,illustration ,,dynamite ,,stories ,,and ,,some ,,interesting ,,facts ,,about ,,explosives ,,by ,,hudson ,,maxim ,author of ,defenseless ,america1 ,the ,science of ,poetry and the ,philosophy of ,language1 etc4 ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,,hearst',s ,,international ,,library ,,co4 ,copyright1 #aiaf1 by ,,hudson ,,maxim ,all rights reserved1 including that of translation into the foreign languages1 including the ,scandinavian ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,u4 ,s4 ,a4 ,,dedication ,to the actors in the comedies and tragedies of real life presented in these stories1 without whose efforts and sacrifices the stories could not have been so interesting and true1 this volume is with grateful acknowledgments most respectfully dedicated4 ,as the parts played by the actors were not rehearsed1 the performances have required a little retouching in the interest of the reader1 the author having subordinated history to story rather than story to history4 ,,hudson ,,maxim4 ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,page ,,introduction #a ,,the ,,forgotten ,,bit ,,of ,,fulminate #be ,,hell ,,swazey ,,breaks ,,up ,,the ,,dance #bi ,,the ,,poet',s ,,uplift #cd ,,how ,,bender ,,lowered ,,the ,,price ,,of ,,dynamite #ci ,,foolhardy ,,kruger #db ,,discharging ,,pat #de ,,lines ,,to ,a ,,lady #dg ,,he ,,separated #ej ,,the ,,well-,,digger',s ,,casualties #ec ,,the ,,rival ,,editors #ee ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,jeopardy #eh ,,the ,,involuntary ,,attack #ei ,,hoist ,,with ,,his ,,own ,,petard #fb ,,the ,,forgotten ,,precaution #fd ,,the ,,fatal ,,hat #fg ,a ,,drop ,,too ,,much #fh ,a ,,close ,,call #gj ,a ,,pickaninny',s ,,treasure ,,trove #gb ,,not ,,to ,,be ,,buncoed #gc ,,sir ,,frederick',s ,,bonfire #gf ,,the ,,irreverent ,,native #gi ,,at ,,folly',s ,,mercy #hj ,,the ,,watchman',s ,,double ,,vision #hb ,,the ,,zealous ,,fool #hd ,,some ,,lively ,,cotton ,,waste #hg ,,saving ,,time #hh ,,the ,,broken ,,scale #ij ,,the ,,singular ,,good ,,fortune ,,of ,a ,,gentle ,,englishman #ib ,,the ,,match ,,at ,,the ,,peep-,,hole #id ,,the ,,flask ,,of ,,liquor #if ,,impertinence ,,punished #ig ,,curiosity',s ,,uplift #ii ,,proud ,,even ,,unto ,,death #aja ,,the ,,dog ,,that ,,ate ,,dynamite #ajd ,,insecure ,,security #ajf ,,the ,,loaded ,,chinaman #ajh ,,living ,,bombs #aaj ,,ships ,,that ,,passed ,,in ,,the ,,night #aab ,a ,,wild ,,projectile #aad ,,the ,,bomb ,,and ,,the ,,train #aae ,,the ,,missing ,,vessel #aag ,,the ,,drunken ,,messenger #aah ,,nitroglycerin ,,by ,,automobile #abb ,,the ,,jets ,,of ,,blue #abg ,,the ,,wisdom ,,of ,,retreat #abi ,,the ,,race ,,with ,,death #aca ,,the ,,indomitable ,,poet #acd ,,scattered #acf ,a ,,lively ,,dead ,,one #ach ,,incidents ,,in ,,the ,,development ,,of ,,motorite #aci ,,the ,,mule ,,gun #aeb ,,how ,,gussie ,,got ,,loaded #aed ,,dynamite',s ,,freak #aee ,,explosive ,,vagaries #aeg ,,the ,,turkey ,,that ,,went ,,to ,,bed #afj ,,bill ,,bennett1 ,,detective #afb ,,winning ,,the ,,ox #afd ,a ,,duel ,,to ,,the ,,death #aff ,,the ,,bewitched ,,flintlock #afh ,,when ,,he ,,shirked #aga ,,the ,,elevation ,,of ,,womanhood #agc ,,didn',t ,,know ,,it ,,was ,,loaded #agh ,,the ,,wrong ,,tap #ahj ,,whence ,,all ,,but ,,him ,,had ,,fled #ahb ,,breaking ,,his ,,nerve #ahd ,,the ,,grizzly ,,cannon ,,ball #ahf ,,the ,,joke ,,was ,,not ,,on ,,the ,,chinamen #ahh ,,chinese ,,fireworks #aij ,,brown1 ,,the ,,gunner #aic ,,the ,,happening ,,of ,,the ,,unexpected #aie ,,when ,,the ,,wash ,,vanished #bjg ,,the ,,frightened ,,fisherman #baa ,,the ,,colonel ,,was ,,provoked #bac ,,when ,,the ,,darkies ,,turned ,,pale #bae ,,the ,,dog ,,that ,,was ,a ,,real ,,mascot #bah ,,weary ,,willie',s ,,discomfiture #bbj ,,lo1 ,,the ,,poor ,,indian6 #bbd ,,dynamite ,,stories ,,introduction ,,some ,,interesting ,,facts ,,about ,,explosives ,an explosive material consists of a combustible and of an oxidizing agent for burning the combustible4 ,hence it contains within its own substance the necessary oxygen for its combustion1 so that it will burn without atmospheric air and therefore in a confined space4 ,there are two main kinds of explosive materials--high explosives and gunpowder4 ,there are also two main kinds of high explosives--dynamites and military high explosives4 ,lastly there are two main kinds of gunpowders--black1 smoky gunpowder and smokeless gunpowder4 ,dynamite is used mostly for commercial blasting purposes1 such as blasting rock in the construction of railways1 and so forth4 ,military high explosives are mostly employed for submarine mines1 warheads for torpedoes1 and as bursting charges for high explosive projectiles4 ,a high explosive is consumed almost instantly by what is called a detonative wave2 hence it is said to detonate4 ,when gunpowder explodes1 it is not consumed by a detonative wave1 but burns from the surface1 and the more strongly it is confined1 that is to say1 the higher the pressure under which it is burned1 the more rapid is its combustion4 ,although the action is rapid1 it is yet much slower than is the action of detonation of high explosives4 ,the name gunpowder is a misnomer1 for gunpowder is no longer a powder1 but is made in the form of hard and dense grains or sticks1 according to the use for which it is intended4 ,a gunpowder is smoky when its products of combustion are not all gaseous4 ,only about forty-four per cent4 of the products of combustion of black gunpowder is gaseous4 ,the rest is inert solid matter1 which makes the smoke4 ,the products of combustion of smokeless powder1 however1 are practically all gaseous4 ,consequently1 weight for weight1 it is much more powerful than black powder4 ,black gunpowder is a mechanical mixture of charcoal1 sulphur and saltpeter1 the charcoal and sulphur being the combustible elements1 and the saltpeter the oxidizing element or the element that supplies the oxygen4 ,in smokeless powder the oxygen is held in chemical union with nitrogen and hydrogen1 but the bond between the nitrogen and the other elements is weak1 so that when ignited the other more active elements are enabled easily to unite at the expense of the nitrogen4 ,in the combustion of all explosive materials1 great heat is generated1 and the force of the explosion is dependent upon the volume of gases and the high temperature to which they are raised4 ,the smokeless powder used in the ,united ,states is made by dissolving a special kind of guncotton or nitrocellulose in ether and alcohol1 just sufficient of the solvent being used to gelatinate the nitrocellulose1 which is then stuffed through a forming die into rods4 ,the rods are cut into sections of about three diameters long4 ,the die1 the invention of the writer1 contains seven mandrels arranged in such wise that when the material is forced through the die the bar is multi-perforated with seven holes at equal distances apart4 ,the grains or rods of smokeless powder are then dried for use4 ,when burned in a cannon1 all of the surfaces of the material are practically instantly ignited by a small flash charge of black rifle powder used for the purpose of setting fire to the charge of smokeless powder4 ,the combustion in the perforations causes them to become larger and larger until the grain is all consumed4 ,this form of grain tends better to maintain the pressure behind the projectile in its flight through the gun1 and enables the use of larger charges of powder with lower pressures than could otherwise be employed4 ,in fact1 it would be impossible to use a smokeless powder made of pure nitrocellulose in big guns without the multi-perforations4 ,in certain ,european countries where the multi-perforated powder has not been adopted1 nitroglycerin is employed1 combined with the nitrocellulose1 which causes the material to burn through a greater thickness in a given time4 ,thus a smokeless powder may be made without the multi-perforations1 but smokeless powders containing nitroglycerin erode the guns and destroy them very quickly1 while guns employing pure nitrocellulose smokeless powders last much longer4 ,when one of our big army or navy cannon is fired1 the time which elapses from the instant of complete ignition of the powder charge to the instant that the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun is about the fiftieth or the sixtieth of a second1 and in that time the hard and horn-like smokeless powder material is burned through only about a sixteenth of an inch2 hence the rate of combustion or rate of explosion of smokeless powder in a cannon is about four inches per second1 while it has been ascertained by actual experiments that the rate of combustion or rate of explosion of dynamite and other high explosives is about four miles per second1 so that the rate of consumption of smokeless powder1 as compared to that of a high explosive1 is as are four inches to four miles4 ,as the time required for the projectile to be thrown from a twelve-inch cannon is only about the sixtieth of a second1 sixty of these huge guns could be placed side by side and fired by electricity one after the other1 while grandfather's clock is making but one tick4 ,our ideas of duration are but relative4 ,we have seen that the combustion in a cannon1 though very rapid to our senses1 is actually very slow indeed as compared with the much more rapid combustion of a high explosive2 and great as is the speed of the detonative wave1 yet the speed of the earth in its orbit is four times as great4 ,if a celestial giant with a huge dynamite bomb the size of the earth itself were to approach the earth in its flight through space1 and detonate the bomb immediately behind the earth1 it would take half an hour for the bomb to explode1 that is to say1 it would take half an hour1 or thirty minutes1 for the explosive wave to pass through the eight thousand miles of its diameter4 ,as the speed of the earth in its orbit is four times as great as that of the explosive wave1 the earth would rush away1 leaving the bomb about thirty thousand miles behind by the time it had completely exploded4 ,if the interstellar ether were a high explosive mixture and were to be set off by the bomb1 the earth would pass on clear around the sun1 and while coming back1 about six months later1 would meet the explosive wave still going4 ,it would require nearly a year for such a detonative wave to reach our sun from the earth4 ,we have seen that if the earth were a ball of dynamite1 it would require half an hour to explode4 ,if the sun were a mass of dynamite it would require about two and a half days to explode4 ,we frequently hear the theory advanced that planets and suns sometimes explode from pent-up forces within them1 and that our earth might possibly blow up4 ,now1 the force exerted by a high explosive is dependent entirely upon the pressure capable of being exerted by the gases liberated by the explosion4 ,the pressure exerted by the most powerful high explosives has been estimated to be about #ejj1jjj pounds to the square inch4 ,consequently1 were the whole molten interior of the earth to be replaced with dynamite and detonated1 the explosion that would follow would not lift the earth's crust4 ,the superincumbent weight of the earth's crust is greater than would be the pressure exerted by the dynamite4 ,if it were possible to throw a projectile from the earth to the nearest fixed star1 ,alpha ,centauri1 it would take about four years for the light of the flash to reach that star4 ,the sound1 if it could travel through ether1 would reach there about four million years later4 ,the projectile1 traveling more than twice as fast as sound1 would reach there in about two million years4 ,when one of our big twelve-inch cannon is fired1 the projectile1 weighing a thousand pounds1 has a muzzle energy1 stated in mechanical terms1 of about #ej1jjj foot tons1 that is to say1 its energy is equal to #ej1jjj tons falling from a height of one foot--energy enough to lift two #be1jjj-ton battleships to the height of a foot4 ,as the projectile weighs half a ton1 the energy is equal to that which would be developed by dropping the projectile from a height of more than twenty miles1 making no account of the resistance of the atmosphere4 ,dropping upon a piece of armorplate too hard and thick for the projectile to penetrate1 the heat developed would be sufficient to melt #gej pounds of cast iron4 ,when one of these projectiles is fired from the gun directly against twelve-inch armorplate1 which the projectile is capable of penetrating1 the hard-tempered steel plate in front of the projectile is fuzed or rendered plastic from the heat generated by the energy of the impact1 and is forced like wax from the path of the projectile4 ,there are many popular errors regarding the action of explosive materials4 ,one of the most notable is the opinion that the action of dynamite is downward1 and that if a body of high explosive be detonated on the surface of the earth the main effect is downward4 ,the exact opposite is the truth4 ,when a mass of explosive is detonated1 it is converted practically instantly into a ball of incandescent gases and vapors under very high pressure4 ,when confined the gases act to disrupt their container4 ,when a large steel projectile is charged with a high explosive1 like picric acid1 and the explosive detonated1 the walls of the projectile are not only broken but they are also torn1 twisted and shredded1 and so quick is the action that the inner surface of the metal is compressed and densified against the outer metal4 ,for this reason it is easy to tell from the character of the fragments of a projectile whether or not a high explosive or an explosive of inferior power was employed1 that is to say1 whether or not the explosion was of high order or of low order4 ,there is one false belief about the action of high explosives that has been about the hardest of any to kill1 and the cost of killing it has been very expensive4 ,furthermore1 it possesses more lives than the proverbial nine-lived cat4 ,this belief is that five hundred pounds or so of dynamite exploded upon a warship or upon coast fortifications would destroy ship or fortifications1 and that a few of such large bombs of dynamite dropped in a city would lay the city in ruins4 ,upon the advent of the aeroplane and the dirigible balloon1 it was confidently believed that the aerial bomb would quickly become the most destructive implement of warfare4 ,it was prophesied that should war come between ,england and ,germany1 ,london would soon be reduced to a heap of ruins by bombs dropped from the ,german ,zeppelins4 ,several years before the ,european ,war broke out1 ,i predicted that ,zeppelin bombs would not and could not by any possibility work very wide destruction1 and events have since vindicated my prediction4 ,i pointed out the fact that should a hundred ,zeppelins visit the city of ,london1 once a day1 for a year1 returning to their base without mishap1 and each ,zeppelin succeed in destroying two buildings1 the destruction would just about keep up with the growth of that city1 for they build in ,london sixty thousand houses a year4 ,we all remember the destructive powers that were predicted for the fifteen-inch ,zalinski pneumatic dynamite guns that were mounted at ,sandy ,hook and at ,san ,francisco at enormous ,government expense4 ,these guns were capable of throwing with compressed air about six hundred pounds of nitrogelatin to a distance of from a mile-and-a-half to two miles4 ,it was popularly believed that one of these bombs striking upon a huge armorclad warship would utterly destroy it4 ,also two of these guns were mounted in a sort of cruiser called the ,vesuvius4 ,during the ,spanish ,war the ,vesuvius was taken down to ,cuba1 and in one action several of the huge bombs were thrown upon the earthworks and fortifications of the ,spanish4 ,they succeeded merely in mussing up the green1 grassy effect4 ,they did no material damage1 for the reason that the action of the explosive was nearly all upward into the air4 ,when the pneumatic dynamite gun was promulgated1 it was popularly believed that all high explosives were exceedingly sensitive1 and that it was necessary to get them out of the gun very gently if they were to be thrown from ordnance4 ,the writer was the first to dispel this folly1 through the invention of ,maximite1 a high explosive which will stand not only the shock of being fired from heavy guns at high velocities1 but which will also1 without exploding1 stand the far greater shock of penetrating the heaviest armorplate--armorplate as heavy as the projectile will stand to pass through without breaking up4 ,while ,i was working upon ,maximite and trying to get the ,government to adopt it1 ,congress appropriated the money for building an eighteen-inch gun for testing a shell invented by ,louis ,gathmann1 which was intended to destroy battleships by exploding the shell on the outside of their heavy armorplate1 it being believed that if five hundred pounds of guncotton were to be fired against the side of an armored ship and exploded1 the whole side of the ship would be blown in and the vessel destroyed4 ,the gun employed by ,gathmann was essentially the same type of gun as that previously designed by me1 and explained in a lecture by me before the ,royal ,united ,service ,institution of ,great ,britain in #ahig1 and illustrated in a book of mine published the same year by ,eyre ,spottiswoode1 ,british ,government printers1 except that the bore of my gun1 which was of the same weight as that of the ,gathmann gun1 was greater4 ,with my gun1 however1 ,i proposed to throw armor-piercing projectiles1 or projectiles capable of penetrating an object struck and exploding inside of it4 ,i did not believe that a quantity of high explosive that could be thrown in a shell and exploded on the outside of a heavily armored ship would destroy it1 but believed it necessary that the explosive should penetrate and explode inside the ship1 and within earthworks and fortifications in order to destroy them4 ,maximite was adopted by the ,united ,states ,army in #aija4 ,it was during that same year that the experiments were conducted with the ,gathmann shell at ,sandy ,hook4 ,i attended those experiments4 ,two ,kruppized armorplates1 each eleven-and-a-half inches thick1 sixteen feet long1 and seven-and-a-half feet wide1 and each weighing #dg1jjj pounds1 were set up1 one as a target for the ,gathmann shell and the other as a target for the regular ,united ,states twelve-inch ,army ,rifle4 ,each of the plates was backed by supports to represent the same strength as though mounted on a battleship4 ,the ,gathmann shell weighed about eighteen hundred pounds1 and carried about five hundred pounds of guncotton1 while the ,government twelve-inch shell weighed a thousand pounds and carried only twenty-three pounds of ,maximite4 ,the ,gathmann shell had a soft nose1 which collapsed on the plate at the instant before the explosion of the shell1 so that the guncotton might explode fairly against the side of the plate4 ,at the first shot of the ,gathmann gun1 the projectile struck the plate squarely and exploded1 but the only effect upon the plate was to leave a great yellow smudge on its face4 ,the plate was neither cracked nor pushed back4 ,several more shots of the ,gathmann gun were fired1 and although1 under the heavy pummeling1 the plate was pushed back and broken through1 up and down1 it was not otherwise injured4 ,then the ,government twelve-inch gun was fired at the other plate4 ,the first shell contained nineteen pounds of high explosive1 and it passed through the plate1 leaving a clean round hole1 and exploded behind the plate without breaking it4 ,the next shell contained twenty-three pounds of ,maximite1 and the fuze was timed to go off a little quicker4 ,this shell exploded in the plate when about two-thirds through1 with the result that a hole was blown in the plate as big as a barrel1 and the plate shattered into fragments4 ,one would think that these tests would suffice forever to seal the doom of the ,gathmann type of shell4 ,nevertheless1 it matters not what ,army and ,navy officers may learn by experience1 or know without experience1 ,congress does not know and does not understand1 and depends far more upon think-so than upon experience4 ,the result is that ,government officers are often compelled1 as in the case of the ,zalinski dynamite gun and the ,gathmann shell1 to waste large sums of money while they know very well beforehand exactly what the results will be1 and that the tests will prove the devices to be abject failures4 ,even after the failure of the ,gathmann shell1 another shell of almost identical conception and purpose was made and tested under a ,congressional appropriation1 to be relegated to the scrap-heap of failures4 ,it is very fortunate that things happen to be as they are in the cosmos and that the action of a high explosive when exploding against a massive body is to rebound from that body on the line of least resistance4 ,it is for this reason that more damage is not done by great explosions4 ,one of the biggest explosions in the history of gunpowder manufacture occurred at ,pleasant ,prairie1 ,wisconsin1 on the #ith of ,march1 #aiaa1 when it was estimated that a thousand tons of black blasting powder blew up4 ,glass was broken over a very wide area4 ,some glass was broken in ,chicago1 about fifty miles distant4 ,but neither the walls nor the foundations of buildings were greatly disturbed even but a few miles from the explosion4 ,in the village of ,pleasant ,prairie1 at a distance of but two miles1 although the buildings were very much damaged the inhabitants continued to occupy them4 ,early in the morning of ,july #cj1 #aiaf1 a very large quantity1 certainly several