The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-01-19
A MAN WHO PLAYED
WITH DEATH FOR
TWENTY YEARS
BLOWN INTO FRAGMENTS
I" Jimmie" "O'Hare, Now Dead,
Had a Record.

checryvsIe, Kas., Jan. 1e.---''In this
business they never happen but once"
said the we'll shooter-his death had
been predicted for twenty years.
when Jimmie o'Hare was blown
into fragments At Chelsea one day
last week by the explosion OF a wagon
load of nitroglycerine a prophecy was
fulfilled that was first made more
than twenty years ago and was reit-
Grated times without number In every
oil district in the country. For
Jimmie" had worked in every dis.
trict in the country where the chug
Of the oil drill has been heard. aad in
his life he handled enough explosives
to have destroyed Port Arthur several
times Daily he lived in close asso-
citation with hundreds of gallons of
nitroglycerine. and It was common
sight in the oil country to SEQ him
rattling over the hills on the seat Of
wagon loaded with the deadly ex-
ploslve.
He will get It some day" the boys
In the Pennsylvania Oil fields began
saying moro than tweEty years ago,
and have repeated 1t everywhere
Jimmie" went
But all these years Jimmie" laugh.
ed at the prophecies and laughing
would load up his wagon and rattle
out into the country to shoot well.
taking with him from one to two
hundred quarts Of nitrogIycerine. But
the trite adage Of the pitcher tells
the story OF "Jimmie's" end. AS Is
usually the case in such accidents. no
body knows or ever will know how
1t happened. There was an explosion
that shook the country for miles
around, and when an investigation
was made there was little to be found
except a wide, deep hole in the
ground
~ man WIZ NNtbS iAAAANA OAAtA YIN
of incidents that illustrated the freak
ishness of the explosive he handled.
and It may have been some freak"
that cost him his life Jimmie use
to tell of the running away in the
streets Of Bradford. Pa, when team
dragged a glycerine wagon the whole
length of a street the cans ricocchet.
ing around like billiard balls. and no
explosion occurred. Then OF another
case which occurred in the old days
when the glycerine box was located
right over the springs OF the wagon
There was a Ieaky can, ana three
drops falling on the springs caused
the loss OF two lives He told Of still
another case where shooter on a
spree hurled bottles Of glycerine
against rock. All the bottles broke
but not one exploded He would close
his story OF that singular occurrence
which took place in Chanute last
spring, when a glycerine magazine
caught fire and was entirely burned
without exploding And then he
would say. ITS the friction, maa, it's
the friction. and that's what I'm an
ways looking Out Tor"
Maybe Jimmie" forgot the ''frle-
tier,. Cor encs.
Jimmie had certain rules he oh
served when handling nitroglycerlne.
One day while discussing explosives
he said;
"A man had better quit this busl-
ness when he loses his nerve. It Is
Just like handling nettle Take
hold Of It and take hold strong. A
nervous or panlclSy fellow had better
stay away from nitroglycerine, because
something win happen. and 1t never
happens TO shooter but once"
Jimmie was known 10 nearly
every oil man In New York. Pennsyl-
vanla. Indiana. Ohio. Kansas and
/ ICfoItlarVta