The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-22

however and acts differently at different
times. It burns without explosion, and
can even be dropped on the ground with
out going off, but this is not safe eX-
pertinent to try. Let a stick be stroked
with a piece of metal, however, and if
the man who does it wishes to COM
municate with his friends he will have
to use a long-diStance telephone. Nitro
glycerin is almost an unknown quantity,
and even the most hardened quarrynan
handles it with the utmost care. Any
thing will explode it, and many men have
been strewn over the landscape through
it's offices.
Wilbraham 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 all 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 them is correspondingly large.
How the dynamite gets to this city is
a mystery, and one that will not be di-
| vulged. The foremen say that when
| they want it they notify the people they
| work for and the next morning box
| of dynamite, or Jelly" as the nitrogela-
| tine is termed, Is found beside the tool
| box 1t is against the law to carry such
| high explosives on trains, for dynamite
ranks 50 and Jelly 80 per cent. Both
| come in what are termed sticks and
| weigh about one-half pound each
! They are packed in boxes holding per-
! haps twenty sticks, each stick being
| carefully packed in loose sawdust. The
sticks are about eight inches long and
! one inch in diameter, covered with yell
| low paper. The dynamite Is yellow, and
| looks like a mixture Of vaseline and
| sawdust, and the Jelly looks like a
1 thick vaseline. Before using dynamite
| it is crumbled up in the hand into pow
/ der, but the "jelly' is quietly and gently
| unrolled and placed tenderly in the hole
which 1t is to blast. Of course the guam
| tity used depends on the size of the rock
| to be blasted and it is necessary to
| 'tamp'' or pack either down so that the
| full force of the explosion will not go
| out and up. When it is tamped the
| force will go down to great extent.
In loading a rock with dynamite vari-
| Gus methods are used, but the most pop
| ular one is to put the explosive into the
| hole quietly and then press it in even
| more gently with stick. When the hole
has been almost filled the percussion cap
attached tc a thirty-second fuse is put
in and then a bit more dynamite put in
on top of it. The whole charge is then
| covered tenderly with a little sand and
| a match touched to the fuse. While this
is being done, the innocent sons of sunny
Italy have been seeking the long grass
and tall trees for safety. Each one ye1ls
| "Fffe!" at the top of his lungs as he
runs. and just before the blast goes off
there is nothing to be seen but the fee
| ing foreman After the crash and when
| the shower of rocks has subsidized to some
extent the sorrowing foreman goes in
search of his Italians He finds them
| peacefully slumbering or talking in the
| woods, and when told to go back to work
each asks in curious tone if the blast
! has gone off. 1t was heard in the. three
! adjoining counties few minutes before.
| It takes some hours to drill a hole for
! blasting, and 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, yet strange things
are apt to happen to the little tin box in
which the sticks are kept. This box is
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 foreman told of a narrow es-