The Omaha Sunday Bee
tubort For
THE OMAHA DEC
Best & West
PART V.
FEATURE SECTION
PACES 1 TO 8
I-
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MAKCII 24, 1907.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
VOL. XXXVI-NO. 40.
KunA
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Curious Stories About Dynamite and Effects of Reckless Handling
IFTER a dynamite explosion there
la leldam much left to determine
the cause. The United Stales, un
like the government of Europe,
has made little effort to collect
statistics upon tills subject, but those that
have been collected Indicate that alnv.st
Jl the. accidents from the, use of high ex
' plosives are duo to carelessness In han
dling. The carelemness of men who handle dy
namite Is proverbial. "As careless as a
powder monkey' Is a phrase that doscrites
a well established condition. The experi
ence of a Jersey City Inspector Is not un
usual. On entering a small shanty where tills In
spector thought dywunlte wu boLu kept
toxlcated persons shall be permitted on the
Is not allowed.
The wagon whenever possible, shall
avoid those streets In which there are a
large number of people, and the driver shall
not leave the wagon unattended so long'as
It Is loaded with explosives. Not more than
l.uOO pounds shall be transported at any
o:ie time through the streets of the city.
Hut It is not precoutlon or lack of pre
caution that Is the measure of dynamite's
destructlveness. Its greatest danger lies
In the pecularlly erratic qualities of nltro
felycerlne.' Even chemists who have made It their
life study and manufacturers who have
large sums of money Invested In bulld
lijfcs and machinery ctciy now and then
The Italian threw away two or three
slicks.
Then his sense of economy g it the
better of h m and when the next one
caught fire I. ) attempted to stamp out
the flames with Ills boot heel, euane
as it may seem, that fellow leccvend
after a month In the hospital and only
lost one leg by his experience.
'In extensive works like this tunnel
excavation there have been seveial
plutis for thawing dynamite. Tt.e m st
common home-maue ti.aw house n a
box Willi a slediii coll on the floor,
over which the dynamite Is suppoited
on slats.
"This method offered an excel
lent opportunity for nitron:
to exclude If the tempeiau1
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n imd discovery Is generally made at the cost pi'Vw ' '"'y " " ' : H' . ; ' ' ,r ' --." II
Hieht of an explosion that wrecks the building, ID 1 . . 'A t . ' I I
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"..I X... . - TS
rvs Itina a neip-o ctretehod out
jileep on n bench, with a dozen ni"
boys shooting craps u round a t.ible.
beside thorn on a hot radiator were
Sticks of dynatalte, thawing, whllo over
thivlr hoadt wu stored 400 pounds more.
Another Inspector came cn a man ore.ik
lng open a box of gelatine comiound, even
more powerful than dynamite, with his
boot heel. Had hts heel gone a fraction of
an Inch too far into the box there would
have been an explosion which would have
'Killed him and left a hole in the- ground
Miur enough to bury a horse.
third Inspector, at Klmberley, South
Africa, saw ono of the Kaffir watchmen
sitting In the shade of the corrugated Iron
magazine smoking a plpo. He had been
repeatedly warned that smoking; was con
trary to orders and the officer beckoned t4
him. Before the Kaffir could rise there
won an explosion of "5,000 pounds of high
explosives and Ii5,ou0 pounds of gunpowder.
A spark from the pipe had Ignited some
powdr which had leaked out through a
crack In the Iwuse.
Innpector Wolf of the bureau of combus
tibles soys that all the recent acci
dents In New York and Its vicinity were
undoubtedly due not to the fact that those
In-authority did not prepare rules provid
ing proper precautions, but to the careless
ness of workmen.
"There are no doubt placea In which high
explosives are stored In amounts In excess
of that allowed by the law," Inspector Wolf
continued. "I have been spending days and
nights In Investigating places In which
such, violations have been reported.
"Hut so long as building operations con
tinue In their present magnitude, and the
demands for excavations are as great, the
law, as It at present exists, Is Inadequate,
specially Is this true during the winter
months, when a larger quantity of the ex
ploitive is required In order that 1t may be
thawed for use. Frozen dynamite, you
know. Is Ineffective, and, being practically
nonexploslve Is much less dangerous to
have, In bulk In the city.
