The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-09-10
Children's Column.
With an Argument as TO the ExplosivsneSS Of
This Chemical Compound.

ton. At least, Ii is enc that dyna-
mite workers are not agreed on
among themselves, according to
Cleveland Moffett's report in the
September ST. Nicholas, of a conver-
sation he took part innot long ago.
Farther down the road, he writes,
1 came to a railroad track where a
long freight-train was standing on a
siding. Some men were busy here
loading a car with clean-looking
wooden boxes that have held starch
or soap, but did hold dynamite
neatly packed in long fat sticks like
huge frecrackers. Each box bore
this inscription in red letters: "High
Explosives. Dangerous" I looked
along the train and saw that there
were several cars closed and sealed,
with a sign nailed on the outside (;
"Powder. Handle Carefully"
In this a s powder" means dyna-
mite, for the product of q dynamite
factory is always called powder. I
think the men feel more comfortable
when they use that milder name.
There was "powder" enough on this
train TO wreck a city, but nobody
seemed 20 mind. The men laughed
and loitered. They might have been
laying bricks, for any interest they
showed.
I asked one of them If it is on
sidered safe TO haul carloads Of
dynamite about the country. He
said that some people consider it
safe, and some do not some rail.
roads will carry dynamite, while
others refuse lt.
"Suppose a man were to shoot a
rifle ball into one of these cars,"I
asked, 'tdo you think it would ex-
plodeP"
This led to an argument. One of
the group was positive it t0OuEd ex-
plode. Conclusion, he declared, was
the thing that sets off dynamite.
Another knew Of experiments at the
works where they had fred rifle
balls into quantities of dynamite,
and had only concluded that some
times it exploded and sometimes it
didn't.
Then a third man spoke up with
an air of authority. you've got to
have a red spark" said he, "to set
off dynamite. I've handled it long
enough to know. Here's an expert
ment that 3 been tried They took
an old fat-car and loaded il with
rocks ; then they fastened a box of
dynamiUs to the bumper, and let the
car run down a steep grade, bang
into another car anchored at the bot
tom. And they found that the dyna.
mite never exploded unless the
bumpers we're faced with iron. 1t
did MT matter how much conclusion
they got with wooden bumpers, the
dynamite was like that much putty
but as soon as a red spark jumped
into it out of the iron, why, off
she d 60"
Then he instanced various cases
where powder-cars had gone through
railroad wrecks without exploding,
although boxes of dynamite had
been smashed open and scattered
about.
GLOW 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
persisted: THAT collision only
proves what I say. The red-hot
locomotive plowed through a car of
dynamite, and of course she went
up. But it was mt the conclusion
did it it was the sparks"
All right, the other man said, his
friend could sit on a dynamite car
whenever anybody began shooting
rifle. balls into it. The friend was
positive it would be a safe enough
place to sit, if the rifle balls did mt
strike iron.
"You say that it takes a red
spark" I observed, Ito set off dyna
mite. Do you mean that a white
spark would Mt do it?"
"That 8 what I mean" said he.
"It seems queer, but it g a fact. Put
a white-hot poker into a box of dyna-
mite, and it will only burn put in a
red-hot poker, it will explode"