hundred tons1 of high explosive materials blew up in ,new ,york ,harbor1 not far from ,ellis ,island4 ,a large quantity of shrapnel ammunition and other ammunition went up in the blast1 their fragments raining all over the surrounding water4 ,there was but very little loss of life1 and the actual material damage to buildings in ,jersey ,city1 ,manhattan and ,brooklyn was astonishingly small1 except the loss from broken glass4 ,why is it1 then1 that so much glass is broken and at such long distances1 while the foundations and walls of buildings suffer but little injury8 ,let me explain4 ,when a quantity of high explosive detonates1 a wave of atmospheric compression is sent outward in all directions by the explosion4 ,it is1 in fact1 a huge sound wave1 and moves exactly at the speed of sound--about eleven hundred feet per second4 ,of course1 buildings or other structures or objects near enough to the explosion to be struck by the expanding gases themselves1 or by the atmosphere immediately propelled forward by them like a projectile1 may be destroyed1 but the area over which this action occurs is so circumscribed that no great damage is apt to result at distances beyond a few hundred feet4 ,however1 the great sound wave may travel to a distance of many miles4 ,consequently1 as a result of the explosion just referred to1 about a million dollars' worth of glass was broken in ,new ,york ,city alone4 ,one would naturally suppose that the fragments of window glass broken in this manner would fall inside a building1 but they do not4 ,almost always they fall outside into the street4 ,the reason for this is that the wave of compression1 striking a pane of glass1 forces it inward nigh to the breaking point1 and then as the wave of compression moves on1 followed by a partial vacuum1 the glass1 springing outward to fill the void1 breaks1 and falls into the street4 ,an interesting incident of this great explosion was staged at ,ellis ,island4 ,there were a goodly number of immigrants on the ,island at the time1 congregated from the four corners of the earth1 some of whom had come to ,america to seek their fortunes in this land of freedom-from-everything-except-freedom1 but many had come to find quiet and security from war's alarums4 ,few of them1 indeed1 had ever felt the comfort of an overcoat1 but many had dreamed of some happy day when they would sport a veritable fur-lined overcoat4 ,when the great explosion came it sounded like the crack of doom1 and most of the immigrants believed it to be the real thing and proceeded with agitated precipitation to get their souls ready for rapid transit over the ,great ,divide4 ,all eyes naturally were averted to the celestial concave1 aglare with the great conflagration1 when suddenly1 to the confounding amaze of all1 a large flock of fur-lined overcoats began tumbling down out of the heavens all over the ,island4 ,it is true they were lined merely with sheep's fur1 but even such a garment is as much the pride of the ,northern ,european peasant as is the broad1 glad-colored sombrero the pride of the ,mexican peon4 ,as the ,government statute books and rules and regulations governing immigrants contain no provision for the disposal of such species of manna as heaven-sent overcoats1 the immigrants were the beneficiaries4 ,great as are such explosions as that at ,pleasant ,prairie and that in ,new ,york ,harbor1 they are but little things indeed compared with the explosions that sometimes accompany volcanic eruptions4 ,mother ,earth is the greatest of all explosive manufacturers4 ,water seeping down into the earth's crust and trapped in large quantities in the neighborhood of volcanoes sometimes becomes heated to high incandescence--heated until it is no longer water or steam1 but mingled oxygen and hydrogen1 far above the temperature of their dissociation--under a pressure so great that they occupy a space no larger than the original water2 consequently the entrapped waters exert a pressure as great as the strongest dynamite4 ,the most notable volcanic explosion that ever occurred in historic time was when that old extinct volcano1 ,krakatoa1 in the ,straits of ,sunda1 that had been sleeping for thousands of years1 was literally blown into the sky by the pressure of the pent-up gases beneath it4 ,this great eruption occurred in #ahhc4 ,more than sixty thousand persons were killed4 ,the captain of a tramp steamer1 who happened to be passing in the vicinity of ,krakatoa at a distance of some miles1 a short time before the explosion occurred1 saw a very strange disturbance in the sea in the direction of the old mountain4 ,taking his glass he saw a perfect ,niagara of water pouring into an enormous fissure that had opened in the earth4 ,he was struck with consternation and rightly imagining that something very serious was likely soon to happen1 he put on all steam to escape1 and luckily he had reached a point which enabled him to survive the effects of the awful blast when it came4 ,the vast mass of water which had tumbled into the bowels of the earth was immediately trapped by the closing of the great fissure down which it had poured4 ,the water was quickly converted by the intense heat into a veritable high explosive1 with the result that the massive mountain was literally blown bodily skyward1 and fell in huge fragments into the surrounding sea4 ,the shock was so great that it was felt clear through the earth1 and an immense tidal wave was set going which encircled the earth4 ,the opposing portions of the great wave1 meeting in the lower ,atlantic1 flowed up even to the coast of ,france4 ,an atmospheric wave passed around the earth three times4 ,it is estimated that the amount of volcanic mud that was discharged from the mountain during the eruption was more than the muddy ,mississippi discharges into the ,gulf of ,mexico in two hundred years4 ,there was so much impalpably fine volcanic dust blown into the upper atmosphere that it did not entirely settle out of the air for more than two years1 which period was noted for its beautiful glowing sunsets1 due to the illumination of the fine dust suspended in the upper air4 ,as the ax is to the woodsman1 so are high explosives to the engineer4 ,with dynamite he hews down the hills1 fills the valleys and tunnels the mountain-range to make a straight and even way for the locomotive4 ,he cuts canals through the width of the land1 uniting rivers and seas4 ,always in the van of civilization1 there is heard the churn of the rock-drill and the echoing crash and roar of the dynamite blast4 ,also it is the huge high explosive shell that makes way for the march of modern armies1 and high explosive mines and torpedoes are the terror of the underseas4 ,all forms of dynamite are high explosives1 and all high explosives may fairly be called dynamite4 ,smokeless gunpowder is actually but a modified form of high explosive4 ,it is dynamite that has been chained and tamed by the chemist's cunning1 so that it will burn without detonation1 and thus permit the utilization of its awful energy to hurl shot and shell from war's great guns4 ,thus it is that dynamite in its varied forms deserves the high place with steam and electricity as one of the great triumvirs that have been the architects of the modern world4 ,,the ,,forgotten ,,bit ,,of ,,fulminate ,in experimenting with high explosives and in their manufacture1 a little absent-mindedness1 a very slight lack of exact caution1 a seemingly insignificant inadvertence for a moment1 may cost one a limb or his life4 ,the incident that cost me my left hand is a case in point4 ,on the day preceding that accident1 ,i had had a gold cap put on a tooth4 ,in consequence1 the tooth ached and kept me awake the greater part of the night4 ,next morning ,i rose early and went down to my factory at ,maxim1 ,new ,jersey4 ,in order to test the dryness of some fulminate compound ,i took a little piece of it1 about the size of an ,english penny1 broke off a small particle1 placed it on a stand outside the laboratory and1 lighting a match1 touched it off4 ,owing to my loss of sleep the night before1 my mind was not so alert as usual1 and ,i forgot to lay aside the remaining piece of fulminate compound1 but1 instead1 held it in my left hand4 ,a spark from the ignited piece entered my left hand between my fingers1 igniting the piece there1 with the result that my hand was blown off to the wrist1 and the next thing ,i saw was the bare end of the wristbone4 ,my face and clothes were bespattered with flesh and filled with slivers of bone4444 ,the following day1 my thumb was found on the top of a building a couple of hundred feet away1 with a sinew attached to it1 which had been pulled out from the elbow4 ,a tourniquet was immediately tightened around my wrist to prevent the flow of blood1 and ,i and two of my assistants walked half a mile down to the railroad1 where we tried to stop an upgoing train with a red flag4 ,but it ran the flag down and went on1 the engineer thinking1 perhaps1 from our wild gesticulations that we were highwaymen4 ,we then walked another half-mile to a farmhouse1 where a horse and wagon were procured4 ,thence ,i was driven to ,farmingdale1 four and a half miles distant1 where ,i had to wait two hours for the next train to ,new ,york4 ,the only physician in the town was an invalid1 ill with tuberculosis4 ,i called on him while waiting1 and condoled with him1 as he was much worse off than was ,i4 ,on arrival in ,new ,york1 ,i was taken in a carriage to the elevated station at the ,brooklyn ,bridge4 ,on reaching my station at ,eighty-fourth ,street1 ,i walked four blocks1 and then up four flights of stairs to my apartments on ,eighty-second ,street1 where the surgeon was awaiting me4 ,it was now evening1 and the accident had occurred at half-past ten o'clock in the morning4 ,that was a pretty hard day6 ,as ,i had no electric lights in the apartments1 only gas1 the surgeon declared that it would be dangerous to administer ether1 and that he must1 therefore1 chloroform me4 ,he added that there was no danger in using chloroform1 if the patient had a strong heart4 ,thereupon ,i asked him to examine my heart1 since1 if there should be the least danger of my dying under the influence of the anesthetic1 ,i wanted to make my will4 ,heart6 exclaimed the surgeon1 with emphasis4 ,a man who has gone through what you have gone through today hasn't any heart6 ,the next day ,i dictated letters to answer my correspondence as usual4 ,the young woman stenographer1 who took my dictation1 remarked1 with a sardonic smile3 ,you1 too1 have now become a shorthand writer4 ,the grim jest appealed to my sense of humor4 ,on the third day ,i was genuinely ill and had no wish to do business4 ,within ten days1 however1 ,i was out again1 attending to my affairs4 ,,hell ,,swazey ,,breaks ,,up ,,the ,,dance ,about the first use of nitroglycerin in the ,united ,states as a blasting agent on a large scale was in the construction of the ,hoosac ,tunnel in ,massachusetts1 on the ,boston and ,albany ,railroad4 ,so many accidents had occurred where the use of nitroglycerin had been attempted1 that engineers and contractors were afraid to employ it4 ,nobel1 however1 had discovered that when nitroglycerin was absorbed in infusorial earth1 it was rendered much less sensitive4 ,this material he called dynamite4 ,a chemist by the name of ,professor ,mowbray believed that the main trouble with nitroglycerin had been that it was not sufficiently purified in its manufacture4 ,he induced the builders of the ,hoosac ,tunnel to try his product4 ,he built a laboratory on the side of ,hoosac ,mountain1 over the village of ,north ,adams1 where he produced the stuff4 ,he put it up in tin cans1 which held about a quart4 ,for transportation these were carefully packed with cotton flannel between them4 ,the method of using the dynamite was to pour it into holes drilled in the rock1 inserting an exploder cap and fuze in the usual manner4 ,at that time it was popularly supposed that if nitroglycerin or dynamite were allowed to freeze1 it became very highly sensitive and would explode on the slightest jar4 ,stories were prevalent that the sound of a fiddle string would explode nitroglycerin when frozen4 ,one day there came an urgent call from the east end of the ,tunnel for more nitroglycerin4 ,professor ,mowbray had in his employ a care-free and fear-free fellow by the name of ,helton ,swazey4 ,when ,swazey was sober1 he was the soul of good nature1 but when drunk1 which was very frequently1 he was as savage as a hungry cougar4 ,this peculiarity earned ,helton ,swazey the nickname of ,hell ,swazey4 ,it was a very cold winter day when the call came1 and ,professor ,mowbray1 learning that ,hell ,swazey was going over the mountain that very evening to attend a dance1 asked him if he would not take over the nitroglycerin with him4 ,a hot-water bag was placed with the nitroglycerin and all was wrapped in a heavy blanket to protect it from ,jack ,frost4 ,the shipment was placed in the back of ,swazey's sleigh4 ,hell ,swazey's best girl1 whom he took with him1 did not know the nature of the cargo4 ,the nine-mile ride over the mountain was very cold4 ,swazey kept himself warm by imbibitions from a flask of liquid caloric1 and to keep the young woman warm he took the blanket and the hot-water bag from the nitroglycerin for her comfort1 leaving the explosive to the mercy of the below-zero weather4 ,when ,swazey arrived at the dance-hall to join in the frolic1 he was in so ugly and meddlesome a mood that he was promptly put out of the hall1 followed by his woman companion4 ,swazey was mad all through4 ,he went to the sleigh1 and taking an armful of the cans of nitroglycerin1 returned to the hall1 and opening the door proceeded to hurl them with all his force at the merry-makers4 ,one can struck upon the stove and glanced across the room4 ,cans smashed against wall1 ceiling and floor4 ,as the frightened occupants fled through the windows1 they did as ,mark ,twain did when he saw the ghost--they did not stop to raise the windows1 but they took the windows with them4 ,in the language of ,mark1 they did not need the windows1 but it was handier to take them than it was to leave them1 and so they took them4 ,when ,hell ,swazey turned up for duty the next morning1 ,professor ,mowbray had already heard of the escapade1 but he was filled with marveling why the nitroglycerin had not exploded1 particularly as it must have been frozen very hard4 ,when ,swazey entered the presence of the ,professor1 he expected immediately to be discharged4 ,he was meek and crestfallen enough1 and began to excuse himself and to apologize for his behavior4 ,to his amazement1 ,professor ,mowbray appeared to be very much interested and pleased1 tapping his forehead with his finger1 smiling and nodding1 and muttering to himself1 ,good2 good2 splendid6 ,he interrogated ,swazey carefully1 to be assured that the nitroglycerin was frozen hard1 that it had been thrown hard1 that it had struck hard1 and that it had not exploded4 ,that very night there was mailed at the ,north ,adams ,post ,office an application for a patent for freezing nitroglycerin to make it safe to handle4 ,,the ,,poet',s ,,uplift ,explosive factories are veritable schools of efficiency4 ,all work is done under the eye of the most vigilant caution1 and the penalty for negligence is so expensive in the destruction of life and property that science1 which is knowledge1 and proceeds from sure premises to safe conclusions1 is the sole guide4 ,it does not do to follow a guess4 ,the dynamite factory is no place for that class of persons who believe themselves to be favorites of ,providence or of ,almighty ,god1 for dynamite plays no favorites4 ,there is probably no other class of persons so little guided by science as are the poets4 ,they pride themselves on the fact that they ignore science4 ,they claim that poetry is a sort of transcendental stuff1 star-dusted from the gods' abode upon only a few persons fortunate enough to be born with a divine afflatus1 which puts them into a fine frenzy--a condition of body and mind partaking somewhat of the ecstaticism of the ,whirling ,dervish1 the spiritual clairvoyant and the soothsayer--a holy hysteria--a delirium-tremendous effervescence of over-soul--in which condition they are able actually to commandeer the co-operation of the ,deity4 ,to heighten the humbug1 the poets claim1 to quote1 that poetry knows no law1 that it is above and beyond all law2 and consequently that it is the antithesis of science1 veritably the despair of science1 defying all attempts at analysis and understanding1 and that1 being an inspired product1 poetry is the greatest achievement of the human mind4 ,the poets would have us believe that all of the great inventors and discoverers1 scientists and philosophers1 have been far inferior to the poets4 ,the poets would have us believe that all the triumphs of chemistry and mechanics have been small compared with the triumphs of poetry4 ,the poets would have us believe that the invention of the phonograph1 of the telephone1 of wireless telegraphy1 the discovery of radium and the ,x-ray1 the discovery of gravitation1 are not equal to such triumphs of the poets as ,aurora ,leigh1 ,curfew ,must ,not ,ring ,tonight1 and ,the ,may ,queen4 ,the poets would have us believe that the discovery of the spectroscope1 which tells the composition of the stars so far away that the light by which we see them now left its source before the building of ,babylon and the founding of the ,egyptian ,pyramids1 is a less wonderful product of the human mind than is ,shelley's ,skylark4 ,it is perfectly safe for the poets to live and move and have their being in error1 but it does not do even for a poet1 when working with explosive materials1 to eliminate scientific procedure1 for in that case he is likely to get an uplift that will sprinkle the feet of the angels with his filamented fragments4 ,this very thing actually once happened in the ,pennsylvania oil region when the poet laureate of his community was blessed by the discovery of petroleum on his otherwise worthless farm4 ,one well sunk by the oil company gushed a large quantity of both oil and natural gas4 ,the royalty received by the poet was immense4 ,one day he conceived the idea of climbing to the top of the oil-derrick and writing a poem to vent his pent-up fervor4 ,he had engaged the services of a photographer to catch his beatitudinations4 ,the sun was just descending the horizon1 and the poet and the top of the derrick were still aglow in the radiance of sunset1 while derrick and poet were enveloped in an explosive mixture of gas and air a hundred feet in diameter4 ,the photographer had said1 ,beady1 look pleasant1 please4 ,this was the moment of inspiration4 ,the poet loosed his divine afflatus and set his fine frenzy to doing things4 ,the following science-confounding doggerel is what he effused3-- ,poetry is a divine art ,and ,i am a poet to the heart1 ,and am writing these lovely lines ,right where the setting sun shines1 ,just at the close of a beautiful day1 ,under the milk-like ,milky ,way1 ,but which cannot be seen just yet though ,because of the sunset's brighter glow4 ,yet ,i know it is there1 and poesy may ,raise me nearer the ,milky ,way4 444 ,and it did1 for at this point the poet struck a match to light a cigarette1 and the explosive mixture of natural gas and air about him fired first4 ,when last seen the poet was headed for the ,milky ,way4 ,,how ,,bender ,,lowered ,,the ,,price ,,of ,,dynamite ,once1 when entering my storage magazine at ,maxim1 ,new ,jersey1 in which were several carloads of dynamite1 along with #cg1jjj pounds of nitrogelatin1 made to fill an order from the ,brazilian ,government1 ,i saw ,john ,bender1 one of my laboring men1 calmly but emphatically opening a case of dynamite with cold chisel and hammer4 ,with some epithetitious phraseology1 ,i dismissed him4 ,it was not long after this incident1 when the ,boniface of the inn at ,farmingdale1 a nearby village1 called upon me to buy some dynamite4 ,he told me that he had employed ,john ,bender to blow the stumps out of a meadow lot4 ,i related to him my experience with that reckless person1 and tried to impress him with the fact that ,bender was temperamentally so constituted as to court death1 not only for himself but for others about him1 when handling dynamite4 ,but ,boniface was unconvinced4 ,he wanted ,bender to do the work and he wanted the dynamite to do it with4 ,bender1 he said1 had assured him that he was a great expert in the handling of dynamite--that he could so place a charge under a stump that he could always tell beforehand the direction the stump would take1 and about how far it would go under the impulse of the blast4 ,therefore1 it was only a question of the price of the dynamite4 ,well1 said ,i1 the dynamite you want is sixteen cents a pound1 but ,i'll bet you the dynamite against the price of it that ,john ,bender kills himself with it1 so that if he does not succeed in blowing himself up and killing himself with the dynamite1 you can have it for nothing4 ,on the other hand1 if he does blow himself up1 you must pay for the dynamite4 ,a few days later1 there was some hitch in ,bender's exceptional luck4 ,a particularly refractory old stump had resisted a couple of ,bender's dynamic attacks4 ,the failure to dislodge the stump ,bender took as a personal affront1 because it reflected upon his skill as a stump-blaster4 ,next time1 said he1 something is going to happen4 ,he placed about twenty pounds of dynamite under the deep-rooted veteran1 touched it off1 and several things happened in very quick succession4 ,the huge stump let go its hold on earth1 and proceeded to hunt ,bender4 ,it was a level race1 but