In spite of the Immense quantities of
dynamite that has been used In re
cent' years. New Turk has been com
paratively free from disastrous accidents.
The most serious of all was tliat on Tark
avonue near the Murray III1I hotel In Janu
ary, lS9i during the construction of the
subway. This, it Is believed, was caused
find some new and startling trait. As this
discovery Is generally mude at the cost
of an explosion that wrecks the building,
Its value Is a problem that Is left for the
Investigator who follows.
One of the earlier Du Ponts while show
ing some army officers through the plant
In Delaware was killed In one of tlio retort
rooms. A man who had been In the room
but a few minutes before the explosion
raid thut the muss of nitroglycerine was
boiling and bubbling the way that, ac
cording to all precedents. It should. But
something happened In a minute, or per
haps a second, that brought Instant death
and destruction.
Whllo a Are which destroyed a pier In
Hoboken In May, 1901, was In progress
a carload of dynumlte was pulled out, a
mass of flames. It was rushed, blazing
fiercely back Into tho yards, water wa
turned on, and flames were extinguished.
There was no explosion.
Yet a spark from a passing locomotive
falling into a brush heup against a
magazine at the Laguna Pain, Ariz., caused
an explosion In which 1,000 pounds of
powder and dynamite were exploded, caus
ing great damage to property and serious
Injury to many persons.
A powder wagon containing 3,000 pounds
of dynamite was struck by a passenger
train at a crossing near St. Louis, Mo.
The wagon was demolished, the mule at
, tached to It was killed and dynamite was
scattered all over the right-of-way. But
there was no explosion.
, At Jelllco, Tenn., fifteen persons were
said to have been killed and many Injured
by tho explosion of a car of dynamite.
An Investigation showed that the car had
been shot Into by a person using one of
the powdes cards ns a target.
Shooting Into dynamite seems to be ono
of the sure and certain ways of causing
an explosion. The records are full of ac
counts of catastrophes caused by Ignorant
people shooting at the magazines.
The explosion of three cars of dynamite
at Johannesburg, South Africa, In which
a score of peoplo were killed, was laid to
a stray bullet. Boys shooting Into old
buildings that were formerly used fur
storing explosives have on several occa
sions been credited with lessening trie
tramrj population.
The desire of all experimenters In high
explosives Is to make one that shall have
came unduly high, and for It to drop
on the hot Iron pipe. Well, nitro
glycerine that drops from the height of a
foot onto a hot metallic surface will ex
plodeyou can try this yourself by drop
ping a little on the top of a stove and as
a result a good many thaw houses come to
a sudden and unexpected end.
"The method which Is employed here Is
to have a small building heated by steam
or hot pipes. The pipes or radiators are
placed at one end of the room and en
cased In such a manner that It Is not possi
ble for any one to put dynamite where It
can touch them or where any drop of nitro
glycerine which might exude from the
cartridges would come in contact with the
pipes or radiators and so possibly cause
an explosion.
"One of the most remarkable Incidents
In the thawing line Is reported in an
Hngllsh blue book of 1905. A farmhand at
Wheatley, near St. Paul, Minn., drank a
small bottle of nitroglycerine on a wager.
He was found afterward by the roadside
frozen to death. The corpse was placed In
an out-bulldlng near a stove, In order that
It might be thawed, when the nltroglyi erlne
exploded and wrecked the building.
"Dynamiters hear some strange stories.
One that was told mes happening in Lus
ted, Ore., was of a man who In trying to
kill a dog fastened him to a tree, tied a
dynamite cartridge to the dog's tall and ran.
"But the dog broke loose and followed
him. The man took refuge in the houso,
and opened up a fusillade of household
utensils to drive the beast away. The unl
mal retreated beneath the house, where the
cartridge exploded, doing nlmost as much
damage. t tle inun as to the dog.
"But nitroglycerin!) is a queer stuff, nny
wuy. About the only thing that I have
learned for sure about It after being around
the works where It la made is that It blows
out the walls of buildings when It explodes,
while the powder blows off the roof.
