Evening journal., 1903-01-03
DYNAMITE IS
LIKE 4 WOMAN
You Can Never Tell What
a Cartridge Will Do
Next

anutu iAc WOthdh- you Clu never tel
what it is going to do next, because it
doesn't know ITSELF" said boss blast
er. Il have seen powder salesman
throw a cartridge Of dynamite into the
redhot fire box of a 90 horse boiler,
and the stuff just burned like lard.
Next day / saw a cart boy repeat the
experiment with q blacksmith's forge
and n pill of dynamite no larger than
pea-and there will be wholesome
fear and soft coal In that boy as long
as he lives.
/"I have seen a case Of 100 sticks Of
| dynamite fall 800 feet down a shaft
and never wink, and I've seen an In
dian drop n half cartridge from his
hand TO his boot and not a grease spot
did the poor fellow leave behind At
that the poor fellow deserved better
fate, for he made a desperate fight for
it before hefscattered.
'IIe was loading a block hole at the
time and had just broken n cartridge
in half when he dropped one OF the
pieces. Before 1t could touch the
ground he sort of half caught it. and
I Ah'h btHdh a. birlNiutC hli'A JuEEiink
act. Again and again he half caught
the deadly thing. Then he missed It.
He made one last effort and stuck out
his foot to break the fall against the
hard ground. but it didn't work. There
| was a bang, and it was lucky no one
stood near him. Which shows that
dynamite is like woman, because in
my time l have dropped similarly hun
dreds of cartridges OF dynamite. and
still l am here and with a good di-
gestlon.
"But it is in winter when dynamite
freezes, that it is most capricious.
Then If you want it TO go Off 1t simply
refuses. or burns with n duh roar.
like n boiler blowing Off steam. II is
il thawing dynamite that most Of the
accidents happen about which you
read. Theresare two ways of thawlng
dynamite-one by placing the car
tridges on n steam boiler or within safe
distance of fire; the other by immers-
ing them In pals Of hot water. AS the
latter method draws out considerable
Of the niuoglycerln from the car
tridges, and therefore weakens them,
/ it is often discarded in favor of the
} more risky thawing by an open fire.
81 once saw an experienced powder
man thaw n dozen cartridges by an
open fire, though. as the sequel win
show, he completely lost his head
when suddenly confronted with an un-
usual emergency. He had placed the
, cartridges within a foot Of an open
wood fire and had seated himself near
by TO await developments when one
Of the cartridges caught fire.
q Had he left it to burn itself out the
chances are n thousand to one that
nothing very startling would have hap
J pened, for it is concussion and not fire
that explodes dynamite. Instead, he
rushed forward, picked up the burning
stick by one end. and holding it up
= ward like a candle began to blow and
blow until he was black in the face.
: He never let go until the flame began
u to nip his fingers, and then in his ex-
: citement he threw the cartridge to the
!, ground and began to stamp and grind
= on it with his heels as If heewere kill
ing n snake; and, by thunderl he
stamped out the burning cartridge and
lived to tell about it, The cart boys
called him Angel after that, because
by rights he ought to be an angel now.
- zone day a professor from Stevens
! Institute Of Technology came to the
II quarry and asked me to perform a
" certain experiment for him. We
printed with dynamite direct from a
newspaper on to q block OF iron. The
professor said the experiment proved
.e most interesting, as he had discovered
L among other things that dynamite
. works downward and not upward, like
- black powder Our way of proving
!. that in a quarry is TO lay a stick Of
=. dynamite on top OF a bOwlder. After
the shot the bowlder is smashed to
bits.
but the professor had his own no
= tions. He carried three round blocks
- Of iron six inches in diameter and
\, three inches thick Then he took a
=, newspaper from his pocket and spread
3, one sheet over the face Of the block.
NJ l placed half a stick of dynamite on
top and covered 1t with n little heap
Of sand and touched her Off. You
would hardly believe the result, but
you can see the block on exhibition IN
q glass case in the Stevens institute
library. and you can read on it dis
at tinctly-of course. the type appears
seSs backward-the printing Of that part OF
re the paper which covered the block al
ew the time of the explosion.
"But the professor had another
wrinkle up his sleeve. He picked al
ordinary oak leaf and spread it oyel
the face of second block. | prepar
ed a charge similar TO the first, ane
S. this time the ribs>of the leaf and ever
its outlines appeared distinctly press
= ed into the iron surface. According
to the professor, the action Of the dy
Mantle was so quick that the ribs O
the leaf had not time to burst apar
before they were impressed on tn
bt iron. In the case Of the newspape
the printed letters were harder thai
the surrounding white Of the paper
therefore the impression.