the stump won4 ,striking ,bender on the north quarter1 it stove in four ribs1 dislocated a few joints1 and damaged him in several other respects and particulars4 ,boniface came to settle for the dynamite4 ,sixteen cents a pound1 ,i said4 ,bender hasn't a chance in a hundred4 ,wait till the doctors are through with him4 ,what do you say to a compromise1 suggested ,boniface1 of eight cents a pound8 ,for really1 quoth he1 ,i do not believe that ,bender is more than half dead4 ,and the account was settled on that basis4 ,,foolhardy ,,kruger ,one of the most dare-devil men ,i ever had in my employ was a young fellow by the name of ,joe ,kruger4 ,he was a very hard worker1 and that won pardon for his many indiscretions4 ,i sent him one day to a neighboring explosives works to get a special kind of guncotton made there1 and told him to have it sent by freight in a wet state4 ,instead1 however1 he filled about fifty pounds into a big burlap bag1 in a perfectly dry state1 and took it on the train with him and into the smoking-car1 placing it on the seat beside him4 ,he struck a match1 lighted a cigar1 and smoked throughout the entire journey4 ,had the least spark of match or cigar fallen upon the bag1 the guncotton would have gone off with a tremendous flash and1 although it would not have detonated1 it would have burned him terribly1 as well as any persons sitting near1 and would have blown out all of the windows in the car4 ,at another time1 in order to test the insensitiveness of a certain high explosive1 a quantity of it was charged into a four-inch iron pipe1 and the pipe hung against a tree as a target to ascertain whether or not the bullet would penetrate the high explosive without exploding it4 ,kruger and ,i fired several shots with a ,springfield rifle from cover at long range without hitting the cylinder of explosive4 ,i was then called away and told ,kruger to continue firing until he hit the mark4 ,as soon as ,i left him1 he advanced with the gun to within a few rods of the tree4 ,his first shot penetrated the cylinder1 exploding it with terrific violence1 blowing the tree1 which was about eight inches in diameter1 clean off1 while the fragments of metal flew about his head like hailstones4 ,but none happened to hit him4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the following is the sort of adventure that is likely to happen to anyone under similar circumstances and has doubtless happened before and since4 ,kruger had a dog which was well trained to fetch anything that his master threw for him4 ,one day ,kruger took some sticks of dynamite and went to a neighboring stream with the intention of dynamiting some fish4 ,he attached fuze and exploder to a stick of the explosive1 and threw it toward the stream1 but1 missing his aim1 the dynamite landed on a rock4 ,the faithful dog1 thinking that the stick had been thrown for him to bring1 ran and returned with it to his master in great glee1 with the fuze sizzing nearer and nearer to the explosive4 ,kruger ran in horror1 the dog after him1 deeming it great sport4 ,the dog being the better runner1 danced about his master4 ,finding it impossible to escape by running1 ,kruger climbed a tree with all the alacrity he could muster1 and had just reached a vantage of safety when the dynamite exploded1 and the dog--well1 the dog was holding the stick in his mouth when it went off4 ,,discharging ,,pat ,a works foreman of mine who had been employed as assistant superintendent in another dynamite factory told me the following story3 ,he one day intercepted an ,irish laborer who was taking a barrel1 which had been used for settling nitroglycerin1 down to the soda dry-house1 with the intention of filling it with hot nitrate of soda from the drying-pans4 ,the foreman scolded ,pat roundly1 and told him that1 should he do such a reckless thing again1 he would be instantly discharged4 ,the foreman then went to the superintendent's office and reported the matter4 ,in the meantime1 ,patrick1 utterly ignoring the injunction1 simply waited for the foreman to disappear1 then proceeded to the dry-house with the barrel and began to fill it with the hot nitrate of soda4 ,over in the superintendent's office the foreman had just completed his narration of ,pat's carelessness1 when there was a thunderous report and a crash of glass1 and ,pat's booted foot landed on the office floor between them4 ,the superintendent dryly remarked1 ,evidently1 ,pat is already discharged6 ,,lines ,,to ,a ,,lady ,some years ago1 when ,i was conducting experiments with detonators for my safety delay-action fuze1 which was adopted by the ,united ,states ,navy in #aijh as the service detonating fuze for high-explosive projectiles1 ,i received instructions that a parcel of fulminate detonators1 made at the torpedo station1 had been received and were being held for me at ,fort ,lafayette1 and ,i was told to go to the ,brooklyn ,navy ,yard1 whence ,i would be taken in a tug to the ,fort for them4 ,after having procured the package1 ,i concluded that it would be much more expeditious for me to take a trolley car home than to return by the tug4 ,on entering the car and seating myself1 ,i placed the package beside me on the seat1 keeping my eye constantly upon it4 ,it was1 by the way1 perfectly safe to carry if subject to merely ordinary handling1 but it would not do to jump on it or to kick it about much1 for1 in that case1 there might be some energetic results4 ,no sooner had ,i comfortably seated myself in the car than a huge1 determined1 militant-looking woman entered1 brushing a few small men aside4 ,seeing all the seats occupied except the space where the package was1 she turned and hurled herself backward and downward4 ,her movements were so quick that ,i had barely time to throw my left arm firmly under her1 and1 although ,i am unusually strong1 ,i had all ,i could do to support her enormous bulk4 ,when she felt my arm beneath her1 protecting the package1 she was all the more indignant and determined to crush the package in order to teach me a lesson1 and she glared upon me fiercely4 ,i finally succeeded1 by throwing my shoulder against her1 in toppling her sufficiently to remove the package with my right hand1 and then ,i let her down upon the seat4 ,i seldom wax poetical1 and never permit myself to write verses to ladies when ,i am not sure that they will be gratefully received4 ,but1 in this case1 ,i side-stepped a little from my usual course1 and1 taking my note-book from my pocket1 wrote the following lines1 which ,i folded up nicely1 and when ,i arrived at my street1 ,i handed the paper to ,her ,militancy3 ,dear ,madam1 ,i'm an anarchist4 ,that package was a bomb4 ,i'm on my way ,someone to slay1 ,and this is really true-- ,i didn't want to waste that bomb ,on just the likes of you4 ,,he ,,separated ,the freezing point of dynamite is about eight degrees ,f4 higher than that of water4 ,once frozen1 it remains congealed at temperatures considerably above the freezing point4 ,when solidly frozen1 it can be detonated only with much difficulty1 and even then only with great loss of explosive force4 ,consequently1 when conducting blasting operations in cold weather1 it is necessary to thaw frozen dynamite before using it4 ,the process is neither dangerous nor difficult if conducted with ordinary precautions1 but it may be made full of peril by carelessness or ignorance4 ,a friend of mine named ,roynor1 when gold-hunting in ,alaska1 had as a partner a venerable prospector whose only known name was ,andy4 ,andy was the dynamiter of the combination1 as well as chief cook and dish-washer4 ,the old man used to utilize the oven of the cooking stove for thawing his dynamite4 ,occasionally1 he would forget that the dynamite was there until it was heated to the danger point4 ,these little inadvertencies at last strained the nerves of ,roynor beyond the elastic limit4 ,he remonstrated to his aged partner with all the epithetitious sesquipedalian terminology of which he was capable1 but nothing in the way of language or dynamite had any terrors for the old man4 ,andy1 said ,roynor1 finally1 if you are not more careful with that dynamite1 we are going to separate1 and we are going to separate the very next time you put any dynamite in the oven4 ,the following evening1 as ,roynor was returning from his day's work1 and when nigh the shack where his partner was cooking1 he saw the shack instantly convert itself into a blinding flash1 which solidified into numerous scattered dbris that flew by him and fell round him in abundance4 ,when he recovered from the stunning shock of the explosion and dazedly looked about him1 he saw many fragmentary evidences of the repetition of the prospector's carelessness4 ,well1 ,andy1 he sadly remarked1 ,i told you we should separate the next time you did it4 ,we have separated all right--particularly you4 ,,the ,,well-,,digger',s ,,casualties ,at my laboratory near ,lake ,hopatcong1 one of the natives1 who had made a reputation as a well-digger1 and claimed to be able to descend through more rock in a day than could any other living man1 thought that his strenuous habitude would adapt him to the manufacture of explosive materials1 and with this in view he applied to me for a position4 ,my foreman gave him a job in which his duty was to assist with the rolling of motorite4 ,the foreman gave the fellow explicit instructions about the care necessary to keep his fingers from getting in between the rollers1 as it would not only prove uncomfortable for him were he to shed a finger or a hand1 but it would also spoil the motorite by mixing it with his lacerations4444 ,almost at once1 the end of one finger went4 ,immediately1 the well-digger was discharged1 for his own sake and for the sake of motorite4 ,the man next took a contract to dig a well for one of the cottagers on the ,lake4 ,it was in the early winter4 ,the weather was cold1 and his dynamite froze very hard4 ,he placed it in a bucket of boiling hot water1 which thawed the outer stratum of the frozen stick1 overheating it and rendering it very sensitive1 while the core remained frozen solid4 ,he was too active and impatient a workman to wait long for a stick of dynamite to thaw1 so he took the partly thawed stick1 seized a hatchet1 and proceeded to chop off one end of it4 ,the blow of the ax upon the soft1 overheated1 highly sensitive portion1 compressing it against the frozen interior1 which served as an anvil1 exploded the stick4 ,there was one finger and the thumb left on his right hand which held the ax1 while his left hand1 which had held the dynamite1 and his whole left arm1 were blown away4 ,when he looked about him with the one astonished eye that was left1 he seemed pained that his old friend dynamite had gone back on him in that way4 ,,the ,,rival ,,editors ,the following story was related to me by a professional liar1 and yet ,i have suspicions that it is not true in every detail2 but ,i feel sure that some variant of it has been true more than once1 with the exception of the aerial incident4 ,a certain inventor had invented one of the very often-invented high explosive compounds of chlorate of potash1 sulphur1 charcoal1 paraffin wax1 etc41 thinking that he had made a great discovery4 ,now it happens that there is so much erraticism about high explosive mixtures with chlorate of potash as a base that the pathway of invention of such compounds has been strewn with the wreckage of the hopes and anatomy of their inventors4 ,the inventor had enlisted the financial support of a promoter1 and the promoter was endeavoring to enlist financial support for himself1 and to that end had invited several men of means1 with two rival newspaper editors of the place1 to witness a demonstration of the explosive at the inventor's laboratory1 which was a two-story1 light frame structure4 ,the promoter was letting himself be interviewed by the two editors and other newspaper reporters on the upper floor1 while the inventor was making a demonstration with some of the stuff on the lower floor1 the prospective investors warily watching the proceedings from a respectful distance4 ,the inventor had about half a barrel of the stuff in a tub4 ,he first took a portion of it and pounded it on an anvil to show that it would not explode from shock4 ,next he took a handful of it and threw it into the fire under the boiler1 to show that it would not explode from mere ignition4 ,he then took a hot iron1 which he had brought to a white heat in a forge1 and thrust it into the half barrel of the infernal mixture1 to show that it simply could not be exploded except with a very powerful exploder or detonator4 ,but the mixture happened1 on that occasion1 to differ somewhat from the inventor with respect to the sequence of eventuations--and exploded4 ,the building went up1 and the promoter1 the two editors and the reporters on the upper floor accompanied the building4 ,two of the newspaper men were great rivals4 ,one of them was the editor of the ,clarion and the other the editor of the ,echo4 ,it so happened that the ,clarion had better facilities for getting telegraphic news than the ,echo1 and accordingly the ,clarion was usually able to post its news in advance of the ,echo1 and the editor of the ,clarion used often to chaff his rival with the remark1 ,it's no use to put up your poster now1 for my poster of the same news is just coming down4 ,he called the ,echo the echo of the ,clarion4 ,when the explosion occurred1 the editor of the ,clarion1 being more directly over the explosive than was the editor of the ,echo1 went up farther and faster1 and on his return met the editor of the ,echo still going up1 and called out to him1 ,behind as usual6 ,all of the other fellows are coming down4 ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,jeopardy ,we once had a servant girl whom we nicknamed ,jeopardy1 because she could not be prevented from pouring kerosene directly from the can upon a lighted fire4 ,one day1 ,jeopardy left us very suddenly1 and she never came back4 ,we were sorry she left1 as ,jeopardy was a good girl4 ,it developed that she had chanced to find a fifty-pound case of dynamite sticks in the wood-shed1 which she had been using to start the fire in the kitchen stove4 ,sometimes1 dynamite will work all right for such a purpose1 but it is notional stuff and can not be depended upon merely to burn4 ,it was during one of these intervals of independability that ,jeopardy went4 ,,the ,,involuntary ,,attack ,soon after the invention of the ,maxim automatic machine gun1 ,i took the ,american agency for the introduction of the weapon to the ,united ,states ,government4 ,among the tests that were conducted with the gun at ,sandy ,hook was one known as the sand test1 sand being sifted into the mechanism of the gun1 which was then loaded and fired4 ,the gun went through the test perfectly4 ,the commanding officer1 however1 had not himself been present at the regular tests and arrived upon the scene only after they had been concluded4 ,this particular officer was a dyspeptic1 and was at times very unpleasant and domineering4 ,on this occasion1 he was particularly so4 ,when told by the officers immediately in charge of the tests that they had been concluded1 he peremptorily commanded that the gun should be loaded and fired again4 ,one of the under-officers demurred1 stating that a sand test was a very hard one on the gun1 and that it would be unfair to subject it to unnecessary hardship of that character4 ,that officer was immediately sat upon very hard4 ,the gun was loaded and made ready1 pointing out to sea1 as usual4 ,at this moment1 a schooner was seen rapidly coming into range4 ,the commanding officer1 however1 said that he wanted to see only a few rounds fired1 and that there would be plenty of time to fire them before the schooner came into the zone of danger2 and he immediately gave the command3 ,fire4 ,my assistant1 who was operating the gun1 instantly obeyed4 ,after the discharge of perhaps twenty-five rounds came the command3 ,cease firing6 ,but the gun kept right on4 ,then1 the command came several times in loud shouts1 but the gun did not hear4 ,the rage of the commanding officer was at white heat1 but it did no good4 ,the gun kept right on firing4 ,there were three hundred and thirty-three rounds in the belt1 the weapon had been rigidly clamped to a set direction1 and my assistant1 being a little bit rattled at the loud shouts of the commanding officer1 did not think to unclamp it1 and turn it out of range of the schooner4 ,soon1 a stream of bullets1 flying at the rate of six hundred a minute1 were ricocheting all about the schooner1 and there was wild excitement and waving of hands on board--all to no purpose1 until the last cartridge had been exploded4 ,the trigger had been pulled by the sand and held pulled4 ,it was1 consequently1 impossible to stop the gun from firing1 until the belt of cartridges was exhausted4 ,i felt glad4 ,the subordinate officers also looked gratified4 ,,hoist ,,with ,,his ,,own ,,petard ,liquid nitroglycerin is still used to torpedo the oil-wells when they get old1 in order to give them a new lease of life4 ,there was one teamster in the old days who had become notorious as a hauler of the dangerous explosive4 ,the law does not permit the shipment of the liquid by freight or by express1 and for that reason this teamster had plenty to do in hauling nitroglycerin for long distances4 ,he was a great smoker and his old pipe was always alight1 though he might be riding on a ton of nitroglycerin with a few kegs of black gunpowder chinked into the load4 ,one day he was carrying1 on runners1 about two tons of nitroglycerin and a few odd kegs of gunpowder1 when something happened4 ,there had been a fall of several inches of light snow the evening before1 and the scene of the eventuation was an open field which he was crossing4 ,there was an enormous crater in the ground2 the light snow around the crater was besprinkled with a few shreds of horse and harness and a sliver or two of sled1 but not a trace of the driver was ever found4 ,,the ,,forgotten ,,precaution ,i once hired board and apartments at the house of a ,frenchwoman1 who took in only a few select gentlemen boarders4 ,perhaps ,i may have been justly esteemed the star boarder1 inasmuch as ,i paid the highest price1 and1 too1 in addition to a sleeping room and a library1 ,i hired another large room to serve me as a laboratory4 ,although my main laboratory was located at my factory1 still ,i was in the habit of conducting a few experiments in a small way when not at the factory4 ,i had given my landlady particular instructions about not handling the various things in my laboratory4 ,i strictly enjoined her not to touch anything under any circumstances--,i would keep the place in order myself4 ,nevertheless1 she could not be prevented from entering the laboratory to dust and tidy it up a bit1 and she generally knocked over a thing or two in the process4 ,one day1 ,i brought home a pint glass jar of pure nitroglycerin1 setting it up out of reach of the little three-year-old girl1 who often used the laboratory as a playground1 in spite of my protestations4 ,i called my landlady's attention to the fact that this bottle contained nitroglycerin1 and ,i explained its dangerous character unless it were left undisturbed4 ,i told her that1 if she found it out of the question to let the bottle alone1 and should1 in dusting1 succeed in knocking it over and spilling its contents upon the table where it stood or upon the floor1 and should wipe up the oily liquid with a rag1 not to put the rag in the stove1 for1 if she did1 she would blow the roof of the house off1 and project herself into the empyrean1 and through it and out at the other side4 ,she actually remembered this injunction for more than three days1 but1 on the fourth day1 on my return home1 the little three-year-old met me as ,i came in1 and said3 ,mamma very sick4 ,cure ,mamma4 ,mamma was lying upon a sofa1 pale as a ghost1 and breathing heavily4 ,when ,i asked her what the matter was1 she answered1 ,oh1 ,i am so sick6 ,i began to be thoroughly frightened1 and wormed out of her the fact that she had a terrible nitroglycerin headache4 ,it came out that she had been dusting and tidying the laboratory that day1 and had inadvertently knocked over the bottle of nitroglycerin4 ,fortunately1 it did not explode as it fell1 the contents being merely spilled upon the table and floor4 ,she took an old towel and soaked the liquid up with it4 ,she then rolled up the towel in a tight1 snug1 compact wad1 and started toward the kitchen to put the wad in the cook-stove and burn it up1 when1 just as she arrived at the stove1 she felt a dizziness in the head1 and a strange sort of sinking sensation in the stomach4 ,the top of her head began to buzz and pound4 ,then1 she saw light4 ,it dawned upon her1 like the inspiring flash that came upon ,saul1 that this was nitroglycerin1 and she recalled what ,i had told her about the effect it would have upon her if she handled it1 and my direction that1 if she should spill the stuff and then wipe it up1 she must not burn the rag4 ,,the ,,fatal ,,hat ,out in the ,pennsylvania oil regions in the early days1 while nitroglycerin in the liquid state was being used experimentally as a blasting agent1 some boys found in a creek an old felt hat1 which had been used as a filter for nitroglycerin4 ,one of the boys accidentally discovered that when laid upon a stone and the edge of the hat hit with a hammer1 it would crack1 so they took it to a blacksmith's shop1 where they could have some fun by hammering it on an anvil4 ,at the first blow the old hat exploded4 ,two of the boys were killed outright1 and two more were badly injured4 ,the blacksmith at the time of