. "For that reason you wl)l find around a
nitroglycerine house an earthwork that
makes It look like a small fortress. When
ever there Is an explosion '"sou can look
over the walls of this rampart and about
all that yau can see of what wus there
before Is a lot of kindling wood piled up
somewhat recklesslly In the center of the
space.
"People who work with the dangerous
stuff seem to get mighty careless In Its
use. I remember of a gang of workmen
over In New Jersey who were playing cards
at a table where one of the legs was too
short.
"Ono of the fellows thought to remedy
this by putting a piece of dynamite, which
was the most convenient tning ai nana,
under It. It was all light until tho dis
cussion became heated and they began to
pound on the table. When thu smoke
cleared away there were several missing
arms und leys and other portions of
anatomy.
"Grumplness Is the worst fault of these
workers. Whenever a man gets grumpy
the best thing that can happen to him Is to
get fired. Just out of pure cussedness you
will find thut fellow beginning to bring
knives and pieces of metal Into the works
In strict violation of orders. Just na likely
us not you will find him hiding about him
self n plre and matches and at noontlms
ho will be out smoking under a tree talk
ing to himself.
"I don't know Just why this Is. It la
certainly not caused by nervous strain,
for these men working every day In the
greatest danger, apparently have no Idea
of fear as the ordinary person understands
It. On the other hand, a man who Is dally
exposed to peril In his work In the factory
will go all to plepes over some perfeotly
absurd thing outside.
"This lost winter on a ferryboat crossing
the Delaware were a number of people em
ployed In the nitroglycerine works. The
bn.it got stuck In the Ice and most of the
passengers got off without much remon
strance and walked to the shore. But
every one of those nitroglycerine work
men was afraid to leave the boat, and
they spent part of the night there rather
than take the risk of going over the Ice.
"A big follow who carries cartridges of
plant gelatine down into submarine works,
w hich most anybody would consider as the
most dangerous employment in the world,
was down at one of the nitroglycerine
factories. He wanted to see, he said, how
the stuff that ho handled was made.
"After ho hnd been throunh the plant he
went up to one of tho workmen and said:
" 'How much do you get a day hereT "
" 'Two dollars and a half," was the reply.
" 'Why, I wouldn't stay around here an
other day for $250,000,' said the big fel
low, and he went happily back to his
gelatine toting."
ress of Application in the Field of Electricity
Prog,
Electrical Trains tn Jlew York.
HE substitution of electric motors
for steam locomotives on the Har
lem division of the New York
Central railroad became a fixed
fact last week. At present the
electric division of thirteen mites extends
from the Grand Central station to Wake
field. All passenger trains, 152 In cumber,
discard locomotives at Wakefield and are
drawn to and from the station by electric
motors. Eventually the electric zone will
by the making of primers In the thawing Kreat power and also be safe for those eltelld thirty-five miles on the Hudson
house, combined with a fire In the waste
paper from the wrappers around the ex
plosives." Mr. Wolf said that there had been no
official statistics preserved of the accidents
In the city and taelr causes, and that the
bureau depended for Information In this
respect almost entirely on newspaper clip
pings. In this country there Is little, If
ny, government or state inspection of ex
plosive factories analogous to that In Great
Britain.
In European countries rules governing the
manufacture, transportation and storage of
who .must handle It. Some compounds of
nitroglycerine are said to withstand even
the shooting test and also the test of hav
ing a redhot Iron pushed through It.
"Winter is the open season ton dynamite
explosions," said one of the men who had
charge of a thawing house at the Pennsyl
vania tunnel excavation. "Dynamite freezes
at a temperature between 45 and 60 degrees
Fahrenheit, and If you want to do any
thing with It you must get It back to Its
summer temperature.
"This Is not as easy as It sounds, for It
Is no small matter to get the tricky stuff
I
buffers, Ice cream freezer, dish washers,
bread mixers, dumb elevators, are all
driven by the electric motors If desired.
The convenience of electrical power In the
household has long been recognized and the
tve of sniull motors has bejme practically
a necessity.
