Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-18

. slark.
Mr.. Albin Motherhood, whose expert
cnce In stoneworlsins has covered the
rested part Of his lifo. says this OF blast
nG in stone ouarries:
Powder Is used by preference in all
stone, quarries whose output Is intended
for the stone-cutter or mason. Dynamite
is useful. for blasting rock for crushing;
but for any other work 1t breaks the
stone too irregularly and into too many
fragments. Powder gives clear break
and seldom skaters the rock.
The greatest danger in blasting With
! powder arises from careIessness in clean
ing out unexp1oded drill-holes. A string
Of holes may be shot. and one may have
failed to fire. The point OF a pick or a
drill. striking. spark from the: edge Of
hat hole would blow up the man who
did 1t, ~.
.aThe perils Of blasting. like those Of
many other occupations, arise from the
carelessncss which men fall into with
years OF familiarity with explosives. BY
the time they get to the point Of knowing
all about powder they have forgotten
many Of the dangers which come from its
handling
The world has known hundreds of ter
rible nitro-glycerine accidents. "A few
have happened in Virginia
Probably the worst glycerine explosion
in the history Of that fluids use took
place SO far from Richmond and SO long
ago that few Virginians have ever heard
Of it.
The ship European went into harbor at
Colon. Panama, In April, 1866, with sew
enty thousand percussion caps and ton
of nitro-glycerine in her hold. She went
ont Of 1,or NV fhos sc1r1 ri
The jetty alongside the.vessel was blown
to pieces, many houses along shore were
wrecked, and fifty lives were lost.
One of the most tragic accidents re-
corded in the annals Of this part Of Vir-
gina came from the handling of this
treacherous explosive. It happened TWEEN
ty-threea or twenty-four years ago. and
killed n c. Haggerty. prominent cit
zen of Richmond, and Elias G.. Hall, a
valiant Confederate, who. during the war
was engineer on the Confederate States
ship Tallahassee.
The accident occurred at Dutch Gap,
at the time that the United States gov
crnment was widening and deepening the
channel for practical use.
The Gap is cut through a bed of COM
pact fullcr's earth. which is extremely
lif1icult to handle Blasting was found
necessary. and much of this tenacious
earth had been crumhled by the explo-.
sion of heavy charges of nitro-glycer-
inc. !
The work at the Gap was under direc-
ton of Major. II. D. Whitcomb. United
State engineer. Captain Thomas Cun-
bingham, Sr.,. was superintendent Of the
James river Improvement. and his son,
Captain Frank W. Cunningham. was in
charge Of the contra ctor's dredges.
Haggerty was the contractor, and Hall
was his nitro-glycerine man.
Several days before the accident, a pair
Of -glycerine tubes had been planted
IN the top of the forty-foot bank of the
Gap. In the firing only one was explod-
ed. The other had not been found. I
mention this as mere inci"ellt. of no
particular moment in itself, :,ut Of con-
siderable bearing on the events which
followed.
One day plans were made for the blow
Ing out of a large body Of : this heavy
fuller'S earth.
Previous efforts had cut down the banks
for distance of several yards from the
waters edge. So that a stretch of level
GROUND lskrted the canal about five feet
above the. stream. Behind that stood a
cliff thirty-five- or forty feet high In the
lower level was cut a pit about four
feet deep and several feet square g In Its
center had been drilled a four-intt hole
eighteen. or twenty feet in depth. for the
reception of charge of nitr.,-glycerine.
On two sides Of this pit. and a short dis
lance from it were similar shafts already
filled with sixty-pound charges. and
tamped and wired ready for firing. Some
where in the high bank above was the
charge which had been lost a few. days
before.
In the pit by the waters edge were
Haggerty and Hall. Captain Frank Cum
ninghan. Major Whitcomb, and two ne
groes. a third negro stood on the five
foot level. above the pit The tug Frank
Somers lay against the shore fifteen or
twenty feet away, and the dredge Rich
mora" foated alongside her. On the
lredge. among others of the crew, w-re
William R Farrell. still engineer on
the same dredge, and Charles II. Hughes.
now member of the police force.
Hall. with the assistance of one oe the
negroes. was lowering a charge of nitro
glycerine into the hole. The explosive was
packed in a, tin tube four inches in diam
eter and twelve feet long. The men were
letting it down with a rope.
When the lower end of the tube lacked
but two feet of reaching the bottom of
the hole 1t damned against a lump Of
gravel. or some similar obstruction, and
stuck.
Hall and the negro tried to pull it up.
The rope broke and the tube stayed
there.
Haggerty called out. Leave 1t where it
is, Hall; she'll go all right
Hall answered. NO: want to do it right.
I'll take this tamping bar and shove 1T
down.
Excuse mel" said Captain Cunning
ham. IF you're going to shove that sstdffS
I'll get aboard my boat Which he did,,
and Me- ior Whitcomb also.
Hall on one side Of the hole and the
negros on the other. took the tamping
stick and began to push down on the top
of the tube. which was foot and
half or two feet below the surface Of the
ground.
Suddenly the ground heayed. and with
terrible roaring crash tons and tons Of
earth shot high into the air.
For moment the rain Of dust and dirt
obscured the sun. Great Jumps of earth
fell on the dredge and on the tug. while
the Gap looked like river OF mud.
Then: were heard the pitiable5crie and
means of HaggertS,; who was buried sun-
der the debris. ForFthe lost charge at the
cliffs top exploded by the conclusion from
the three tubes below had tnnnled sthe