the accident1 happened to be standing outdoors1 which thereafter constituted his blacksmith shop until he could rebuild4 ,a ,,drop ,,too ,,much ,professor ,mowbray1 who made the nitroglycerin for the ,hoosac ,tunnel and afterward served the ,american ,xylonite ,company many years as consulting chemist1 conceived the idea that he could make a very powerful smokeless gunpowder by the use of nitroglycerin merely absorbed by fibrous guncotton and rolled into pellets4 ,he had at the time a young assistant chemist at work for him1 who has now become a man of much wealth and prominence in ,new ,york4 ,the assistant prepared some of the pellets under ,mowbray's directions1 loaded them into a rifle under wad and ball1 and fired at a target made of several layers of pine boards4 ,but the pellets did not seem to give the bullet the required penetration4 ,mowbray suggested remedying this defect by adding a little more nitroglycerin1 which was done4 ,the young chemist demurred a little4 ,still1 he did as instructed--loaded and fired the piece again1 with but little better results4 ,this time1 however1 the breech mechanism stuck1 and was opened with difficulty4 ,mowbray said that there was but one thing to do1 and that was to add a few more drops of nitroglycerin4 ,it occurred to the young chemist that this sort of gunpowder came pretty near being dynamite1 and he declined to fire the piece the next time1 and was deaf to all entreaties of the ,professor4 ,as a compromise1 the gun was rigged up on a rest1 pointing at the target2 a string was attached to the trigger1 which the assistant1 standing behind a barricade1 pulled4 ,this time1 there was considerable penetration of the target1 and the walls of the building where the test took place were penetrated in many places1 not with the bullet1 but with the fragments of the exploded weapon4 ,mowbray1 hearing the report1 ran out and ventured the suggestion that he guessed he must have got in a drop too much of nitroglycerin4 ,a ,,close ,,call ,i had one very close call while conducting a sand test of the ,maxim gun at ,annapolis1 where the ,naval ,proving ,grounds were formerly located4 ,the gun had passed through all of the regular tests satisfactorily1 and it was then suggested to try if sand enough could be put into the mechanism box to block it and prevent its firing4 ,the gun fired perhaps fifty rounds before it stopped4 ,then it stuck1 and my assistant worked at the belt and lever1 attempting to start it again4 ,i told him to put down the safe so that the gun could not fire1 which he did4 ,i was then about to step around the gun in front1 which ,i confess was a very careless thing to do1 when it began firing again4 ,i was already so close to the muzzle that my clothes were cut by the bullets and burned by the gunpowder4 ,the trigger had been pulled1 and held pulled1 by the sand1 so that the safe did not prevent it from firing4 ,it is pretty good practice to keep away from the business end of a loaded gun4 ,a ,,pickaninny',s ,,treasure ,,trove ,once at ,annapolis1 while we were firing a six-pounder semi-automatic gun in a speed test1 we had succeeded in firing forty-two aimed shots in a minute into a huge earth butt1 which1 owing to recent rains1 was merely a heap of mud4 ,the day following1 a negro boy1 about fourteen years old1 found one of the projectiles1 which had penetrated the butt1 and glancing1 came out at the top without exploding4 ,this he brought up to where my assistant was doing some work on the gun1 and showed what he had found4 ,my assistant shouted at him1 ,look out6 ,that's loaded1 and if you drop it1 it might go off4 ,frightened1 the negro immediately dropped the projectile upon the hard cement pavement1 and1 as it struck point down1 it did go off1 and took off one of his legs2 and a fragment of the shell came dangerously close to the head of my assistant4 ,,not ,,to ,,be ,,buncoed ,the great ,du ,pont ,powder ,company had in its employ at one time a faithful1 patient and lucky fellow1 an ,italian1 who worked constantly1 with not a day off except ,sundays1 for twenty-one years in the corning mill1 breaking black gunpowder press cake into grains4 ,during that period the coming mill had blown up seven times1 once every three years1 but each time ,giovanni had happened1 by the merest chance1 to be outside for a few seconds to get a drink of water or on some other brief errand4 ,twice he had had his clothes nearly ripped off him1 and his face and hands burned1 such had been his proximity on these occasions to the crater of fire as the mill went up1 and once he had been rendered unconscious by the shock4 ,finally1 at the end of twenty-one years of service1 having put aside a snug little fortune1 sufficient for the remainder of his life in sunny ,italy1 he packed up his belongings and turned his face toward his old home4 ,arriving in ,new ,york1 his ticket purchased1 he hied himself to a noted ,italian hostelry1 to await the coming of the joyous morrow when he should actually be on the big steamer1 headed for home4 ,giovanni had no bad habits1 and the bunco man failed to lure him4 ,he took no stock in the dapper1 polished-mannered compatriot just recently from his home place1 who was acquainted with all the folks4 ,his cash was sewed into his clothes1 and those clothes would not come off until he reached his destination4 ,when he was shown up into his room at night and left alone with his thoughts1 a placard upon the wall above the gas-burner attracted his attention4 ,it read3 ,don't blow out the gas1 and under this injunction was the statement that gas burned after ten o'clock would be charged extra4 ,giovanni was indignant4 ,here he was at last caught between the horns of a dilemma4 ,this1 to his mind1 was downright thievery4 ,he would cut the ,gordian knot4 ,he would disobey the injunction4 ,he would not pay for gas burned overtime perforce2 and he blew it out4444 99 99 99 99 99 ,an old sea-captain who had for forty years traveled on every sea1 who had weathered a thousand gales1 and survived a hundred shipwrecks1 on his return from his final voyage1 in making his landing on his home shore1 slipped from the dock into the water and under the skiff1 and was drowned4 ,such is the irony of chance6 ,,sir ,,frederick',s ,,bonfire ,sir ,frederick ,abel1 who was the originator of the modern process of making high-grade guncotton and of compressing it into dense cakes for use1 told me the following story3 ,at one time1 ,sir ,frederick had about five tons of dry guncotton1 which was not of sufficient purity to stand the ,government tests4 ,he had1 on previous occasions1 frequently demonstrated how compressed guncotton1 though dry1 would quietly burn away without exploding when ignited1 so he now fancied that his five tons would make a capital bonfire4 ,with this idea of entertainment in possession of him1 he invited a party of friends to witness the unique conflagration4 ,the friends were dominated more by the spirit of aloofness than was ,sir ,frederick himself1 and they kept at a respectful distance1 while ,sir ,frederick advanced toward the pile of explosive1 and threw a lighted torch upon it4 ,then he retreated a short distance to avoid the intense heat1 for he expected to see the whole pile burn away4 ,it started by merely burning2 but1 as ,i have already said about dynamite1 it is notional stuff4 ,so1 on this occasion1 the guncotton took a notion to explode after it got fairly on fire1 which did not take very long4 ,the whole mass detonated with terrific violence1 and1 even before ,sir ,frederick had retreated as far as he expected to go1 he was knocked senseless by the concussion1 and nearly every shred of clothing was blown from his body4444 ,although considerably bruised and lacerated1 he recovered after several months4 ,he had learned a useful lesson3 that a small quantity of compressed dry guncotton can be very well depended upon to burn quietly away without detonating1 but1 when a large mass of it is ignited1 the greater heat of combustion and the greater pressure generated in expelling the larger quantity of the products of combustion1 is almost sure to produce detonation4 ,the fact that a small quantity of an explosive material will burn away quietly without exploding has often led persons to think that a large quantity would burn in the same manner4 ,at one time1 the ,british ,government had on hand at ,woolwich ,arsenal about a hundred tons of cordite that had begun to show signs of decomposition1 and it was decided to burn it4 ,the entire quantity was taken out into an open meadow1 at what was supposed to be a very safe distance from the city limits4 ,a train was laid to the pile and set on fire4 ,for the same reason that the five tons of ,sir ,frederick ,abel's guncotton detonated1 this huge heap of cordite also detonated4 ,almost instantly after it was ignited1 it exploded with most awful violence1 and with very disastrous results4 ,a number of buildings in the near vicinity were leveled to the ground4 ,a few persons were killed and many more injured4 ,,the ,,irreverent ,,native ,after ,i had sold out my interests at ,maxim1 the place was taken over by a dynamite-manufacturing company4 ,as there was left in one of the magazines a considerable quantity of dynamite when the property changed hands1 the new concern1 not choosing to sell it as their own manufacture1 proceeded to utilize it as fertilizer upon a field of potatoes4 ,one of the natives1 with his team and helper1 was engaged to do this work4 ,they had been instructed to use great care in opening the cases1 but they still held their own opinions about the care necessary1 which were based largely upon the contempt that is born of familiarity1 and1 having arrived upon the potato-patch with a good1 big load of dynamite1 they began to knock the cases open in any old way4 ,there were no surviving witnesses1 not even the horses4 ,,at ,,folly',s ,,mercy ,after ,i had sold the works at ,maxim and had invented motorite1 ,i needed a place in which to make the material1 and hired a branch of the works there for that purpose4 ,it was winter4 ,my wife had accompanied me as a precautionary measure4 ,she was sitting in the laboratory to keep warm1 near a big barrel stove charged with bituminous coal4 ,on entering the laboratory for something1 my wife asked me what was in those two tin pails sitting near the stove4 ,she said that she had a suspicion it might be nitroglycerin1 and she informed me that one of my men had just been in1 stirring the fire1 and that the sparks flew out in all directions1 some of them lighting in the buckets1 to be quenched in the very thin film of water floating on top of the oily liquid4 ,horrors6 ,i said4 ,it is nitroglycerin6 ,i called the man who had placed it there1 and told him to take it away4 ,as it was necessary to keep the material from freezing1 he took it into the boiler-house near by4 ,a little later1 on going into the boiler-house1 ,i saw one of the men stirring the fire1 while the other was standing with his coat-tails outstretched in either hand1 forming a shield to keep the sparks from flying into the nitroglycerin4 ,it is practically impossible to make the ordinary man appreciate the necessity of care in the safe handling of explosives1 and the life of the careful man is always endangered by the actions of the careless one4 ,,the ,,watchman',s ,,double ,,vision ,my successors in the use of the dynamite plant at ,maxim had in their employ a day-watchman1 an all-round combination useful and useless man1 his usefulness and uselessness alternating with the alternation of his sobriety and inebriety4 ,one morning1 after a night out1 he proceeded to build the fire in the laboratory stove4 ,to start up the kindling wood1 he had been in the habit of lighting a handful of shavings1 and then pouring on a little kerosene from a tomato can1 which he kept upon a near-by shelf4 ,during that night1 someone--possibly one of the laboratory operatives--had placed a similar can1 filled with nitroglycerin1 upon the same shelf1 to keep it from freezing4 ,in periods of convalescence from his various stages of intoxication1 the watchman had before seen two cans upon that shelf or shelves1 but he knew that one of them was real1 and the other an hallucination4 ,couldn't fool him that way6 ,thinking that the hallucination would naturally be the lighter of the two cans1 he took the one containing the nitroglycerin1 and proceeded to pour it upon the fire4 ,there was so little of him left together after the explosion that1 like ,captain ,castagnette1 he died of surprise at seeing himself so dissipated4 ,,the ,,zealous ,,fool ,on one occasion1 at my laboratory near the shores of ,lake ,hopatcong1 ,i was conducting some experiments to test the efficiency of the safety chamber of a detonating fuze for exploding projectiles charged with ,maximite4 ,the huge loaded shell armed with a fuze was placed in a pit and fixed so as to be set off by electricity from a distance4 ,to prevent any possibility of a circuit being formed to explode the detonator while making the connections at the pit1 ,i went into the machine-shop1 and opened the switch at the other end of the wires where they were connected with the battery4 ,not only did ,i take this precaution1 but ,i disconnected also the wires themselves1 in order to make assurance doubly sure4 ,returning to the pit to connect up1 my assistant1 my wife and my father-in-law accompanied me4 ,my assistant descended into the pit1 while we stood over him1 looking on4 ,the instant he brought the wires in contact1 the detonator went off4 ,we looked at one another in amazement4 ,it takes time to get thoroughly scared2 but1 as soon as we realized the full danger through which we had passed1 we were numb with fright4 ,even now1 when ,i think of it1 ,i have a creepy feeling4 ,we had made half a dozen tests before this1 and all of the shells had exploded except one4 ,this was the second in which the safety-chamber had proved effectual4 ,had it failed this time1 and had the ,maximite charge exploded in the huge shell1 we should all have been blown to ribbons4 ,i rushed back to the machine-shop1 where ,i found that a certain employee--one of those careful1 painstaking souls who are always attending voluntarily to the odds and ends of work left undone by others1 had discovered the wires detached from the switch4 ,with no memory of the rule that the switch should always be left open1 he forthwith connected the wires1 and then1 to make his culpable industry complete1 he closed the switch1 thus making the electric connection with the loaded shell2 and1 doubtless1 he was comforted by a sense of duty well done4 ,his duties in my services certainly were done1 for they ended right then and there4 ,,some ,,lively ,,cotton ,,waste ,i once had an ,italian laborer as man-of-all-work1 who was rather a good-looking fellow4 ,an exquisite mustache and a wealth of curly hair were sources of great pride and joy to him4 ,one day he was engaged in burning up some rubbish1 and to start a fire1 took what he supposed to be a bunch of dry cotton waste1 but which was in fact guncotton4 ,holding in one hand the wad of guncotton the size of his head1 he applied a match to it4 ,there was a quick1 bright flash1 and hair and mustache had disappeared4 ,he did not mind the burn so much1 but his anxiety about his appearance in the eyes of his sweetheart was pathetic4 ,,saving ,,time ,when ,i had completed at my works1 ,maxim1 ,new ,jersey1 a certain frame building of generous proportions1 of which ,i was quite proud1 and in which ,i had installed various processes and apparatus for making smokeless gunpowder1 ,i told one of my assistants to have a gauge put on a large bell-drier that stood in a corner1 which was employed for the time being to extract the moisture from about forty pounds of guncotton4 ,he gave instructions to a machinist to do the job1 telling him to remove the guncotton first4 ,as it was necessary for the machinist merely to bore a hole through the bell-drier and screw in the connecting pipe1 he thought it a useless expenditure of time and effort to remove the guncotton4 ,after he had bored the hole nearly through1 he took a punch and hammer to knock out the remaining burr4 ,a spark ignited the guncotton1 and that bell-drier went right up through the roof and turned a somersault1 striking about a hundred feet away4 ,the walls of the building on the end where the explosion occurred were thrown outward1 and the roof came down4 ,my assistant and another young man were in the building with the machinist at the time4 ,although dazed by the shock1 they immediately rushed to the rescue of the poor fellow1 who lay prostrate under a pile of burning dbris4 ,not much could be done for the unfortunate1 and he died soon afterward4 ,this instance is a type of many that result from inadequate precaution by workmen in the manufacture of explosives4 ,,the ,,broken ,,scale ,one of the closest calls that ,i ever had in my life occurred in my laboratory at ,maxim1 ,new ,jersey1 in the early nineties4 ,two of my assistants and myself were weighing out small batches of fulminate of mercury from a ten-pound jar4 ,there were on the bench as many as half-a-dozen small squares of glass1 each with its little pile of fulminate upon it4 ,there was also a five-pound bottle of nitroglycerin standing on the bench4 ,a little way removed1 and under the bench1 was a fifty-pound can of gelatin dynamite4 ,we were proceeding very cautiously1 when all at once the scoop toppled1 and an iron weight fell1 striking within an eighth of an inch of one of the pieces of glass on which was fulminate of mercury4 ,after a second of suspense1 we stared at one another in amazement1 wondering whether or not we were still in the land of the living4 ,an investigation into the cause of the accident revealed the fact that one of the young men employed in the laboratory had broken off an arm of the scales--one of the supports of the scoop--the day before1 and1 with criminal reticence1 had made absolutely no mention of the fact to anyone4 ,had that weight fallen upon the fulminate1 it must have dealt death to all of us4 ,,the ,,singular ,,good ,,fortune ,,of ,a ,,gentle ,,englishman ,it so happened that during a tour of inspection seven of us were together1 going over the works4 ,on entering the guncotton dry-house1 ,i noticed a strong odor of nitric acid4 ,out of here1 quick6 ,i cried4 ,the place is going to blow up6 ,there were perhaps a hundred pounds of dry guncotton in the room at the time1 spread out in pans4 ,as was afterward learned1 the foreman1 being in a hurry for the guncotton1 had turned live steam into the pipes instead of circulating hot water through them as instructed4 ,we were barely out of the room when the guncotton burned with a flash1 wrecking the building and setting fire to the fragments4 ,i was just congratulating myself that no one had been injured by the explosion1 when it was discovered that one of the party1 an ,englishman1 the even tenor of whose way nothing could accelerate or disturb1 and who feared nothing1 had not quite made up his mind in time to get out of the room before the flash came4 ,on seeing him emerge at last from the zone of destruction1 ,i was horror-struck1 for apparently every hair had been burned from his head and face1 while shreds of skin hung from his hands and cheeks and brow4 ,nevertheless1 the ,englishman's usual phlegmatic manner was wholly unruffled1 and he spoke in his conventional voice1 untinged with emotion3 ,mr4 ,maxim1 it isn't often that one has an opportunity under such circumstances of witnessing exactly what occurs4 ,,the ,,match ,,at ,,the ,,peep-,,hole ,a certain patented device is used for the recovery of solvents in the manufacture of smokeless gunpowder4 ,an acquaintance of mine conceived the idea that it would be an excellent thing to employ this same device for the recovery of alcohol used in the manufacture of felt hats4 ,he conducted experiments successfully1 having the hats placed in a chamber through which hot air was circulated1 and from which it was afterwards conveyed to a refrigerating compartment to condense out the alcohol1 then reheated and returned to the drying chamber4 ,ultimately1 this ingenious person so won the confidence of a company of hat manufacturers that they determined to build the apparatus at their factory1 and to give it a thorough trial to test its practicability4 ,things progressed very well indeed1 until there came a day when a leak was discovered in some part of the apparatus1 and a plumber was called in to make the necessary repairs4 ,this artisan's first act was to open a peep-hole1 light a match1 and peer into the drying chamber4 ,there was much instantaneity in the activities that followed4 ,fourteen persons were killed outright1 including the plumber and his assistant1 and the building was completely wrecked4 ,,the ,,flask ,,of ,,liquor ,some years ago1 in ,austria1 a worker in one of the mines found a flask nearly full of a liquor that he took to be whisky4 ,delighted with this treasure trove1 he raised the flask to his lips1 and gulped down a portion of the contents4 ,another workman1 standing by1 snatched the flask1 and1 in his turn1 quaffed the liquor greedily4 ,that liquid in the flask was nitroglycerin1 which1 taken internally1 is one of the most virulent of poisons4 ,both of these workmen were stone dead in less time than it has taken to tell this story of their fatal folly4 ,,impertinence ,,punished ,during the experiments at ,sandy ,hook which preceded the adoption of ,maximite by the ,united ,states ,government1 a young lieutenant just out of ,west ,point was placed in charge of the loading1 although he knew absolutely nothing about explosives4 ,he tried hard1 however1 to make up for