The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-01-07
KEGS THAT BLOW UP.
They Look Empty and Harmless, but
Are Full of Danger.


Are Full of Danger.
Dynamite and the blasting powder
which we have today are much diff
ferent from what they used to be in
the days when i first started in the
business" said veteran dynamite
well posted on everything as 1 might
like to be, but there are some things
about handling powder that when a
man learns once he never forgets as
long as he lives, and, no matter what
kind of powder is used or how much
the style changes, it is all the same.
He will still be careful and watch his
business mighty close. OF course, of all
the explosives nitroglycerin is the most
dangerous and the hardest to get along
with. 1t has as many moods and is as
hard to manage sometimes as the spoil
ed child or q woman who wants her
own way.
II never got over my great respect
for this explosive, and even today
treat it with every Difference and will
be as gentle and peaceful in its pres
ence as any tyrO. A man can never
get any experience in handling nitro
glycerin. The more he handles it the
less he Is liable to know about 1t, for
he realizes more and more how un-
certain 1t Is.
"Why, even the kegs that nitroglyc-
erin comes in are white elephants on a
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 the kegs can't be
left lying around loose, for some one is
sure to come along who does not know
anything about them and bang some
thing into them, and of goes the roof
Il remember a fellow several years
ago who came along with a hammer in
his hand. He sat down on an empty
nitroglycerin keg and playfully amused
himself by tapping the slaves with his
hammer. / saw him and ran to a safe
place and tried my best to warn him
by shouting, but it was no use. The
keg finally blew up with loud report,
and the poor fellow fingered in the
hospital about two weeks before he
died.
81 am even more afraid Of these
empty nitroglycerin kegs than I am Of
the explosive itself or. Of any other
kinds of powder or dynamite. You can
always tell when to be careful when
the real stun Is around, but If some
one happens to leave an empty keg or
barrel in the way you might not know
1t until you had dropped a crowbar or
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.
''The only way to get rid Of empty
kegs or barrels Is to take them out into
an open field and fire a pistol at them
frolp. aDsafo. distance, and even that
sometfnO an undertaking that I
would advfs lrson to try. for
remember a c4Sol6 fellow who went
out with three kegs, and, instead Of
placing them side by side and letting
one shot do the business, 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 wagon.
"He fired his gun, and the bullet did
what was expected Of it, but the keg
exploded with such terrific force that
the man was Mortified when the con-
cussion caused the two remaining kegs
on his wagon to follow suit immediate
ly, killing his horses and wrecking his
wagon completely, while he himself re-
ceived a splinter in his face that
ruined the sight of one eye. After that
if he ever went out l am sure he was
more careful.
81 have known Of a fellow who lost
his foot by the explosion Of drop Of
the terrible stuff and another man who
lost his hand by suddenly hitting a
board on which q can Of nitro had
rested and drop or two Of the liquid
oozed out. 1t is mighty bad stuff, and
am afraid Of it, and II live to be 200
will be more afraid Of 1t than ever
Boston Globe.