine is
termed, is found beside the toolbox 1t
is against the law to carry such high sx-
piosives on trains, for dynamite ranks
% and jelly" 50 per cent Both come in
what are termed sticks and weigh about
one-Eah pound each
They are packed in boxes holding per-
haps twenty sticks. each stick being care
fully packed in loose sawdust The sticks
are about eight inches long and one inch
in diameter. covered with yellnw paper.
The dynamite is yellow and looks like
a mixture of vaseline and sawdust, and
the Jelly" looks like a thick vaseiine.
Before using dynamite it is crumbled I'D
in the hand into a powder. but the Jelly
is quietly and gently unrolled and placed
tenderly in the hole which it is to blast.
OF course. the quantity used depends
on the size of the rock to be blasted. and
1t Is necessary to ''tamp'' or pack either
down. so that the full force Of the ex-
pIosion viii not go out and up. When 1t
IS tamped the force will go down to a
great extent
In loading a rock with dynamite various
methods are used, but the most popular
one Is to put the explosive into the hole
quietly and then press 1t in even mora
gently with stick. When the hole has
been almost filed the percussion cap at
tached to 3o-second fuse is put in and
then a bit of dynamite put in on top of
It. The whole charge is then covered ten
derry with a little sand and a
had 20 -
this is being done, the innocent
sons of sunny Italy have been
seeking the long grass and tall trees for
s@fety. Each one yells fret at the top
Of his lungs as he runs, and Just before
the blast goes off there is nothing to be
seen but the fleeing foreman. After the
crash and when the shower of rock has
foreman goes in search of his Italians.
he hnds them peacefully slumbering or
taiidng IN the woods. and when told to
go back to work each asks in a curious
tone II the blast has gone off. 1t was
heard in the three adjoining counties
three minutes before. 1t takes some
that is the sad part Of the whole game.
After the blast there is nothing left of
the hole and no example of handiwork
to hand down to posterity.
The local foremen are very careful OF
their high explosives, vet strange things
are apt to happen to the little tin box in
placed carefully in the big tool box each
night and the keys of both boxes are
placed deep in the pocket OF the foreman
during the night Wild adventures often
take place near the boxes. and one of the
Wilbraham foremen told of a narrow es-
cape which gang of men under him had
this spring. The dynamite was used free
ly during the day, and some loose sticks
of 1t were left in the bottom of the big
toolboN. When the 8 o'clock whistle blew
the Italians iocked to the toolbox like
a frF rafcT he. H.aer
their picks and crowbars into the box at
long range. Just then the foreman came
on the scene and yelled at them to STOP
as he dove behind the nearest tree No
one knows why the whole gang were not
blown into bits. 1t was just one OF the
strange freaks of dynamite
This same foreman had rather a blood
curdlins Escape last fall while at work in
the hills TO the east As he came up to
the box at night he found an Italian
cudditnS a stick Of dynamite to mis- manly
chest The foreman gave vent TO his feel
lngS more emphatically than politely. To
show that his wrath was reused the man
lifted the stick of dynamite above his
head and let il drive at the foreman. IL
1t had hit the mark there would now be
another assistant drawing more pay.
L Fortunately the stick went wide and fell
in some sGfI grass The next five minutes
were probably the most interesting that
the irate son OF spaghe tti-land has ever
passed When he emerged from the fray
he passed a una uimOus vote that he would
rather be blown up by dynamite than by
he foreman. There was less physical
discomfort in ii.
OF course as dynamite and "jeliy'' are
rot allowed to be carried on the trains.
hey never are. but there are some inter-
sung times Tor men who sit in a seat
holding bag in their arms during the
- 80 Journey. One local foreman said
ne tooA a trip while ago in 4 crowded
ar, and II anyone bad hit his travelling
'aS no one on the car would have reached
ne next station collectively