his deficient knowledge by the most exacting1 impertinent and foolish requirements4 ,i rebelled1 but was told by the commanding officer that1 while he fully appreciated the situation1 he must1 as a matter of duty1 support his subordinate officer1 and he advised me to return to my task in looking after the loading of the ,maximite1 under the direction of the impudent youngster4 ,this ,i did4 ,the lieutenant1 now having his own way1 heated some ,maximite very hot and filled a projectile with it through the false base plug provided for the purpose4 ,there were two holes in the false base plug1 through one of which the ,maximite was poured into the projectile1 while the other served as a vent4 ,being uncertain whether or not the projectile was filled solidly1 the officer took a round stick1 and rammed it down one of the holes1 while he looked into the other4 ,the result was that his eyes were filled and his face covered with the hot liquid ,maximite1 putting him out of commission for a week4 ,my sympathy for the fellow was quite overbalanced by my gratification4 ,,curiosity',s ,,uplift ,shortly after the ,russo-,japanese war1 there drifted in upon the ,chinese shore one of the huge floating mines constructed by the ,russians1 containing about five hundred pounds of guncotton4 ,this strange object greatly excited the curiosity of the ,chinese1 who flocked in large numbers to view it4 ,while half a thousand of them were crowded in close upon the mine1 marveling over the mystery of this flotsam1 one of their number began to investigate it with a hammer1 and1 hitting the fuze a heavy blow1 exploded the mine4 ,an ,american witnessed the event from a distance4 ,wondering what all the excitement was about1 he had started toward the crowd with the intention of making an investigation on his own account1 when1 of a sudden1 there was a flash and shock4 ,the horde of ,chinamen that had been clustered about the mine vanished in a cloud of dust4 ,fragments of heads1 arms and legs rocketed skyward in the form of an inverted cone4 ,the head of a ,chinaman1 severed from the trunk1 went hurtling through the air1 with the queue out-streaming behind1 like a comet coming to perihelion4 ,it passed just over the horrified ,american and struck the ground some distance beyond him4 ,,proud ,,even ,,unto ,,death ,an inventor1 who lived in the mosquito belt of ,staten ,island1 constructed a dynamite gun out of a piece of four-inch-gas-pipe1 and a dynamite bomb out of a short section of gas-pipe1 capped at both ends4 ,the bomb was filled with ,no4 #a dynamite4 ,he placed several pads of felt between the projectile and the powder charge1 to lessen the shock upon the bomb4 ,by using small charges1 he succeeded in firing a number of the projectiles safely4 ,although the velocity was low1 still it was greater than that obtainable with the ,zalinski pneumatic dynamite gun1 which at that time was beginning to receive some measure of public attention4 ,the inventor was so fortunate as to have a pull with the congressman from his district1 and through this influence he succeeded in getting ,government permission for a test of his piece at ,sandy ,hook4 ,in the meantime he had strengthened the powder chamber of his gun by driving on several steel hoops1 in order to use larger charges of powder4 ,so confident was he of the safety of his system of throwing high explosives1 that1 when the officers at ,sandy ,hook insisted on his retiring with them behind the bomb-proof during the firing of the piece1 he balked and insisted that he be permitted to stand by his gun while firing it1 as he had done in his previous experiments on ,staten ,island4 ,he was not in the least impressed with any possibility of danger by reason of the fact that he was now using a much larger powder charge4 ,the officers1 however1 were obdurate4 ,they told him bluntly that he must either stand behind the bomb-proof1 or his gun would not be tested4 ,he replied3 ,very well1 if ,uncle ,sam does not want my gun enough to let me test it in my own way1 then ,i will sell it to foreign governments1 and make ,uncle ,sam feel very sick and sorry4 ,on his return with his gun to ,staten ,island1 he gathered together a party of neighbors and some representatives of the press1 to witness the experiments that ,uncle ,sam had missed4 ,when the gun was ready to fire1 the little knot of spectators frayed out1 and peeped from cover4 ,there was but one shot1 which was not a shot1 but an explosion4 ,after waiting for some time for the inventor to come down and explain1 the spectators went home1 disappointed4 ,,the ,,dog ,,that ,,ate ,,dynamite ,in the early nineties ,i was experimenting with a new fulminate compound as a detonator for fuzes in high explosive projectiles4 ,the compound consisted of fulminate of mercury with gelatinated guncotton and nitroglycerin4 ,one of my workmen had a pup of a miscellaneous breed1 which would eat anything under the sun that he could masticate1 and when anything was thrown into his mouth not too big for him to bolt1 he swallowed it without the formality of chewing it4 ,one day his master gave him about half a pound of this fulminate compound4 ,another of the workmen put some metallic sodium and dry fulminate into a gelatin capsule1 stuck this into the end of a quintuple dynamite cap1 wrapped the whole thing in a piece of meat1 and1 calling the dog out into the field1 made him stand up and speak for it4 ,then he dropped it into the dog's throat and it was swallowed at a gulp4 ,the next instant1 the latter workman's own dog1 which he prized very highly1 came upon the scene and entered into a very brisk wrestling-bout with the dog that had been charged4 ,before he could call him away1 there was a terrific explosion1 and both dogs vanished from this vale of tears4 ,,insecure ,,security ,before the discovery by ,nobel that the absorption of nitroglycerin by infusorial earth rendered it much less sensitive to shock1 numerous attempts were made to bring it into general use1 in liquid form1 as a blasting agent1 the most notable of which was during the digging of the ,hoosac ,tunnel4 ,but1 owing to its highly sensitive character1 fatalities were numerous2 while1 furthermore1 the necessity for perfect purity in order to render nitroglycerin stable--that is to say1 to make it keep well--was not at first recognized1 and many disasters were the result from explosions due to its decomposition4 ,the first attempt to introduce nitroglycerin as a blasting agent into the ,united ,states was made by a young ,german student4 ,he called the stuff glonoin oil4 ,he brought over a few hundred pounds in cans on the steamer with him1 most of which he disposed of during his sojourn in the ,states4 ,but his venture was not a financial success1 and he was obliged1 when he returned to ,europe1 to leave an unpaid board bill at a ,new ,york hotel where he had been staying4 ,he had left one fifty-pound can of glonoin oil1 which he let the hotel proprietor hold as security1 but which1 however1 later developments proved to be insecurity4 ,the glonoin oil occupied a place of honor in one corner of the barroom for several months after the departure of the ,german student4 ,decomposition having set in1 yellow nitrous fumes began to emerge from the receptacle1 the malevolent odor of which was soon noticed by one of the guests1 who called the landlord's attention to the fact4 ,highly disgusted1 the landlord picked up the can1 walked to the front door1 and threw it into the middle of the street4 ,the act resulted in a miniature earthquake1 which shattered the walls on both sides of the street1 broke window-glass over a square mile1 and landed the hotel proprietor in the hospital4 ,,the ,,loaded ,,chinaman ,during the ,russo-,japanese war a certain officer of the ,czar1 who was an impatient1 overbearing person and a great martinet1 had a ,chinese servant whom he treated with the utmost harshness for the smallest delinquency1 or for none at all4 ,one of his favorite methods of inflicting punishment for offenses was to order the ,chinaman to leave his presence1 and1 as the fellow went1 to give him a hard kick4 ,the ,chinaman aired his grievances one day to a ,japanese spy1 whom he took to be a brother ,chinaman4 ,the ,jap suggested padding the seat of the ,chinaman's trousers to prevent further contusions1 and this was done1 the padding being furnished by the ,jap4 ,a rubber hot-water bag was filled with absorbent cotton containing all the nitroglycerin it would hold4 ,a small exploding device armed with percussion caps was placed in the bag so that the nitroglycerin would be exploded by any sudden blow4 ,the unfortunate ,chinaman was wholly unaware of the nature of the padding4 ,at the next meeting of the ,russian with his servant1 the poor ,oriental inadvertently spilled some tea upon the officer's new uniform4 ,thereupon the enraged master proceeded to dismiss the ,chinaman from his presence in the usual way1 but with somewhat more precipitation4 ,one of the officer's legs was blown off1 one arm was crushed to pulp1 four ribs were broken1 and it was more than a day before he was restored to consciousness4 ,when he did come to1 he found himself a prisoner in a ,japanese hospital1 having been left behind by the retreating ,russians4 ,as to the ,chinaman himself1 poor fellow1 he never knew that he had been loaded4 ,,living ,,bombs ,an ,american reporter1 who was with the ,japanese during the ,manchurian campaign1 told me the following story3 ,column after column of ,japanese had assaulted a ,russian position1 the capture of which was exceedingly desirable4 ,line after line of the brave little fellows was swept down by the unerring gun-fire of the ,russians1 but each time a few ,japanese would scale the works1 and go over them1 only to be slain by the ,russians inside4 ,there was a lull for a short space1 and the reporter thought1 as doubtless did the ,russians1 that the ,japanese had given up the task1 when1 suddenly1 a troop of perhaps a hundred ,japanese rushed forward1 in a widely scattered line4 ,onward they flew toward the ,russian position1 and1 as they went up1 there was a blaze of the ,russian rifles1 and half the ,japanese column disappeared with a flash and a tremendous report4444 ,they had exploded6 ,each of them had been loaded with an infernal machine1 hung across his breast and over his shoulders1 so that should but a few of them reach the enemy's position1 they could explode themselves and hurl death and destruction all around them4 ,the ,russians were so astounded1 so paralyzed by the spectacle and by the unexpectedness of it1 that they ceased firing1 while the remaining living bombs scaled the ramparts and leaped in among their enemies1 who instantly vacated the place1 flying like rats from a sinking ship4 ,,ships ,,that ,,passed ,,in ,,the ,,night ,during the ,russo-,japanese conflict1 more than one of the ,czar's warships disappeared in a night cruise without leaving a trace4 ,i got the following story somewhat indirectly1 and for that reason cannot vouch for its truth4 ,it was told to my informant by a ,japanese officer while in rather a more communicative mood than is usual for an officer of the ,mikado4 ,this ,japanese official at the time commanded a torpedo-boat4 ,in the flotilla of which his vessel was one there was a torpedo-boat that carried neither guns nor torpedoes1 for she had been stripped of all armament and every mechanical device not absolutely essential to her navigation1 in order to lighten her4 ,and then she was loaded with dynamite to her full capacity4 ,the ,japanese officer declared that when a volunteer crew of half a dozen men was called for to navigate her1 ten times the required number offered themselves1 although they well knew that they were going to certain death4 ,the flotilla was steaming slowly through the darkness one night1 not far from ,port ,arthur1 when there suddenly loomed up ahead the huge bulk of a ,russian warship4 ,at once the dynamite-laden craft threw herself directly in front of the oncoming leviathan4 ,without the pause of an instant1 the doomed ,japanese crew sprung the huge mine1 when a vast cone of flame shot up1 reddening the night1 carrying with it high into the air1 decks1 superstructure and guns of the warship4 ,the warship's magazines1 fired simultaneously by the dynamite blast1 aided the complete demolition4 ,the returning torrent of guns and wreckage plunged into the sea4 ,all was over1 and it was dark again4 ,a ,,wild ,,projectile ,in spite of every precaution at ,government proving grounds1 big projectiles do sometimes glance out of the butts or heaps of earth into which they are fired1 or from the face of armorplates against which they are directed1 and finally land in most unexpected quarters4 ,one day1 while a thirteen-inch gun was being tested at ,indian ,head1 a projectile glanced out of the butt1 mounted high into the air1 and then came down through the roof of a building1 where there were engaged a number of officers and book-keepers4 ,the projectile passed down through the floor1 close to the desk of one of the officers1 and buried itself in the earth4 ,as the projectile contained no explosive charge1 the damage was not great1 but the scare that was thrown into the occupants of that room was of considerable magnitude4 ,,the ,,bomb ,,and ,,the ,,train ,one of the most anxious moments that ,i ever experienced was during some experiments made by me at ,maxim in throwing aerial torpedoes from a four-inch cannon4 ,these torpedoes were about four feet in length1 charged with a very powerful high explosive1 and armed with a detonating fuze4 ,we had successfully fired several of them into a sand-butt where they exploded with great violence4 ,there were six of them3 five had been fired and the sixth was loaded into the gun1 ready to be discharged1 when a passenger train on the ,jersey ,central ,railroad hove in sight1 and was passing us about a thousand feet away as the gun was fired4 ,we had no idea of there being any danger to the train1 as its position was well away from the line of fire1 and each of the preceding projectiles had behaved so well4 ,but1 this time1 the torpedo glanced from the sand-butt1 and went after that train4 ,we stood paralyzed with dread as we saw it pass over the train1 close to the roof of a car1 and strike in the swamp just beyond it1 perhaps a couple of hundred feet behind the track4 ,an inverted cone of black earth shot up1 followed by a dull sound4 ,in imagination we had witnessed a frightful catastrophe1 the wreck of a passenger train1 with fearful loss of life1 and all the horror of our own resultant predicament4 ,now that the danger was past1 the even tenor of our way did take on a new relish4 ,what objects we are1 after all1 of the mercy of chance6 ,,the ,,missing ,,vessel ,at the same place1 ,i was one day on the point of beginning an experiment1 for which ,i required a small quantity of dry guncotton4 ,before going for it to the guncotton dry-house1 ,i instituted a search for a suitable vessel in which to carry it4 ,for some mysterious reason ,i had much difficulty in finding anything just adapted to my purpose1 and the hunt delayed me a matter of five minutes or more4 ,finally1 however1 ,i secured a satisfactory vessel1 and hurried out of the door in the direction of the dry-house4444 ,i had covered less than a rod of the distance when the dry-house blew up4 ,in this instance1 surely1 a benign ,providence interfered to save me from destruction4 ,,the ,,drunken ,,messenger ,some years ago1 soon after ,i had built my experimental laboratory near ,lake ,hopatcong1 a dear old friend came to visit me4 ,he had seen hard times in the interval that had separated us1 and had suffered from both business reverses and ill health since the days when he and ,i were chums4 ,he was plunged in the depths of pessimism1 while ,i was optimistic4 ,he was in the throes of abject discouragement4 ,though ,i made him many offers of assistance in varied forms1 none of them seemed to cheer him in the least4 ,when ,i knew him in our youth1 he had been one of the bravest men that ever lived2 now1 he appeared to have lost all his former courage4 ,often1 however1 he made the remark that he was minded to make an end of everything1 since life offered him nothing worth while4 ,i frequently importuned him against the folly of contemplating suicide4 ,it came about that one day ,i was in need of fulminate of mercury4 ,as this material cannot be taken upon a train or sent by express1 it was necessary to go for it with horse and wagon4 ,both my assistants and myself were just then too busy to be spared from the work in hand4 ,so1 it occurred to me that my old friend would be exactly the person to send on the quest4 ,since he was even then engaged in meditating suicide1 he would not be in the least afraid of fetching the stuff for me4 ,of course1 ,i should not have thought of sending him had ,i believed there was any particular danger4 ,certainly there would be none if the material were handled properly1 and in a wet state4 ,my old friend started on the mission valorously enough1 but he lost his courage presently1 and returned empty-handed4 ,i then sent one of my helpers1 a spare man who worked for me occasionally1 as he had been long connected with the manufacture and handling of explosives4 ,i gave him the necessary money for the purchase of the material1 for the hire of the team and his other expenses1 and as there would be two or three dollars over1 ,i told him he could spend that in any way he liked1 for his own use and behoof4 ,he returned along toward evening1 left the horse and wagon at the stable1 and started up to the works with a bag containing ten pounds of fulminate1 placed in a small hand-valise4 ,fortunately ,i saw him coming soon after he had abandoned the vehicle4 ,the road was altogether too narrow for him2 the ground seemed to reel under his feet1 and he was steadying himself by swinging the valise back and forth from side to side with great violence4 ,a drunker man never walked4 ,i took the valise away from him1 and carried it to the works myself4 ,the next day1 when we opened it1 we found that instructions had not been followed about wetting the fulminate4 ,the bag of dry fulminate had1 when he procured it1 been merely set in a pail of water for a few minutes1 and only long enough to wet a thin stratum of the explosive1 leaving the whole interior perfectly dry4 ,it is surely a wonder that the drunken man had not exploded this mass of dry fulminate in the rough handling he had given it4 ,had he fallen with the bag1 he must almost certainly have caused an explosion by the shock of the impact of the fulminate against the ground4 ,,nitroglycerin ,,by ,,automobile ,at another time1 ,i required some very pure nitroglycerin4 ,as this material1 like the fulminate of mercury1 could not be transported by either freight or express1 it was necessary to go and bring it over by horse and wagon1 or by automobile4 ,i decided to go and fetch it myself with my automobile1 which1 at that time1 was a ,haynes-,apperson of one of the early makes4 ,that machine had the faculty of going wrong oftener and in more places than any other piece of machinery ,i ever saw or heard of4 ,it had a very short wheel base1 and1 as the steering gear had worn so much that there was a good deal of lost motion1 it required very great skill to keep the car in the road4 ,no sooner would it be brought in line with the highway than it would immediately proceed toward the ditch or some wall or tree4 ,it swayed from side to side of the road like a drunken man1 and it was necessary1 in order to keep it in the road at all1 to calculate an average with it4 ,as it was quite a long drive to where ,i was to procure the nitroglycerin1 ,i went into ,new ,york and brought out a young chauffeur from the ,haynes-,apperson ,company1 explaining to him fully why ,i wanted him1 and for what ,i was going4 ,i made him understand that ,i did not want him to start to accompany me unless he had the courage to stand by me to the end4 ,he was all courage2 bravery seemed to ooze out of him at every pore4 ,when we started on our journey1 early the next morning1 ,i found that he was wholly unable to steer the automobile4 ,he could not keep it in the road at all1 and ,i had to drive it all the way myself2 but1 as he understood the machine and how to repair it1 ,i concluded that he might prove valuable on that account4 ,and he did1 for during the outgoing and return trip1 that old machine broke down three times1 and the tires went flat four times4 ,on arrival at the factory1 ,i let the chauffeur wait while ,i went to procure the nitroglycerin4 ,i took a lot of bicarbonate of soda with me1 with which ,i absorbed the nitroglycerin1 forming a sort of paste4 ,this rendered it safe to handle1 and1 by placing it in water1 ,i could at any time dissolve out the bicarbonate of soda1 and leave the pure nitroglycerin4 ,when ,i had prepared fifty pounds of nitroglycerin in this manner1 placed it in glass jars and rolled them up with several thicknesses of felt covering material1 ,i had them taken up to the automobile and placed in the rear part of it4 ,i then told the young chauffeur that ,i was ready to proceed1 but he said that he had been talking with the men in the office1 and that they had told him that they would not ride with ,mr4 ,maxim in that automobile with that nitroglycerin for all the money in the world4 ,they had frightened the fellow nearly out of his wits4 ,it was with much persuasion and reasoning and insistence that ,i finally got him to consent to get into the car with me and ride along a very smooth even road to the skirts of the town1 letting him believe that he could there escape1 and that ,i would proceed alone4 ,when we got a