Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-02-23
Play WITH. DEATH
Men Who Are Reckless In Han
ding High Explosives.

ding High Explosives.
STORIES BY HUDSON maxim.
The Accident by Which the Inventors
Left Hand Was Blown Off-John Ben
der's Contempt For Dynamite-Mix.
ing Fire and Nitrcelycerin.
it is practically Impossible" writes
Hudson Maxim in Adventure. ito
make the ordinary abo,ing man ap-
i,reciate tile necessity OF care in the
safe handling of explosives, and the
life of Tho careful man is always en-
NaINsered Us the actions of the care
less one.
After had sold the works at Max
i'm and had invented motorite needed
Il place in which to make the material
and hir"d i. bra..cl of the works there
fer t.lit purpose. 1t was winter. My
Wife !ld accompanied me Us II pre-
ciutiona,y measure. She waa sitting
III the laboratory TO keep warm. near
Il biz barrel Stove charged with btu
minous coal.
"On entering the laboratory for
something my wife asked me what
was i'm those two tin pals sitting near
the stove She said that she had a
suspicion il might be nitrog .lycerin.
and che Informed lie that an. OF my
wen lid gms.l !,cen III stirring the lire
and tli:;t The sparks flew OUT III all d.
rectioas. some of them lighting in the
Buckets to be quenclel on top Of the
oily liquid.
'HorrorsY said 1T is nitroglyc-
erin!'
II called the man who had placed it
theEp and told him to take it away. AS
IL WAS necessary to keep the material
from freezing he took it into the boil
or house near by. \ little later on, 60
ing into the boiler house, saw one Of
the men stirring the fire while the 9TH
rr was standing with his coattails out
stretched i'm either hand, forming a
shield to keep the sparks from flying
into tho n!troglycerin.
IN the manufacture of high explo-
;'ives and in experimenting with them
n !i.tlc ahsentmindelness, very
sli., lack of exact caution, seem
il'sly insignificant inadvertenre for Il
aloment. may cost one a lim, or his
'isn The accident that cost me my
left hand is a case in point.
I'm nc Cay preceding that accident
- had Il god cap put on Il tooth.
ansequence the tooth ached
'n"sFNont the night and kept me
. h Greater part Of the time. In
4 morn ny rose early and went
q TO ny eactory at Maxim, N. ].
= D." - the dryness of some
''.s'; 'cs ,-nd took n little
80 Z it. nj the size of an Eng
i ',n'ny. h.o.e off small particle.
rls.ss' II on II stand outside the labo-
raor.s- and. lighting match, touched
II Off.
lowing to my loss of sleep the night
before my mind was not so alert as
usual. and forgot to lay a,iiae the
remaining piece of illuminate COM
pound. but instead held it in my left
hand. A spark from the ignited piece
of illuminate compound entered my
left hand between my fingers. isniting
the piece there. with the result that
my hand was blown off to the wrist.
"Oace when entering my storage
MACHINE at Maxim. in which We're
several carloads of dynamite along
With $1,000 pounds of nitrogclatin.
sa" John Fender. one of my employ
ees. calmly but emphatically opening
q case OF dynamite with a. hammer
and chise. promptly discharged
him.
Not long afterward the innkeeper
mt l'armingdale called on me to buy
some dynamite and said he had engag-
ell Bender to blow the stumps out of
his meadow lot told him Bender
was counting death for himself and
everybody around when handling dy-
Mantle, but Boniface still wanted
Bender to do the work.
"'Well.' said I. the dynamite you
want Is 1G cents n pound. but If John
Bender does not succeed i'm blowing
himself up and killing himself with
the dynamite you can have 1t for notk-
ing. On the other hand. If he does
blow himself up you must pay for the
dynamite.'
~ few days later there was some
hitch in Bcnder's exceptional luck. A
particularly refractory old stump had
resisted couple of Benders dynamic
attacks. The failure to dislodge the
stump Bender took as personal af-
front because it reflected upon his skill
as stump blaster.
Next time said he. something Is
going TO happen He placed about
twenty pounds of dynamite under the
deep rooted veteran, touched it of, and
several things happened In very quick
succession. The hugo stump let go its
hold on earth and proceeded to hunt
Bender.
ut was a level race. but the stump
won. Striking Bender on the north
quarter. 1t stove in four ribs, dislocat-
ed several joints and damaged him in
several other respects and particulars.
Boniface came to settle for the dyna-
mite.
"'Sixteen cents pound 1 said.
Bender hasn't chance in hundred.
Wait till the doctors are through with
him.
"'What do you say to a compro-
MISE suggested Boniface. of cents
pOund2 For renlly. I do NOT believe