Besides the various household uses to
which the motors are adapu they can be
used to saw wood, cut the ensilage, cut
and elevate the silo, pump water, separate
the cream and churn. In the repair shop,
for grinding chicken feed, sjpplylng power
for elder presses, corn shellers, bottle clean
ers, milking machines and a dozen other
things.
Aitlsans, such as Jewelers, tailors, tin
smiths, locksmiths, dentists, tinkers, print
ers, carpenters and machinists make prac-
river division and forty miles on the Har
lem division. Two Urge power houses, one
at Mount Morris and the other at Yonkers,
were provided for, each to have HO-horse
power capacity, with eight substations. The
thlrd-ralt system was adopted. '
On the original estimate the cost of the tlcal use of the motor in their work. In the
work, was about i0,GO0.000, although part machine shops the lathes, drills, emery
the dangerous products are made by the Just warm enough and not too warm. It
different governments, and an employe who
violates these laws Is not only discharged,
but fined and often Imprisoned as well.
The methods of thawing dynamite and other
nitroglycerine explosives are specified by
law and Infractions are punished by the
courts.
Magazines for storage are examined by
government Inspectors and licenses Issued
before they can be used. Even the keys
to magazines must be given to responsible
t-ersons. whose sole duty Is to look after
explosives. In Great Britain the law even
' specifiea that an employe of a factory mak
ing explosives must be provided 'with cloth
ing made of I'.onlnflammable material and
having no po-'kets.
A reserve supply of high explosives Is
kept by manufacturers and big contractors
In bargea In the lower bay. while at Iona
Island up the Hudson, Delow West Point,
Is a government magazine. Each morning
the day's supply is broght to the city In
barges and this little craft, well known to
all river men by the red flags they fly, have
a right of way that none attempts to dis
pute. The explosives are transported from the
pler through the streets In a wagon, whl h,
according to the regulations of the city,
must have painted on It "In easily legible
letters, at least six Inches high, 'Powder
Wagon' ou sides and back." The driver
muat hold a certificate of fitness: no ln-
must be Just warm enough In order to gain
its full efficiency, while If It gets too wsrm
of this was for an enlargement of the
Grand Central station and the terminals.
Great as this expense was, many railroad
men believed there would be quick return
from thfe Investment, for the offlciala de
clared they could run the suburban trains
on a two-minute schedule, and It was b'
lieved that the suburban business under
wheels and grinders, drill presses, boring
mills, etc., are all motor driven. The car
penter uses the power to run his small
saws, shapers, grinders and planers.
Among the many novelties In motor
driven machines are the floor planers and
waxing brushes for use In large halls, the
motor driven vacuum curry comb for
It will become efficient In entirely too short these circumstances would be larger than horses and cattle, the shoe blacking ma-
any railroad had ever attempted to handle.
The decrease of steam operation has
brought about greatly Improved condi
tions In the yards and tunnel, the com
pany has been able to retire worn out
locomotives for repair, and electric oper
ation has cut down the running time of
local trains sewral minutes.
order.
"We read In the papers that somewhere
out In the coal mlnli.g districts of Pennsyl
vania a miner's hut has been blown up. It
Is ten to one that fellow had put a
stick of dynamite on the kitchen stove to
thaw It out, and had gone away und for
gotten It; or else he had left it underneath
the stove and the baby had got it and made
a plaything of It.
"Out In the West tn constructing roads
and building tunnels the workmen oftin
set the sticks up along a roadside to dry
in the sun. The method is good enough
If the sticks do not fall against each other,
or if some one does not fire off a gun near
by. If either of these things should happen
the chances are there will be a big hole
la the ground and an opening for another
powder monkey.
"If the sun Is not hot enough they gene,
rally build a fine near by und expect the
warmth of the flames to nut life into the
dynamite. But If a spark happons to shoot so-called split-phase moor. The expense
t see of Small Motors.
Each year the small electric motor finds
new tasks to do, until now almost every
thing about the house, office or shop which
requires sniull power is operated with a
motor wherever electricity Is available.