little out of the town1 ,i reminded him of his agreement to stick with me1 and told him that it would be out of the question for me to attempt to proceed alone without an assistant1 as ,i had but one hand1 and could not repair the machine very well if anything should go wrong4 ,but he was deaf to all entreaties4 ,then ,i told him1 with highly colored emphasis and significant gestures1 that1 should he not proceed with me1 as he had agreed1 ,i might prove then and there more dangerous to his comfort and well-being than the nitroglycerin--and ,i kept him with me6 ,after having traveled a few miles1 the chauffeur began to recover his courage1 and ,i had no more trouble with him4 ,as ,i was ascending a steep grade along a narrow road1 on the return trip1 ,i saw a big touring car bearing down upon me1 with a party of four young men and two young women in it4 ,they were traveling like the wind4 ,i turned out of the road as far as ,i possibly could1 and stopped my car1 and signaled with my hand to them to slow down1 pointing to the narrowness of the road4 ,they gave little heed to this1 and rushed by me like a tornado1 coming so close that they could not have missed my machine1 hub to hub1 more than an inch4 ,there is little consolation in the fact that1 had they struck us1 they never would have known how foolish a thing they had done4 ,,the ,,jets ,,of ,,blue ,a chemist friend of mine once invented a process of converting nitro-benzole into tri-nitro-benzole by a very quick and labor-saving method1 which consisted in mixing the nitro-benzole with nitric acid1 confining the mixture in a large1 strong1 steel cylinder1 then gradually heating the cylinder until the required pressure should be produced1 which was expected to effect the desired reaction4 ,accordingly1 five hundred pounds of nitro-benzole was mixed with the necessary quantity of nitric acid of the requisite strength1 and the heating process was begun4 ,while anxiously watching this infernal machine1 my friend saw a peculiar blue flame emerge from the seam around the head4 ,being of an alert nature1 and able to take a hint without being kicked by an elephant1 he withdrew from the vicinity of that cylinder4 ,he did not merely sidle away from the perilous place--he fairly flew with an alacrity born of desperation4 ,he had barely emerged from the laboratory when there was a terrific explosion that leveled the building1 and formed an enormous crater in the earth where he had stood1 the concussion knocking him senseless4 ,and1 today1 he still swears1 with solemn earnestness1 that a freight car could have been buried in the hole that was blown in the ground when his pet project went off4 ,this experience so impressed him that he concluded that explosive compounds possess properties which place them in a class by themselves1 and that it is a good class to avoid4 ,,the ,,wisdom ,,of ,,retreat ,during the experiments with ,maximite at ,sandy ,hook1 previous to its purchase and adoption by the ,united ,states ,government1 ,i was loading some shell in a small house1 near where a ten-inch gun was being fired4 ,about a year or so before1 when a ten-inch gun of this particular make was being tested at ,sandy ,hook1 the breech block blew out1 went through the bomb-proof1 and killed several officers and men4 ,having completed my work1 ,i started up the railroad track in the direction of the steamboat landing1 to return home1 when there came the ring of the bell for another discharge of the cannon4 ,as the breech of the gun was pointing in my direction1 ,i recalled the above fatality2 but ,i reasoned with myself that1 as a large number of tests had since been made with these guns1 and as the defect in the breech mechanism was supposed to have been corrected1 the chance of the breech blowing out at this particular discharge and coming my way was infinitely small4 ,nevertheless1 ,i thought1 it is exactly on such occasions that the unexpected does happen4 ,so ,i ran for all ,i was worth up the track and off at one side4 ,then ,i heard the report of the gun1 and looking around1 saw that sure enough the breech block had blown out1 and saw it pass through a building in its path4 ,i saw it strike the track over which ,i had been walking1 cut a rail off1 saw it strike the old stone fort beyond me1 and ricochet high into the air4 ,there was an immediate shower of stones and dbris falling around me1 which ,i dexterously dodged4 ,on examining the small house where ,i had been charging the ,maximite shell ,i found that the windows were fairly riddled with pieces of smokeless powder1 which had been blown from the breech of the gun4 ,,the ,,race ,,with ,,death ,among the many dynamite plants that hang upon the verdant hills of the ,american countryside1 there is one which stands somewhat apart from the railroad1 and the dynamite has to be carted to the station over the highway4 ,at one point the highway passes close to the edge of a precipice of considerable height1 at the bottom of whose abrupt1 ragged sides nestles a pleasant villa1 owned by a wealthy business man4 ,a friend of mine1 who told me the story1 had just paid a visit to this factory of explosives1 and was walking leisurely along the road4 ,at a distance of perhaps a hundred yards ahead of him there was one of the dynamite wagons1 moving two tons of dynamite to the railroad4 ,the driver had recently purchased a couple of fresh horses1 which he pronounced a spanking pair4 ,they were rather restive and shied at everything they saw4 ,but the driver was a brave fellow and a strong one1 and he had no fear of being unable to control them4 ,all at once1 under the impulse of a gust of wind1 a newspaper flared up in front of them4 ,quick as a flash1 they bolted1 rushing headlong1 the bits held firmly between their teeth2 while the high-piled load of dynamite swayed from side to side menacingly as the wagon took the curves of the road4 ,at this instant the foreman of the dynamite-works flashed by1 driving a pair of horses to an empty wagon4 ,he had observed the plight of the driver of the dynamite wagon1 and was lashing his horses in mad pursuit4 ,although the foreman's team was inferior1 still his wagon was empty1 and he was soon neck and neck with the runaway horses4 ,for several hundred yards it was a close race1 neither achieving any appreciable advantage over the other4 ,nearer and nearer were they coming to the precipice1 which yawned just where the road turned sharply to the right4 ,still on and on they flew1 when1 in a moment of advantage1 the foreman leaped from his wagon1 full upon the neck and head of the nigh horse of the runaway pair1 and brought the team to a standstill within less than fifty feet of the precipice1 and directly over the villa ,i have mentioned4 ,had not this foreman possessed both the presence of mind and the athletic qualifications necessary1 coupled with great daring1 that load of dynamite must inevitably have gone over the precipice as the horses struck that curve4 ,little the peaceful occupants of the villa under the hill imagined what a calamity at that fearful moment overhung them6 ,,the ,,indomitable ,,poet ,an editor in a large ,western mining city once hit upon a happy expedient for getting rid of obnoxious callers4 ,to this end1 he filled a gunpowder keg with ashes1 inserted a fuze1 piled a handful of black gunpowder around it1 to give the whole an air of reality1 and established the arrangement on a table in his ante-room4 ,on the advent of certain bores1 the office boy followed instructions by lighting the fuze1 and walking out of the room with the audible remark3 ,i'm goin' to blow up that old guy in there6 ,the thing proved its worth as an automatic bouncer1 until1 on a memorable day1 a long-haired1 calf-eyed1 dreamy-looking young male person came into the place1 who informed the office boy that he desired to see the editor4 ,he explained in cadenced speech that he deigned to exhibit to the editor a poetic effusion1 the lucubration of a fine frenzy1 fairly oozing divine afflatus1 on the ,surplusage of ,over-,soul in ,young ,maidens4 ,on hearing his minion's report concerning the visitor1 the editor told the boy to light the fuze and to ask the poet to sit down2 that the editor would see him in half an hour4 ,when the editor went out into the ante-room the fuze had burned out1 the surface gunpowder had flashed off1 but the poet was still sitting there4 ,,scattered ,i was once called as an expert to visit a dynamite plant where a new kind of high explosive was being manufactured instead of the ordinary nitroglycerin dynamite4 ,it consisted of a mixture of chlorate of potash1 sulphur1 charcoal and paraffin wax4 ,its inventor had given it the reassuring name of ,double ,x ,safety ,dynamite4 ,a quarry-man in a nearby town had1 with his safety-ignoring habitude1 attempted to load a hole with the stuff1 using a crowbar as a rammer1 with the result that he set off the charge1 and the crowbar went through his head4 ,this unscheduled eventuation aroused the apprehension of the president of the company1 who was also its backer4 ,he began to grow suspicious about the safety of the material4 ,being so much interested1 he went with me on my visit of inspection4 ,we left the train at a siding about a mile from the works1 and had just started in their direction when there came a sudden boom and roar1 and the earth shook4 ,over the powder works there rose a huge column of black smoke1 flaring wide into the sky4 ,we found a great crater where the mixing house had stood4 ,three men were working in the building when the explosion occurred4 ,a fortunate survivor who had left the place a moment before to go for a bucket of drinking water1 was walking about the crater1 apparently searching for something among the scattered remnants4 ,as we approached him1 he sadly said3 ,i can't find much of the boys4 ,i guess you'll have to plow the ground if you want to bury them4 ,a ,,lively ,,dead ,,one ,several years ago1 at the works of the ,american ,forcite ,company1 a batch of nitrogelatin blew up in process of manufacture and several men were killed4 ,one laborer who was working so close to where the explosion occurred that his clothing was nearly all blown off and he was spattered with the blood of his companions and crazed by the shock1 started in a wild and aimless run along the road1 with his tattered garments flying in the wind4 ,a woman of the neighborhood1 whose husband was employed at the works1 intercepted him with the eager inquiry3 ,is anyone killed8 ,yes1 yes6 said he1 ,we are all killed6 ,every one of us is killed6 ,and it was some time before he could be convinced that he was not among the dead4 ,,incidents ,,in ,,the ,,development ,,of ,,motorite ,motorite consists of a compound of about seventy per cent4 nitroglycerin and thirty per cent4 gelatinated guncotton1 the mixture being compounded in such a way as to form a tough and rubbery substance4 ,this material is made into bars1 which are smoothed and varnished upon the outside and then forced into steel tubes4 ,in use1 these steel tubes are placed in an apparatus in such wise that the bar of motorite can be ignited only at the exposed end1 in a combustion chamber1 into which water is forced1 and as the combustion is confined to that end1 it proceeds with absolute uniformity1 according to the pressure1 and without explosion4 ,in other words1 the motorite acts as a fuel1 the products of combustion serving as a flame blast1 blowing the water through a series of baffle plates1 atomizing it1 and converting it instantly into steam4 ,the object of motorite is to replace compressed air in the driving of motors for self-propelled torpedoes4 ,i have already expended more than fifty thousand dollars in experiments with motorite and on different kinds of apparatus for its use4 ,as about four times as much energy is available for driving a torpedo by this system as by any other1 ,i hope some time to effect arrangements for the equipment of torpedoes with it4 ,the first bars of motorite that ,i made1 ,i formed by passing through a die4 ,the result was that a small1 microscopic flaw which could not be seen with the naked eye extended through the bars from end to end1 so that1 when the bar was placed in the combustion apparatus1 the flame of ignition passed immediately down through the flaw1 exploding the apparatus4 ,after the first apparatus blew up1 ,i made another one1 and1 as ,i could not very well conduct the experiments at the place where the first mishap occurred1 ,i hired a floor in a building to make the test4 ,but ,i needed an assistant1 and it was problematical where ,i could find one4 ,one day1 while returning home1 ,i was accosted by a panhandler1 a young man claiming to have just arrived from ,pittsburg1 seeking work4 ,i told him that if he was actually looking for work ,i had a job for him1 and ,i bade him come right along with me4 ,i took him home that night1 fed him1 and watched him4 ,the next morning we went down to the shop4 ,i explained to him all about the nature of the experiment that ,i was about to try1 and told him that1 if he had any timidity1 the time to abscond was then and there4 ,he told me that he was not afraid of anything1 if ,i was not4 ,very well1 then1 ,i said1 ,i do not expect the thing to blow up2 otherwise1 ,i would not be here4 ,i got my time-watch ready1 and told him to press the electric button to ignite the motorite4 ,instantly there was a terrific explosion4 ,the windows were blown out into the street1 and pieces of the shattered apparatus were driven into the ceiling and into the wall all about us2 but fortunately neither of us was hit4 ,john looked calmly about him for a moment1 and then at me1 and remarked3 ,god1 she busted6 ,while we were recovering from our amazement1 half a dozen policemen rushed into the place1 accompanied by a priest4 ,i explained the mishap the best way ,i could1 and1 seeing that the priest was a handsome1 genial1 good-natured fellow1 ,i appealed to him4 ,he had a little chat with the policemen1 and they all left4 ,i sent that priest a box of the best cigars that ,i could buy4 ,under the counsel and advice of the landlord ,i then moved away from there4 ,i next bought a house1 and in the back yard ,i built a laboratory with no windows or doors in it1 except a skylight at the top and the windows and doors that fronted my house4 ,the walls were of brick1 and made thick4 ,the skylight at the top was a large one1 and was arranged to open up full size4 ,special precautions were taken by means of various attachments to cause the roof to stay on in case of emergency4 ,a new apparatus was made and erected and got ready to test4 ,this time my wife was my assistant1 and we arranged to touch the thing off by electricity from the house4 ,again it exploded1 and one of the fragments of the apparatus1 coming through the open door1 struck the wooden wall behind which my wife and ,i were standing and nearly passed through it4 ,on entering the laboratory1 ,i discovered for the first time what was the actual cause of the trouble1 namely1 the longitudinal flaw already referred to1 evidenced by the fragments of the motorite that remained after the explosion1 for motorite1 like smokeless gunpowder1 when subjected to explosive pressure1 is immediately extinguished upon the release of the pressure1 so that when the apparatus blew up1 all of the unconsumed motorite was extinguished1 just as when the projectile leaves the gun any unburned smokeless powder is extinguished and is blown out in front of the gun1 where the partially consumed grains may be recovered4 ,the next motorite was made by rolling the material into sheets1 cutting into discs1 sealing them together under pressure1 and in that way building up the bars1 which precluded the possibility of there being any flaws4 ,some motorite was soon made in this manner1 and another apparatus constructed1 which was tested and which worked very satisfactorily4 ,following this successful result1 ,i built a laboratory at a dynamite plant near ,lake ,hopatcong for conducting the experiments on a larger scale4 ,my assistant at the motorite laboratory was one of that ,american country type1 absolutely honest1 perfectly fearless1 painstaking and diligent1 of such timber as the great men of the earth are made4 ,he was altogether a most lovable fellow4 ,he had all his life worked with explosives1 and was a veteran in the manufacture and use of nitroglycerin and dynamite4 ,but1 when doing pioneer work with explosives1 there is always an unavoidable element of risk1 even when the greatest care is taken4 ,we at first had the hydraulic press1 in which we built up the sticks of motorite1 located in the laboratory room itself2 but ,i suggested to my assistant one day that it had better be placed outside1 and a heavy brick wall built between us and the press1 as a barricade in case of a possible accident4 ,for1 ,i said1 suppose you should by oversight neglect to put in the leather packing between the piston and the motorite1 we might have an explosion4 ,he said that he could hardly forget that precaution4 ,nevertheless1 the press was placed outside1 and the barricade built4 ,the very first time that we used the press thereafter he did forget the packing1 with the result that the press exploded4 ,although we were behind the barricade1 still the concussion brought us to our knees4 ,had the explosion occurred while the press was being operated in the main laboratory1 we should both have certainly been very seriously injured1 if not killed4 ,it was a matter of several months before the full-sized torpedo apparatus with which we were to experiment was completed and erected1 and the necessary quantity of motorite made4 ,on the day before the regular test was to be conducted1 ,i was called to ,morristown1 as expert on a case in court1 and ,i left orders with my assistant to make up an additional small quantity of sealing compound1 used for sealing the discs of motorite together in building up the bars4 ,this sealing material was made of a mixture of nitroglycerin1 guncotton1 camphor and acetate of amyl4 ,as ,i did not receive the telegram to go to ,morristown until after ,i left home that morning1 my wife expected that ,i would be working at the laboratory that day1 but knew that ,i might possibly have a call to ,morristown4 ,on my way home that evening1 ,i was informed by a neighbor that there had been an explosion in my laboratory1 that my assistant had been killed1 and that the place had been burned down4 ,i hastened to the spot and found my wife there waiting for me4 ,all that was left of my assistant lay in an adjacent building covered with a piece of sacking4 ,that was one of the saddest moments of my whole life4 ,it is impossible to know what little slip or misjudgment may have produced the explosion4 ,a little inadvertence in the handling of a bottle of nitroglycerin may have been the cause4 ,the manner in which my wife was informed of the accident was about on a par with that employed by the ,irishman who took the remains of a fellow-workman1 killed by an explosion1 home to his wife in a wheelbarrow1 and1 knocking upon the door1 asked3 ,does the widdy ,mc,ginnis live here8 ,she replied3 ,indade1 and ,i'm not a widdy4 ,and he said3 ,and faith ye are1 for ,i have his rimnants here in the wheelbarry with me4 ,a butcher was the messenger-bearer to ,mrs4 ,maxim4 ,he said3 ,mrs4 ,maxim1 have you heard the news about the explosion8 ,and he continued3 ,mr4 ,maxim's laboratory blew up and burned down today4 ,they have found some of his assistant1 but they haven't found any of ,mr4 ,maxim yet4 ,mrs4 ,maxim immediately rushed to the scene of the accident1 where she learned the welcome news that ,i was in ,morristown that day4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it was a matter of another year of hard work before ,i was again ready to make a new trial of the torpedo apparatus4 ,there were several amusing experiences in connection with that testing4 ,the apparatus held a charge of one hundred and ten pounds of motorite4 ,water was pumped continuously through a water jacket over the steel cylinders containing the burning motorite and into the combustion chamber during each run4 ,the apparatus was provided with an exhaust valve so constructed as to control1 to a nicety1 the pressure in the combustion chamber4 ,under three hundred pounds pressure to the square inch1 which was what was mainly used1 the motorite burned at the rate of a foot in length per minute1 and as each foot in length weighed twenty-five pounds1 it burned at the rate of twenty-five pounds per minute4 ,each pound of motorite evaporated a little more than two pounds of water1 and the products of combustion1 mingling with the steam produced1 escaped from the exhaust valve through an inch-and-a-half nozzle4 ,the roar of the escaping gas and steam was so great that it was impossible to hear one shout at the top of his voice4 ,the loudest shout was less than a whisper4 ,the roar could be heard with great distinctness more than two miles away4 ,a good idea can be had of the violence with which the steam and gases escaped1 from the fact that a door1 which accidentally swung shut during one of the runs in front of the nozzle1 although seven feet distant1 was blown from its hinges1 broken in two1 and the fragments hurled twenty feet away4 ,the noise was so confounding1 that it was some time before my assistants and myself could keep our senses about us and note and record the pressures on the various gauges during a run1 although the apparatus was separated from us by a barricade so strong and heavy that there was no possibility of our being injured1 even should there be an explosion4 ,one day1 just as we were about to make a run1 the superintendent of a nearby explosives works called upon