The Columbus journal., 1911-02-01
Play WITH DEATH


OI1IuS 0SSu CAPsOSsv0Ss
STORIES By HUDSON MAXIM.
The Accident - Which tse lnvsotsPs
lsft Hand Was Blown oM@shn Den.
ds(s Contempt Fer Dynamits-aeix
: Inc Fire and Nitreslyesrin.
TT IL practically impossible" writes
Hudson Maxim in Adventure, ITO
make the ordinary laboring man ap-
preciate the necessity Of care In the
safe handling Of explosives. and the
life Of the careful man II always en-
dansered BY the actions Of the care
less one.
AFTER had sold the works ut Max
inn and had invented motorite I needed
q place In which to make the material
and hired q branch Of the works there
for that purpose. It was winter. Ny
wife had accompanied me - q pre-
cautionary measure. She was sitting
in the laboratory to keep warm. near
a big barrel stove charged with btu
minOus coal.
''On entering the laboratory for
something my wife asked me what
was in those two tin pals sitting near
the stove. She said that she had q
suspicion 1t might be nitrogylyceFin.
and she informed me that one Of my
men had just been In stirring the 6re
and that the sparks dew out in all d..
rections. some Of them lighting in the
buckets to be Quenched on top Of the
oily liquid.
"'Horrorsv said 1t is nitrogiyc-
erin-
Il called the man who had placed It
there and told him to take 1t away. AZ
it was necessary to keep the material
from freezing he took 1t into the boil
er house near by. A little later on, 60
ing into the boiler house, saw one Of
the men stirring the fire while the 9TH
er was standing with his coattails out
stretched in either hand, forming q
shield to keep the sparks from flying
into the nitroglycefin.
I'm the manufacture Of high explo-
sives and In experimenting with them
q little observation-disclosures, q very
slight lack Of exact caution. q SEEM
ingiy Insignificant inadvertence for a
moment. may cost one q limb or his
life. The accident that cost me my
left hand Is q case In point.
ION the day preceding that accident
I had had a gold cap put on . tooth.
In consequence the tooth ached
throughout the night and kept me
awake q greater part Of the time. In
the morning I rose early and went
down to my factory ut Maxim, N. J.
In order to test the dryness Of some
illuminate compound I took q little
piece Of II. about the size Of an Eng
lish penny. broke OF a small particle.
placed It on q stand outside the labo-
ratory and. lighting q match, touched
It OF.
sowing to my loss Of sleep the night
before my mind was not % alert -
usual. and I forgot to lay aside 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. igniting
the piece there, with the result that
my hand was blown OF to the wrist.
"Once when entering my storage
magazine at Maxim. in which were
several carloads Of dynamite along
with $1,000 pounds Of nitrogelatin, I
saw John Bender. one Of my employ
ees. calmly but emphatically opening
q case Of dynamite with q hammer
and q chisel. I promptly discharged
him.
Not long afterward the innkeeper
at Farmingdale called on me to buy
some dynamite and said he had engag-
ed Bender to blow the stumps out Of
his meadow lot. I told him Bender
was counting death for himself and
everybody around when handling dy-
Mantle. but Boniface still wanted
Bender % do the work.
"'Weli.' said l, the dynamite you
want is 1G cents pound, but II John
Bender does not succeed in blowing
himself up and killing himself with
the dynamite you can have It for moth
ing. On the other hand. II he does
blow himself up you must pay for the
dynamite
"A few days later there was some
hitch in Bender's exceptional luck. A
particularly refractory old stump had
resisted q couple of Bender's dynamic
attacks. The failure to dislodge the
stump Bender took as q personal AZ
front because It reflected upon his skill
as q 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 Cd, and
several things happened in very quick
succession. The huge stump let 60 Its
hold on earth and proceeded to hunt
Bender.
1T was q level race. but the stump
won. Striking Bender on the north
quarter, It 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 q pound said.
Bender hasn't q chance in q hundred.