The different kinds of work which are re
quired of these motors every day are past
all attempts at cataloguing and more ex
tensive than anyone not connected with the
business would Imagine. The demand for
a small aelf-starting motor which Is thor
oughly reliable and can be had at a small
cost has been met by the production of
chine, the stamp canceller for postofflce
work, an automatic engine stop to prevent
steam engines from running away In case
the load Is suddenly removed, air com
pressors for barber shops, air pumps, auto
matic musiial instruments, adding ma
chines, revolving signs, cue cnalkers, exer
cising machines hat cleaners, coffee grind-'
ern, horseradish graters, candy pullers. Ice
crushers, cash carriers, motor vacuum
varlblllty In the apparent efficiency of Hertz
""sve apparatus has been repeatedly ob
served before. Rear Admiral Brownson's
flagship, the West Virginia, furnished an
Illustration of the phenomenon when It
was bringing President Il-osevelt home
from New Orleans a year ago last autumn.
It is doubtful whether under ordinary cir
cumstances the cruiser could send In
telligible signals more than 300, or, at the
utmost, EoO miles. Yet while it was In the
Gulf of M'xico dispatclies which were
meant for Key West were picked up at
Norfolk. Washington and even in Kansas!
Though no harm resulted from the oc
currence, they reached a number of ears
for which they were not Intended.
For some of the Inequalities In the range
of a particular transmitter adequate ex
planations have been found, reports the
New York Tribune. One type of receiving
Instrument Is more sensitive than another,
and hence will respond at a greater dlstmce
from the source of the wave Impulses.
Again, the degree of resistance to the ether
waves which Is offered by the atmcsphere
varies. Sometimes an effect Is produced
like the obstruction to ordinary light that
Is presented by dust or thin fog. It ap
pears to be Independent, too, of the
paralyzing influence f direct sunlight.
Still another supposition has been advanced
to account for the experience of the Kaler
Wilhelm II. It Is briefly mentioned In the
Engineering Supplement nf the fmd'in
Times, but withrut any dear Indication of
Its origin. The oi Inlr.n In expressed th't
in certain localities at sea a transmitter
will work better than It will rlaewhere.
combs and a large variety of small special The North German Llcyd shin was e'thr
machinery.
The motors range In size from one which
can be carried In the vest pocket to a flve
horsepowec machine.
over Into the bunch it not Infrequently has
A sudden and startling result.
"I remember one rase where an Italian
was left to watch some dynsmlte drying
thus and the boss had told him that If a
spark Ignited one of the sticks to pick It
Wireless Trleuraplilc FreaUs.
Officers cf the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm
11 tell a story which possibly may have a
fcpvciul significance. This vessel Is pro
vided with an outfit lor wireless telegraphy
whose range was supposed to be only about
t miles. It has been nottrtd, however,
of running these motors Is very slight, as that messages cun occasionally be ex
nT Dutch coast rr netr the b-nkx nf
Newfoundland when It s'cured Its best re
sult" und th us"t.'lon ' entertntped 'hit
a rolit'on lt tvwn S"m -v"e,ou
crn'f'nns In those plor. snd the ef"'en'v
nf t enninmnt. Well. If mr tv th
cn, it Is stmrgre thst the theory has no'
ol t!n-d rii-ronrv sooner. Operators en
other steamshlns thsn the Kaiser have had
th rm-!tinlt v to d'scver whter rne
Tn nf tie ocn Is mor. 'avnrsl'l' tm
another tn irels toleeTanhle r-mmnnl-ratlon.
but thoy hnve annerent'v fa1ld tl
observe anvthln rf t'' kind. If r-e-mn-
aistance to which It was able to send mes- enough, Mr. Garland had three persona
sages had no relution. Join hands and ono of tljem took hold of
( the aerial lamp. When the switch wu
I.lshtlna- by Wireless. again turned he found that It produced a
That the principles of wireless telerrra- perceptible Increase In the Intensity of the
phy may be applied In transmitting through light.
the air as a medium electricity sufficient to
light an electric lamp or a series of lamps
has been practically demonstrated by R.
B. Garland of Anaonla. Conn, former su
perintendent of the fire, alarm system. He
has been employing his period of recupera
tion from an nccldent which happened to
him several weeks ago to carry out experi
ments along this lire.
