The San Mateo item. (San Mateo City, Putnam County, Fla) 189?-19??, 1909-12-25


I'll bring the women-folk over to see
The show
and he dld--promptly at three.
There were three ladies and his only
child. They shuddered and drew
away at the sight OF the tube. and
when tried 10 tell them just how
much instant destruction was bottled
mp in that slender, fve.foot cylinder,
they each gave a little screedh,
clutched one another. and fell back
still farther The sight OF a glycer
inc cartridge has given me little
spasm Of backwardness ever since.
You'll know why I'm a moment
The well was about twenty-five
hundred feet deep. 1t was my bust.
ness to lower the cartridge to the bot
tom, and there explode IL. That's
what they call shooting a well. The
disturbance which the explosion ere.
ates below often sends the oil up with
a gush, and IT'S a sight worth see.
ing sometimes-from a considerable
distance.
1.-THE cartridge, as have said. wal
five-foot tube, loaded with about
twenty quarts OF explosive; II had
percussion-cap set In the upper end.
II was to be lowered at the extrem
ity OF a long rope. and exploded by
dropping an iron weight, called a
goodwill on the cap Don't forget,
II you please, that the nitroglycerine
explodes when anything hits the end
of the tube with sufficient force to
set of the cap, and that the force
required is not great--a light blow
will sometimes suffice to do the mis-
chief.
II suppose that all oilmen lower a
cartridge in the same way. However.
lest be mistaken, I'll tell you what
my plan used TO be. It was my Gus
tom 90 take a long iron bar, wedge
e. securely between the uprights OF
the derrick, about four or FIVE feet
above the mouth of the well, and low.
er the cartridge over the bar at the
end of a rope. In this case / re.
member, the bar was firmly fixed in
its place. In fact, l always saw to
that, even II 1t took a sledge-hammer
TO make 1t fast, for / am a cautious
man, and / had no wish to have the
bar slip. and thus suddenly precipi.
tate the explosion.
We'll, | threw the rope over the
bar, tied the tube to the end OF II,
and began-very gingerly-to lower
away. You may be sure that the
rope slipped through my hands very
slowly. for I didn't care to have the
tube come into violent contact with
the casing down which 1t was fall.
ing. No; my eye was on the rope
all the time, and ] Stacked ii with
extreme care.
$50 far as I know, there was but
one other danger to be considered,
and that was so remote that l did
not then take II into account. The
well might have an unexpected flow.
ut had been flowing at intervals
OF an hour or more for many days.
The oil would bubble up. shoot out
and subside. But the intervals had
So far been regular enough; so, when
began to lower the cartridge, II did
not strike me that need anticipate
any accident OF that character.
"Oil-wells, however, are most err
ratio. oThere is no accounting for
what they do. My tube was not moro
than FIVE hundred feet down when ]
felt the rope slacken all OF a sud
That could mean but one
thingl
MY mind was quite clear: knew
precisely what would happen. The well
had begun 70 flow, the oil would eject
the tube with more or less force, the
tube would Sail back heavily, II
would explode. and the derrick and
everything within wide radius OF
Il. myself, Hox and his child and
women-folk included, would be blown
N ofOsna