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

8
s,,racilce OF tying rebeiiious natives 10 tiie
81 ,,,o,,tf of cannon and blowing them
into very small pieces
Then. too. such death is rarely pre-
sa<,sd by due preparedness The fico'ta :
chin may be marked by q 1onr Gay :
growth OF beard. his laundry may iio1 De
q ns clean as Il should be. or entagiing cor
.spoadence may be hidden IN his DOCK
cts. There Is no time for prayers, OF
pxsoshys. or regrets, or IePenlalt, .ts
There is nothing but crash. sickenlnE
..Issso az total humiliation, a hideous
srIkuess. and an inscnsibility that often
enaws no awakening, And what remains
4, ar,xthinE lis found. IS so FAR removed
from human, seInblance that nothing on'
the tattered clothing proves the kinSnip
between the terrible. It and~tha man tha1
was.
These are some OF the reasons WI!
PEOPLE object TO being blown up.
Despite all this. however. thousands or
peop,e handle deadly explosives every
day as carelessly as a-drsTnan snoveie
coaI5 or butcher handles meat
Miners. workers in the oil fields and the
men u,ho labor in tunnels. railroad cuts.
river and canal beds. and in stone qulr-
res all of these are in daily touch with
explosives and many OF them have DIED
without the satisfaction Of knowing what
happened.
Nitro-giycerine. dynamite, and blasting
rowder in their respective order, are the
s most powerful of the agents commonly
used In blasting.
Nitro-gircerine perhaps better known
in the oil fields than elsewhere. is mix
sure of nitre and sulphuric acids and gly-
cerIne. Like the Filipion. 1t Is famous for
its treachery. Friction or conclusion. how
ever slight may cause ii to explode; and
repSerr if nOECf.
Bile for the compound to blow up while
asandfnR IA perfect quiet are .repose with
no disturbing gency within a thousand
miles,
Nitro-slycerine looks like any other
ofher, and has little or no odor. 1t is
usually packed in tin cases. slight
blow on the outside Of one OF these re-
ceptacles would accomplish wonderful re
suits. for one cubic inchc OF nitro-glyce-
rinc expands upon expinsion into 10 3S4
cubic inches of gases. In equal bulk II
has thirteen times the strength OF gun
pcwher And thirteen is an unlucky
number.
Nttro-glycerino, when exploded. exerts
itself not as any reasonable force does.
along the fine of -least resistance. bu'
directly against the opposing surface or
which It lays. Lay a pound OF powder
on a rock and ignite II. and the explosion
the stone but to: leay..s.a scorcfed and
.sr oked-up spo: unon It. Explode nitro
fylycerine under like :corditions.s and the
rock would be shattered In fragments.
Another chara cteristic of this explos-
i've IL its unhappy faculty of becoming
rc,id and forming in crystallized needles
at a temperature several degrees above
the freezing point. These little needles
look very delicate and fragile: and Sc
~ hY-.o lr hntuaan
firrers and your remains would be scat
tered broadcast over the face of the earth
AS have said the oil country is pre-
ernirent,y the place for nitro-glycerine
incidents.
ri. Julius Baker, Of the Mayo BRIDGE
ard Land Cornperv. lived many years
among the o.; fields of PENNSYLVANIA;
ard, with ali his familiarity with nitro
glyecrine he says that he could never
pass q wagonoad Of it without an inrol-
Af,tary shrinking from 1t.
The use of this explosive in the oil
fields is for shooting" wells. The wei
is first drilled through the upper earth
and gravel. and into the rock After
slight "show" of oil appears, a nitro
giycerine torpedo is lowered to the depth
/ OF the oil-bearing stra alum. This torpedo
As usually of tin several inches In dame
It's upper end bears a large percussion
cap After this big cartridge is lowered
into place.. hammer hollow like
pipe. is slipped onto the supporting cable
The the shooter" goes to. the mouth of
the well. drops the ''ha n1mer' and runs.
The pipe slides down the cable until i
hits the cap on the torpedo. Then the ex-
.pected happens. Sometimes the unexpect-
ea comes with ii. In many cases the
Z ,nYy hoe ernl1fvl1 tn
wreck the derrick and all the workings
about the mouth Of the shaft.-a few men
Included.
Mr.. Baker tells Of a case which occur
red in Pennsylvania some years ago. Ii
concerns man whose states were so do
mestfc that he loaded nitro-glycerine tor
pedoes in kitchen Of his house. This
was fad of his. and he kent it up Until
he played the wrong card one day The
house was blown into atoms. and pieces
8of It were found six Numbered feet away.
hole ten or fifteen feet deep was blown
q In the ground under the house. and the
man and his wife We're gathered up.
finger here and a toe there. from all parts
o. the surrounding landscape
Strangely enough. the little baby. who
made the third member of the household.
WI s found under a tree an the yard. ABB
sclutely unhurt. Yet. at the time Of the
eaplcsions the child was scarcely six feet
sws,y. from its mother. iaaiaEge part of
whose remains were never found
a mans house As a bad place for hand
f,l.es nitrd-gl tcerine. Were / commits
stoned with the loading OF an zoil-well for
pedc. I should prefer setting up the tin
case In the middle OF broad prairie and
handling the fluid from a balloon with
FISH line "a thousand feet long. Some
othei fellow could take. the bucket from
tn. end or the Ire and pour he oil into.
tie tube. would boss the job; the man
on the ground could be the hero.
Dynamite is half-breed child Of nitro
glpcerire. and as crossed strains. often
i do ii inherits many of its parents vices
Ter general use il is Infinitely less dan
gerous: but this comparative safety is a
source Of greater danger.
i haYe seen man break a stick of dv-
Mantle I'M two and throw the supertluous
piece into a box Of similar sticks '--,--5
feet away. ] have seen them hold it over
q REQ hot stove, and drop il into pan Of
boiling water to thaw II after freeze.
met. a man one afternoon in Arch
street near the Free Bridge. and asked I
1ssn for a match. He ran his grimy fin
GERS: into his pocket and pulled out
dEts handkerchief and a box of matches.
As The changed the handkerchief to his !
other hand. a piece of something like
dirty yellow candle fell and struck on
tss. street-car rail. sszt