Mr. Garland's recent demonstration of
the importance of the discovery of wire
less telegraphy is a result of recent ex
periments along this line carried on by
some eminent French electricians. Al
though his apparatus was somewhat crude,
which affected his results, the experiment,
he believes, proved beyond reasonable
doubt that he could produce electrical
waves of a high voltage and transmit
power through the ulr without any direct
communication.
In this experiment ten dry cells were
used, although a storage battery could be
employed. Fifty foot from these cells In
his house an Induction coll was placed and
connected with an ordinary Incandescent
lamp. One side of the secondary, or high
tension, winding of this coil was grounded
with a gasplpe, while a condenser was
bridged across the two pole plena of the
primary circuit. The other side of the sec
ondary circuit was Ubed as the aerlul con
ductor. At this distance Mr. Garland found that
the ten cells would produce on the primary
winding of the Induction coll a voltage of
about fifteen, which varied ' c.r.'.y slightly
as the distance between the cells and the
Induction coll was decreased The lamp
employed was an ordinary Incandescent
street lamp of twenty-five ca ndlepower.
One conductor of this lamp was grounded
to a water pipe and a suitable resistance
cut In on the other pole leading to the
aerlul conductor, which consisted simply
of the brass Jiole pieces attached to tho
lamb.
To further test the practicability of tli
experiment Mr. Garland closed the ad-
they use current only In proportion to the changed with ships or land stations two or jmiiart) v like thnt odr i"isslVn Joining rooms, thus closeting the battery
vehicle, and Slicking within ten feet of It up and hurl It awa as far as possible.
work done, and best of all, they require
Utile If any attention. In de home the
fans, sewing machine, washing machine,
meat choppers, ash sifters, massage rolls,
lawn mowers, carpet sweepers, grinders and
three times as far away, and at least twice
this winter the Caroula waa successfully
reached when between l.OoO and l.&tt miles
distant.
A remarkable, if cot an equally extruue,
reallv exists It l reasnnnhl" to thlrk rnt
It would rave been detected VMM ago.
T'ntll convincing evidence to the contrary
Is afforded, therefore It wil' h snfe to
assume that the Kaiser's position and the
to see If tho Interposition of the wooden
riurs Would affect the electric waves.
This, however, showed no appreciable ef
fect onhe Intensity of the light.
Believing the condenser was not strong
Illtrhlns; Ian to Electric Motors.
Elect rlo power from sunlight appears
more worftlerful than harnessing the
streams or wind. Yet we know something
of the vast heat of the sun.
Solar engines for operating pumps have
bwn in use In different parts of the earth
for several years now, and their value la
warm climates, where the number of day
of clear sunshine averages high, must
steadily Increase, One of the most suc
cessful of these solar machines, says a
writer In Bt. Nicholas, is located near Log
Angeles to irrigate fruit land. An auto
matic stand carrying great reflectors fol
lows the course of the sun as regularly as
the best telescope ever made, and the sun's
rays sre thus reflected on a central point,
where the boiler of a small engine is lo
cated. Within an hour after sunrise th
heat of the sun raises the temperature oi
the water to the boiling point, and thug
creates stoam: and the pumping machinery
begins its day's work and keep it up until
sundown.
The power of the sun for heating has
only leen faintly appreciated by scien
tists In the pat. but ,th prediction Is
made now that If all the coal should give
out we would soon be able to run much
of our machinery from the povrer of the
sun. With Boo mirrors properly arranged to
focus thi rays upon one point, a tempera
ture of more than 1,000 degrees haa been ob
tained. This almost equals one-fifth the
hlstw-ht toniporuturo recorded by the elec
tric furn io which is considered today the
most powerful heating apparatus ever dis
covered. As there Is no limit to the num-ttt-r
of mirrors that may be employed, and
as the Intensity of the heat Increases In
proportion to the number of rays reflated
by the mirrors, It is conceivable that a
temperature may be obtained In time that
will surpass anything ever dreamed of in
the past or prestnt.
Hitching the sun to run electiia motors
for furnishing light and cw'r for our
homes and factories Is the very latest
achievement of the modern work of har
neeslng the elements to do man's work;
and one squars yard of sunshine fn the
tropica may represent, on the average, ooe
horse power.