us1 and ,i asked him if he would like to see the run1 and he said he would4 ,i then asked him to note particularly and to record the pressure on a certain gauge4 ,the run lasted about five minutes and1 on turning to him for his notes1 he himself was surprised that he had been so confounded by the noise that he had not thought of looking at the gauge at all4 ,on the day when the final test took place1 the firm of torpedo-builders that was interested with me in the apparatus sent several representatives1 including their chief engineer1 vice-president and other officers of the company1 to witness the test4 ,everything being in readiness1 and each member of the committee being convinced that there was no possible danger in remaining in proximity to the apparatus and back of the barricade1 while it was being tested1 ,i gave each of the committee explicit instructions to watch the various gauges and to note the pressures1 while the chief engineer and myself were to watch the nozzle gauge1 and to observe the character and force of the steam and gases escaping from the nozzle4 ,i told the several members of the committee it was indispensable that they should carefully watch the pressure gauges during the entire run4 ,as it was a condition of the test that ,i should get up steam within ten seconds1 the chief engineer stood ready with his stop-watch when the electric button was pressed to ignite the motorite4 ,as the action was instantaneous1 that is to say1 as steam was got up practically instantaneously and was escaping at the nozzle under full head as quickly as a gun could be fired1 he did not think of his stop-watch1 and it was some little time before ,i could get him to look at the pressure gauge on the nozzle1 so as to observe the character of the escaping steam4 ,his eyes had a blank1 meaningless look1 but it must be confessed that he had the grit to stand there4 ,not so1 however1 with the other members of the committee4 ,each of them was far more interested in his own individual run than he was in the run of the apparatus1 for not one of them was in sight when the run was completed4 ,they came straggling back sheepishly1 but no urging sufficed to bring them near the apparatus during any of the succeeding runs4 ,,the ,,mule ,,gun ,in the old days when the ,indians were sometimes troublesome on the ,western frontier1 an officer in the regular army1 who was rather an ingenious fellow1 conceived the idea of making a mountain gun out of a mule and the barrel of a common field-piece1 using the mule for the carriage4 ,he therefore had the gun securely mounted on the back of the beast4 ,they had not proceeded far with this novel battery1 when a small knot of hostile savages was espied quietly eating their midday meal within easy range4 ,the mounted gun was forthwith loaded heavily with grape and canister1 the mule taken by the head and pointed in the direction of the ,indians4 ,a short piece of fuze that had been placed in the touch-hole of the gun was ignited4 ,the mule1 hearing the sizzing of the fuze1 began to rear and snort and kick and whirl about1 while the officer and his men scudded to cover1 and flattened themselves out upon the ground4 ,they had not long to wait when there was a terrific crash4 ,the gun had exploded under the overcharge1 with the utter demolition of the mule carriage4 ,the ,indians1 hearing the report1 looked quickly about them1 and seeing the fragments of an exploded mule rocketing through the air1 were frightened nearly out of their wits1 and fled precipitately4 ,,how ,,gussie ,,got ,,loaded ,when ,i was a young man ,i taught several terms of school in ,maine1 where1 in the small country districts1 the teacher is expected to be a walking encyclopedia of information4 ,one day there came a loud knock upon the door of the schoolhouse4 ,on going out to see what was the cause of the imperative summons1 ,i found standing there the wife of one of the neighbors1 white as a sheet with agitation and alarm4 ,she excitedly told me that her little boy1 ,gussie1 had just swallowed a bullet1 and she asked me what she should do for him4 ,why1 said ,i pleasantly1 ,give him a good charge of gunpowder4 ,but be careful not to point him toward anybody4 ,she went home and gave him a dose of gunpowder1 without ever seeing the joke4 ,,dynamite',s ,,freak ,a contractor1 who does business up in ,new ,york ,state1 told me the following story3 ,a carload of nitroglycerin dynamite had been shipped to him1 but was held up in a freight-house for a day or two before delivery to him4 ,one night while it was there1 the freight-house took fire4 ,hearing the fire-alarm and looking out1 he was astounded to see that it was the freight-house burning4 ,believing that his carload of dynamite would be sure to explode1 he started to run to the scene in all haste1 to warn the firemen and others to keep far away from the inevitable explosion1 when1 suddenly1 there was a great burst of flame1 which shot high into the sky and flared out bright and wild in all directions1 sending up an enormous column of smoke4 ,but this fierce combustion lasted only a few minutes1 and then subsided4 ,he knew that his dynamite had burned up1 and1 curiously enough1 without exploding4 ,he met the fire chief after the conflagration1 and they spoke of the fire4 ,the chief remarked that there must have been some very combustible freight on one of the cars4 ,he said that1 when the fire first started1 the firemen played a full stream of water on this car1 but it did not do any good4 ,the car burned so fast and so fierce that they had to rush away for their lives1 or they would have been consumed by the intense heat1 and he wondered what it could be that would burn so fiercely4 ,when told that it was a carload of dynamite1 he felt like a man who discovers the next day that he had1 during the night1 walked along the sheer edge of a high precipice4 ,although dynamite in such quantities as a carload when ignited is almost certain to explode instead of merely burning1 still1 sometimes1 even that quantity will take fire and burn up completely without exploding2 while1 at other times1 a single stick of dynamite when ignited will detonate4 ,,explosive ,,vagaries ,one of the old importers of picric acid in this country told me the following story3 ,he sold about five tons of picric acid to a manufacturer of dynamite doing business at a certain place up the ,hudson1 for employment as an ingredient in a particular kind of high explosive4 ,not being very familiar with picric acid and the character of the exploder necessary to detonate it1 the purchaser had poor success with it1 and he called upon the importer with the grievance that he had been sold such a poor lot of picric acid that it was actually non-explosive1 and was therefore practically worthless1 and he wanted the seller to take it back immediately4 ,the importer could not convince him that he was mistaken1 although he insisted that it was only necessary to know how to explode it1 and that1 when properly detonated1 it was one of the most powerful explosives in the world4 ,no1 said the purchaser1 that picric acid you have sent me is not an explosive4 ,he admitted he knew that picric acid was recognized as a very powerful explosive2 but he was sure of one thing--that the picric acid that had been sent him was not an explosive4 ,why1 said he1 it is no more explosive than sand1 and ,i want you to take it back4 ,all right1 said the importer1 you may return me a sample of it1 and ,i will submit it to the requisite tests1 and if it proves an inferior lot ,i will take it back4 ,that day1 during the purchaser's absence1 some workmen were moving a barrel of the picric acid in order to let a plumber mend a small leak in a lead pipe1 which supplied the place with water4 ,over and about this lead pipe had been spilled a considerable quantity of picric acid1 which had formed picrate of lead with the lead pipe4 ,the friction from the barrel set off this picrate of lead1 which in turn detonated the picric acid2 and the whole five tons went off with such violence as amply to demonstrate its explosive qualities4 ,the following day the purchaser returned to the importer with the complaint that that picric acid sold him was the most sensitive1 most violent and treacherous explosive material in the world4 ,the importer laughed1 and reminded him of their previous conversation4 ,but1 as the dynamite factory had been demolished and several men killed1 the purchaser did not respond very readily to the humor of the situation4 ,,the ,,turkey ,,that ,,went ,,to ,,bed ,possibly it may not be diverging too much from dynamite stories to tell of an experience of mine with a steam-cooker1 which ,i invented away back in the eighties4 ,in this cooker ,i was able to roast and bake by superheated steam4 ,sometimes it worked very well4 ,at other times the safety valve gave me a great deal of trouble1 being altogether too uncertain in its action4 ,one day ,i was sitting alone in the kitchen1 steam-roasting a turkey1 when dispossessed ,bridget1 who was waiting in an adjoining room1 opened the kitchen door1 and took a sly peep at me4 ,i was endeavoring to convince her that the thing was perfectly safe1 when1 of a sudden1 that cooker blew up4 ,the kitchen windows were blown out1 the door ripped off its hinges1 and the stove demolished4 ,fortunately1 none of the fragments found either ,bridget or me4 ,the oven portion of the cooker1 containing the turkey1 went upstairs somewhere1 through the ceiling4 ,later developments showed that the turkey had gone to bed in the room over the kitchen4 ,that cooker was my first patent4 ,,bill ,,bennett1 ,,detective ,we had a neighbor1 when ,i was a young man down in ,maine1 by the name of ,bill ,bennett1 a hard-working farmer1 who was very proud of his pile of dry hard wood1 which he had prepared for the winter's cold4 ,late in the autumn1 however1 the wood began to disappear faster than he thought it ought4 ,he was sure that someone was stealing it1 and inasmuch as his nearest neighbors had no store of wood whatsoever1 and1 too1 were notoriously shiftless1 he concluded that they must be the pilferers4 ,a little bit of detective work that he practiced to ascertain the truth of his conclusions was certainly ingenious and worked well4 ,bennett took a dozen sticks of wood1 and bored a large hole in the end of each of them1 which he filled with rifle powder1 putting about a pound into each stick4 ,he then plugged the holes skillfully to conceal the evidences of his work1 sawing off a short bit of the plugged end of each stick1 so that the plug would not show1 and distributed these sticks upon the part of the pile that was shrinking4 ,he was careful to select the wood for his own burning from another portion of the heap4 ,the following evening he was looking from his window toward the house of the neighbors1 wondering how long it would be before his ingenuity bore fruit1 when suddenly there was a flash1 a crash and a roar1 followed by screams of ,murder6 and ,fire6 ,the mystery had been solved4 ,,winning ,,the ,,ox ,this ,bill ,bennett was a good deal of a marksman1 and one day while attending a county fair1 where he had imbibed a considerable measure of bottled-up unsteadiness1 he came reeling along to a group of men who were engaged in shooting at a target4 ,the range was long1 and the price paid by each contestant for a chance to display his skill1 or lack of it1 was a dollar a shot1 but the prize was a fat ox1 which was destined to go to the first who made a bull's-eye4 ,as yet none had succeeded in making the lucky shot4 ,bill staggered into position1 and threw down a ten-dollar bill for ten shots4 ,the attendants steadied him sufficiently to confine his wild target practice to that part of the sky and horizon where the target was located4 ,bill had wasted nine shots without coming within speaking distance of the target1 which to his drunken sight appeared to be double4 ,rolling like a ship in a storm1 ,bill brought the gun to his shoulder for the last round1 declaring1 ,by gum1 ,i'm agoing to hit one of them targets this time4 ,and he did4 ,as they went sailing by1 he let blaze at them1 and behold1 it was a bull's-eye6 ,bill had won the ox on a one-to-a-million chance4 ,a ,,duel ,,to ,,the ,,death ,in the old pioneer days of ,maine1 when it was still a province of ,massachusetts1 a young ,french officer had an altercation with the chief of the ,oldtown ,indians1 and according to the custom of the times1 challenged the ,red ,man to fight a duel with him4 ,the old ,indian1 according to the courtesies of the game1 was allowed the choice of weapons1 and he chose two kegs of gunpowder4 ,each was to sit upon a keg1 with the bung out4 ,then two pistols were to be discharged in succession4 ,on the firing of the first pistol1 two iron pokers1 heated to a white heat1 were to be laid upon a table beside the duelists1 which was to be immediately followed by the discharge of the second pistol4 ,at this signal they were each to seize a poker and thrust it into the bung-hole of the keg on which his adversary was sitting1 the old ,indian calculating that he would be quicker than the ,frenchman4 ,but the ,frenchman had a little calculation of his own1 and he figured out something that the ,indian had doubtless not thought of4 ,this was that the explosion of either keg would be certain to explode the other4 ,but he made a bluff of it1 thinking that the old ,indian too might be bluffing1 and so everything was arranged4 ,each mounted his respective keg and the first pistol was fired4 ,the savage was a graven image1 but the ,frenchman did not wait for the second signal1 and unlike ,lot's wife1 he never looked back4 ,,the ,,bewitched ,,flintlock ,my father used to tell a good story about a one-time chief of the ,oldtown ,indians1 and1 as it had to do in a way with explosions--indeed1 a series of them--,i add it to my collection4 ,there was a farmer living in an adjacent town1 who frequently received visits from the old chief4 ,on such occasions1 the ,red ,man always carried his shotgun with him4 ,the weapon1 according to the times1 was a flintlock1 single-barreled muzzle-loader4 ,one day in the autumn1 the farmer was feeding his turkeys by stringing a long line of corn upon the ground1 on either side of which the turkeys were standing1 head to head1 in two opposing ranks for the feeding4 ,the ,indian was present1 and the farmer asked his guest what he would give for a shot at that double line of turkeys' heads4 ,the ,indian answered that he would give five dollars1 if he could have every turkey that he killed or wounded4 ,the farmer1 who had previously drawn the shot from the ,indian's gun1 leaving only the powder charge1 accepted the offer4 ,the ,indian leveled his gun and fired2 but not a turkey fell4 ,the old ,red ,man looked puzzled4 ,the farmer laughed at his marksmanship1 but the old savage merely grunted1 and went home4 ,the chief appeared again next day1 and the farmer asked him how he would like to take another shot1 having again drawn off a charge of shot from the ,indian's gun4 ,he would gladly give another five dollars for a try4 ,this time the discharge of the gun brought down a goodly number of turkeys4 ,the ,indian had taken the precaution of loading his gun with a double charge of shot4 ,on the next visit received from the ,indian1 the farmer unloaded the gun down to the powder charge1 then put in a wad of punk1 and another powder charge with another wad of punk1 and so on1 until he had loaded the weapon nearly to the muzzle4 ,he then replaced the gun in its position in the corner1 dropped a fire-coal into the muzzle1 and invited the ,indian to supper4 ,after the lapse of a few minutes1 the ,indian's gun went off1 bang6 ,much surprised1 the ,indian looked around1 and remarked that it was a strange occurrence1 that he had never before known his gun to go off by itself4 ,while he was still cogitating over the strange occurrence1 bang6 went the old gun again4 ,the ,indian hurried through his supper1 very greatly perturbed1 but he had not quite finished when the old gun spoke yet once again4 ,the chief rose from the table hurriedly1 seized his ancient weapon1 and started off for home with as nearly a display of agitation as is permissible to the dignity of the ,red ,man4 ,before he had gone far1 however1 the old gun uttered another bang6 ,he then broke into a rapid run1 and just as he arrived at his wigwam1 the gun banged again4 ,now thoroughly frightened1 he hurled it from him over a fence4 ,still1 for more than two hours the ,indian's weapon continued its mysterious barking4 ,when the farmer explained the trick to the old chief1 he felt that he had been somewhat compensated for the loss of his turkeys4 ,,when ,,he ,,shirked ,a prominent financier1 who was a much better business man than he was inventor1 read of ,moissan's experiments in making artificial diamonds4 ,the financier conceived the idea of converting anthracite coal directly into diamonds by subjecting it to enormous pressure of gunpowder exploded in a strong steel cylinder4 ,as he wished to market a large quantity of his manufactured diamonds before their artificial character should leak out1 he determined to conduct his experiments very secretly2 consequently1 he put the man-of-all-work at his country place upon the job4 ,this faithful and useful servant was to report the progress of the work regularly at the city office of his employer4 ,after trying several experiments with black gunpowder1 the man reported that the scheme didn't work--that no diamonds were produced4 ,the financier then told the useful that he had evidently reached the limit of power of black gunpowder4 ,now try dynamite1 said he4 ,there was a break in the chain of reports1 and he wrote the useful1 asking him why he did not report4 ,still no answer4 ,after waiting some days1 the idea suddenly struck the financier that possibly the process had proved successful and that the useful planned to betray him4 ,he accordingly sent a peremptory telegram to him to report at once on pain of discharge4 ,the next day a vision1 swathed and bandaged and perambulating on crutches1 entered his office4 ,you infernal old scoundrel6 yelled the wreck1 as he entered4 ,blow a man up with dynamite1 and then threaten to discharge him for not reporting6 ,,the ,,elevation ,,of ,,womanhood ,i had a certain man in my employ down at ,maxim by the name of ,benjamin ,billings1 whom we called ,ben ,billingsgate4 ,ben held views very strongly prejudicial to dogs and matrimony4 ,he was all that is implied by the term all-round useful4 ,though an erratic fellow1 he was bright and energetic and seemed to be able to do anything under the sun when he set about it4 ,but he lacked initiative1 except in the expression of his opinions about those two abominations--dogs and matrimony4 ,when he was young and ardent he had married ,sukyanna1 a maiden who was dominated by the delusion that she had been born with a mission1 to which all other considerations were secondary and should be subordinated4 ,she was also a woman with a pug dog4 ,benjamin's nerves had been frazzling out for some time1 and his patience was sorely tried by the division of the lady's affections between him and the dog--with a decided leaning toward the dog4 ,one day he brought home to his wife a beautiful ,christmas present1 which consisted of a large colored photograph of himself1 mounted in an exquisite gilt frame4 ,the expense of the thing represented a week's hard labor1 but he wanted to create an impression upon his wife4 ,he believed in doing things by wholes and in striking hard to win4 ,his wife was very pleased--with the frame4 ,on his return from work the following evening1 he took a sidelong glance toward the mantel over which the picture had been hung4 ,he did not recognize himself4 ,there in the frame was a life-size photograph of the pug in place of his1 which ,sukyanna had removed4 ,he uttered never a word1 but his whole mental mechanism was turning somersaults4 ,the next day1 at roll-call1 that dog was reported among the missing4 ,benjamin pretended to sympathize and to condole with his wife1 but she was disconsolate4 ,some ,gypsies had passed that way during the day1 and it was suspected that they might have stolen the dog4 ,the horse was accordingly hitched up and a drive of ten miles was taken4 ,when the ,gypsies were overhauled and rounded up1 the pug was not discovered4 ,then an advertisement was inserted in all the town papers4 ,still no pug4 ,the canine continued a persistent absentee4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,benjamin had devoted ingenuity enough to the destruction of that dog to form the basis of a ,sherlock ,holmes detective story4 ,he had prepared a sort of canister-bomb1 adapted to go off by a strong thump of any sort4 ,the dog1 the bomb and a stout rawhide string1 with which to tether the bomb to the dog1 were confidingly placed in the hands of a small boy in the neighborhood1 known to have both a sense of humor and a taste for the mischievous4 ,the boy was1 however1 fond of dogs1 and it eventuated that he decided to keep the dog for himself4 ,hence the delay in the finale of this story4 ,but the urchin's sense of humor finally got the better of his affection4 ,he found it impossible to choke off the appeal to his imagination of hitching that bomb to the dog's tail4 ,consequently he took the pug out and carefully tied the canister to its tail4 ,following the ingenious instructions of ,benjamin1 as soon as he had done so he dodged into the house and shut the door before the dog realized what had happened4 ,when the pug discovered itself a part of an infernal machine1 old-home-week associations rose up in its memory1 and it made a bee-line for home and human mother4 ,benjamin had made a little miscalculation about the amount of thumping that would be required to actuate the exploding mechanism of his ingenious bomb1 and it did not explode immediately1 as expected4 ,the dog and bomb1 consequently1 hurtled through space like a comet with a head on both ends of the tail4 ,on the dog's arrival1 ,sukyanna was going about her household duties1 with a book in one hand written by ,miriam ,mushroom on ,the ,transcendentalism of the ,universal1 and ,its ,relevancy to the ,elevation of ,womanhood2 while1 with the other hand1 directed only by subconscious mental process born of habit1 she was preparing supper for ,benjamin4 ,she prided herself on that power of concentration and absorption1 so common to the artistic temperament1 which can resist for a while the battering-ram assaults on consciousness of howling children1 barking dogs1 or a house on fire4 ,as a result1 she did not hear or see puggy as1 with whine and din and clatter1 he rushed into the room where she stood4 ,not receiving the expected attention and consolation1 puggy in his impatience circled around the human mother1 entwining the shanks of her in the strong rawhide cord1 until dog and bomb had effectually hobbled her skirts1 when1 tripping1 she went down on both4 ,this mean trick on the part of ,benjamin bruised her artistic soul and proved far too much2 she instantly separated from ,benjamin--in the direction of the empyrean4 ,she had at last achieved the realization of the ,elevation of ,womanhood4 ,,didn',t ,,know ,,it ,,was ,,loaded ,at the works of the ,maxim-,nordenfelt ,company in ,england1 when some of the early experiments with smokeless powders were being made in that company's laboratory1 a strong hydraulic cylinder1 which had been employed for compressing experimental explosive materials1 was thrown out of commission by the ram1 or plunger1 sticking in the cylinder4 ,the cylinder was taken to the shop1 and the job of getting the plunger out of it was given to one of the workmen4 ,he thereupon commenced in his own peculiar way by heating the cylinder over a forge1 thinking to expand it sufficiently to allow the plunger to be removed4 ,he succeeded before long1 with an effectuality that perfectly dumbfounded his slow sense of expedition4 ,the contained explosive naturally ignited1 and the plunger was blown out like a shot from a cannon4 ,the cylinder itself was blown downward1 demolishing the forge1 passing through the plank floor1 and burying itself in the ground1 while the plunger whizzed upward through the roof1 and disappeared in the direction of ,scotland4 ,,the ,,wrong ,,tap ,the worker among high explosive materials must never relax his ceaseless vigilance4 ,not only his own life1 but also the lives of those working at his side1 hang upon the thread of infinite care4 ,this fact is emphatically illustrated by an experience of my own1 while conducting some experiments with a continuous process for making nitroglycerin which ,i had invented4 ,orders were waiting1 and it would take a week of constant labor on my part to complete the apparatus4 ,i therefore crowded the week into three days1 working constantly day and night1 without a moment's sleep or rest4 ,i had thought out every detail of the process with the utmost care4 ,i had tested every step1 unit by unit1 so ,i was confident not only that the process would prove successful1 but also that it would be safe to operate4 ,on the forenoon of the third day1 everything being at last in readiness1 ,i now prepared to turn on the acids and the glycerin4 ,i was well aware of the grim possibilities of my being killed1 for if ,i had made a miscalculation or any wrong determination1 ,i knew that my life might be the forfeit4 ,i gave little thought to the likelihood of my being incautious due to the tremendous strain to which ,i had so long subjected myself4 ,as it happened1 ,i was so worn out that at the very outset ,i turned on the glycerin first1 instead of the acids4 ,my hand was actually upon the acids tap before ,i realized my error4 ,in that vital moment1 some secret sense or instinct called back my wandering wits in the nick of time1 and1 shuddering1 ,i dropped my fingers from the tap4 ,had ,i turned it on after the glycerin began to flow1 ,i must inevitably have been blown to pieces4 ,,whence ,,all ,,but ,,him ,,had ,,fled ,i have a literary friend by the name of ,marvin ,dana1 who1 although he was for years editor of the ,smart ,set1 once failed in a bit of priori perspicuity4 ,some ,italians were blasting out a bit of rock at ,landing for the foundation of a new bridge1 to carry the roadway over the railroad in that village4 ,they had just finished charging a big1 deep hole with dynamite1 and had lighted the fuze1 when ,marvin started to cross the temporary bridge with his usual measured stride of ever-conscious dignity4 ,the ,italians1 who had withdrawn to a safe distance1 seeing him coming1 and they being unable to speak ,english1 gesticulated wildly1 and pointed excitedly in the direction of the blast under the bridge4 ,the littrateur concluded that there must be something extraordinary going on down below there--something quite worth looking at1 and1 walking directly above the blast1 leaned over the bridge and looked down4 ,just at that instant the mine exploded4 ,he was1 happily1 unhurt by any of the flying stones and dbris1 but the knock-down argument of the shock from the blast convinced him that such carelessness on the part of those ,italians1 with never a guard to wave a red flag warning pedestrians1 was1 indeed1 truly shocking4 ,,breaking ,,his ,,nerve ,just back upon the hills that rise up from the southern shores of ,lake ,hopatcong1 there is one of the most important dynamite works in the country4 ,james ,wentworth began his labors there first as an errand boy1 at the age of twelve1 soon after the works started4 ,it was his brag that he had grown up with the works1 but that he had never gone up with them1 although he had seen many another go up1 when1 on occasion1 by some freak of chance1 a packing-house or a nitroglycerin apparatus would be blown to the four winds of heaven1 spraying wreckage of men and timber over the whole celestial concave4 ,jim had no lack of courage4 ,he had worked in every department of the business2 had made nitroglycerin and nitrogelatin1 and had become one of the most skillful dynamite packers4 ,as he did piece-work1 he made money rapidly4 ,one day1 at a church strawberry festival1 he was drawn into the vortex of that swirling passion1 love1 and married4 ,the young wife importuned him to give up the dynamite business1 as he had already laid up sufficient money to start him in another business4 ,yielding to her wishes1 he gave notice that his resignation was to take effect at the end of two weeks4 ,on the third day of the period of his notice1 on the advent of the noon hour1 he was seized with an uncontrollable impulse to take his dinner-pail and himself out of the packing-house where he was working4 ,he said afterward that he got to thinking1 ,suppose this packing-house should blow up2 what would become of ,susie8--to say nothing of his own dispersion4 ,he went to the top of an elevation to eat his dinner1 in full view of the packing-house1 continuing his pessimistic reflections4 ,the place began to look suspicious4 ,for the first time in his life he felt fear4 ,on a sudden1 that packing-house became a white1 dazzling ball of flame1 and he was knocked down by the concussion4 ,he told the superintendent that the three days he had served on his notice must suffice--he had lost his nerve6 ,,the ,,grizzly ,,cannon ,,ball ,in the early days1 when there was more individual and less corporate mining in the gold country of the ,west1 a long and lean ,yankee1 ,jim ,evans1 who was once a neighbor of mine in ,maine1 contracted the gold-fever1 and went ,west4 ,luckily1 he almost immediately struck a pay streak high up the face of a cliff1 where there was a wide shelf of rock that afforded a very convenient roadway for his use1 as well as considerable area for the transaction of his operations4 ,someone before him had started operations on the same site1 but had become discouraged and quit1 leaving a big steel tank1 open at one end1 lying upon its side1 the open end pointing1 like a huge cannon1 over the mining settlement a thousand feet below4 ,jim used this tank to warehouse certain edibles1 together with a keg of black gunpowder4 ,one day1 on ,jim's return from grubbing in the ground1 he was amazed to find the entrance to his warehouse blocked by a huge grizzly bear that had crawled in to get at the edibles1 and that fitted the big tube like a wad in a gun4 ,jim was addicted to humor1 and as there was a three-quarter-inch hole in the tank near the closed end right over the keg of gunpowder1 the head of which had been removed1 it occurred to him that he might make it somewhat interesting for the bear by lighting a piece of fuze and dropping it into the gunpowder4 ,this he proceeded to do1 and the bear proceeded to leave that tube after the manner of a cannon ball4 ,hearing the report1 and seeing a large volume of smoke1 the townspeople1 looking skyward and ,jim-ward1 were astonished at seeing a ton of grizzly hurtling outward from ,jim's place and descending upon them4 ,on ,jim's return to the village that evening1 he was surrounded by numerous interrogators regarding the bear4 ,oh1 he said1 casually1 ,i found the bear in my shack1 and just threw him out1 that's all4 ,,the ,,joke ,,was ,,not ,,on ,,the ,,chinamen ,when the ,alaskan gold excitement was at its height1 a couple of adventurous spirits1 prospectors from ,california1 had expended several months of precious1 good old summer-time and exhausted their resources in an endeavor to locate pay dirt by sinking a shaft into a narrow table of land which jutted out from a high mountain near its base4 ,after thawing and grubbing and blasting through fifty feet of earth1 with no gold in sight1 they came upon solid ice underlying the cover of earth through which they had penetrated4 ,they kept on1 however1 for several weeks more1 in an endeavor to penetrate through the ice2 but they found ice1 and only ice1 for another fifty feet4 ,then it was that it occurred to them to salt that ice with fine gold dust and sell out to some tenderfoot sucker4 ,they very easily found the desired victims in two ,chinamen1 with evident ample means and sufficient lack of experience4 ,the two prospectors had about a ton of dynamite on hand4 ,this they lowered into the shaft and concealed it in a side drift just deep enough and big enough to hold it1 calculating that the first shot fired by the ,chinamen would set off the dynamite and1 by completely demolishing the shaft1 conceal their fraud4 ,the first blast made by the ,chinamen did explode the dynamite1 which not only wrecked the shaft1 but also lifted the whole jutting bit of tableland--ice1 earth1 everything--sending it--an avalanche--down the mountain slope several hundred feet1 exposing a thick stratum of glacial detritus1 under where the ice had been1 so full of gold that it proved to be one of the richest finds ever made in ,alaska4 ,the one blast had made the ,chinamen millionaires4 ,,chinese ,,fireworks ,during the gold-digging days of ,california1 before there was a restriction imposed upon the immigration of ,chinese1 a big ,american sailing vessel1 while in ,chinese waters1 had taken aboard a large cargo of fireworks and a few tons of gunpowder of a special brand1 which was safely housed in the hold1 while all the sleeping quarters except those occupied by the crew1 and all available deck spaces1 were filled with a cargo of coolies to man ,california mines4 ,the vessel was one of those staunch1 fast1 sail-driven craft brought to their highest perfection in the shipyards of ,maine just before the advent of the steamship4 ,when the ship was about a day out on its homeward voyage1 the captain learned1 through his faithful ,chinese cook1 that a big part of the ,chinamen that he had picked up were half-breed ,malay and ,chinese pirates who had taken passage for the sole purpose of capturing the ship for piratical purposes1 and that they were armed to the teeth1 so that resistance offered by his crew of only twelve would be utterly hopeless4 ,while the captain was deliberating upon what to do1 word was brought by his cook that the pirate horde were beginning to act very ugly1 and had already taken possession of the fore part of the vessel1 preparatory to a final assault upon the crew4 ,the captain ordered two lifeboats immediately to be filled with water and provisions and lowered1 while he went below decks and lighted a train to the cargo of gunpowder and fireworks4 ,then the captain and his crew1 together with the ,chinese cook1 manned the lifeboats and pulled away1 to the amazement of the ,chinese pirates1 who seemed immensely pleased that they had captured the ship without a struggle4 ,the captain and the crew1 in his two boats1 lay on their oars at a safe distance quietly watching events1 while the ship1 which had now been turned about1 was sailing away landward4 ,when at a distance of about half a mile1 that ship turned volcano4 ,the whole above-water portion went up into the air with a belch of fire and thunder-roar like another ,krakatoa1 whose eruption shook the whole earth in #ahhc4 ,in their upward flight1 ,chinamen raced with rockets1 while the heaven was filled with burning fireworks--and then it rained ,chinamen4 ,in fact1 it was a real cloudburst of ,chinamen1 fire-crackers and ship's wreckage4 ,,brown1 ,,the ,,gunner ,for many years1 all inventors and manufacturers having occasion to attend experiments with their productions at the ,naval ,proving ,grounds at ,indian ,head1 were aided in their work by ,brown1 the gunner4 ,he was a very ingenious1 genial1 gigantic fellow1 one of the most likable men in the world4 ,there was nothing about the mechanism of guns and gunnery unfamiliar to him4 ,once1 during the early years of his service there1 a fragment from an exploding gun struck him in the forehead1 leaving a great dent4 ,as soon as he recovered1 he returned to his duties undeterred1 although he had had many other close calls4 ,one day1 a few years ago1 he walked in on me at my summer home on ,lake ,hopatcong4 ,during his visit1 he asked me if ,i believed in presentiments4 ,he said he had had a very strange presentiment of impending danger in his work at ,indian ,head4 ,he told me that he had confided this to the commanding officer there1 who laughed at him1 and said1 ,oh1 ,brown1 at last you are losing your nerve4 ,go and take a two weeks' vacation1 and then come back4 ,brown did go back at the end of his vacation4 ,a few weeks later1 while testing a new heavy gun1 something went wrong4 ,the breech block blew out1 and ,brown was killed4 ,,the ,,happening ,,of ,,the ,,unexpected ,some time ago1 a young lady who had been my private secretary for about four years got married4 ,thinking that one of the best ways of securing another competent stenographer and typist to take her place would be to go to an employment agency1 ,mrs4 ,maxim and ,i called upon the manager of one of those institutions4 ,mrs4 ,maxim1 according to the habitude of her sex1 led in the conversation4 ,she told the manager about the unusual requirements that the person engaged must have--that she must have a good general education1 must be very expert as stenographer and typist1 and above all1 must be an exceptionally good speller4 ,furthermore1 ,mrs4 ,maxim placed especial emphasis upon one stipulation--that we did not want a girl under twenty or a woman over thirty-five1 for the reason that a girl under twenty is very apt to lack the necessary experience and serious-mindedness for such a position1 while a woman around and above forty is apt to be set in her ways1 and to lack the necessary flexibility of mind and nature readily to adapt herself to anything to which she has not always been accustomed1 and is1 furthermore1 likely to be unable to learn anything new with the facility of a younger person4 ,the manager was all suavity1 pleasant manners and promises1 and assured us that he had on his waiting list a number of young women who would exactly meet our requirements1 and that he would send three of them over that very evening4 ,we learned from the bit of experience which followed that employment agencies and those who are sent by them to apply for positions1 are apt to be governed by reasoning similar to that of the small boy1 who1 seeing an advertisement that twenty-five dollars' reward would be paid for a ,pekinese spaniel1 thought it would do no harm to try1 and so he called to claim the reward with a huge mongrel--a cross between a ,newfoundland and a ,st4 ,bernard4 ,well1 at the appointed hour1 two archaic dilapidations wafted themselves in upon us1 who looked as though their nascency had a priority on the ,stone ,age and they had been vouchsafed to us among the antediluvian survivors of ,noah's ,ark4 ,the first one--a slip of a girl of some sixty-seven to the nth-power summers and as many winters--betrayed her lack of typistical experience by mistaking a national cash register for a typewriter4 ,then she confided in us the little confidence that she really knew nothing about typewriting as yet1 but that1 in the sweet long ago1 in the days of auld lang syne1 she used to drum quite a lot on the piano1 and1 consequently1 she imagined that typewriting1 being a sort of mere finger play1 would come so easy to her that she would have little difficulty in acquiring the necessary aptitude on a typewriter to qualify for the position4 ,the next applicant was a tall1 slight1 sinuous1 willowy1 sylph-like and ethereal creature of the hippopotamus variety1 who floated into our presence like a breath of old winter1 made sweet summer by the mingled odor of violets1 lilacs1 musk and new-mown hay4 ,i gave her a short dictation1 which she took down in longhand4 ,i asked her why she did not write shorthand4 ,she said she did write shorthand1 unless she was in a hurry4 ,contemplating her huge bulk1 ,i insinuated that we should want someone a little lighter on her corns than she1 as one of the desirable accomplishments in a private secretary was that she should be able to play tennis4 ,she said that although she had never played tennis herself1 still it ran in the family1 because her grandchildren were expert tennis players4 ,when the third antique entered1 the thing began to get monotonous1 as ,mark ,twain remarked1 when a mule had fallen through his tent three times in one evening4 ,we were getting out of patience4 ,i told the old lady at once that we did not want anyone under twenty or over thirty-five4 ,she assured me that she was not under twenty4 ,i told her that ,i had guessed as much1 and asked1 ,how about the other limit6 ,she sharply retorted that she had never1 in all her life1 touched thirty-five4 ,well1 said ,i1 if that be so1 you must have been skidding some when you went by that numeral4 ,disappointed1 and highly indignant1 we called again the next day upon that manager of the employment agency4 ,he was profoundly apologetic1 and said that he happened to have waiting in another room a young lady who was exactly what we wanted4 ,she was immediately asked into the private office1 where ,mrs4 ,maxim and ,i examined her4 ,she was about twenty-five years of age1 and was1 as they say down in ,maine1 as smart as a steel trap4 ,i gave her a dictation replete with multi-syllabic terminology1 and with unusual words of difficult orthography1 but she took down everything with lightning speed1 read back her notes to perfection1 and transcribed them rapidly on the typewriter without a mistake4 ,we asked for what salary she would be willing to come to us4 ,the salary asked was pretty high1 but we instantly agreed to pay it4 ,the manager and the young lady exchanged glances1 and both looked a bit surprised4 ,mrs4 ,maxim and ,i then asked if we might talk with the young lady alone for a few minutes4 ,after some ,sherlock ,holmesy talk with the young woman1 ,mrs4 ,maxim and ,i came to the conclusion that she was a show girl kept by the manager merely to prove that he had the goods when required1 provided anyone wished to pay a sufficiently high salary1 and the salary was made high enough to deter most applicants4 ,we got it from the girl that she had several times been hired and had worked a few days for each of a number of employers1 until she could find some rational excuse for breaking away and returning to the agency1 the manager of which1 we also learned1 was her brother1 and she was a partner in the business4 ,the incident reminded me of a story told by a friend of mine in ,new ,york who bought a beautiful and highly trained ,scotch terrier of a ,broadway dog vendor1 thinking that after keeping the dog tied up for a week1 feeding him and treating him with kindness1 he could be depended upon to stay with his new master1 but the moment the dog was freed he disappeared1 and the next day he was again with his master1 the dog vendor1 ready to be resold4 ,some time later1 a light was thrown upon the inner consciousness of my friend by reading an account in the newspapers of the arrest of the dog vendor for obtaining money under false pretenses and practicing fraud in the sale of dogs1 or rather1 of the dog4 ,the canine was a sort of homing-pigeon dog1 trained1 like a carrier pigeon1 to return from each new master as soon as freed4 ,the buying and selling of that one dog constituted the main business of the scamp4 ,when our interview with the young woman was concluded1 we started to leave the office in disgust1 but at that moment a young woman of rather prepossessing appearance1 about thirty years of age1 entered the office looking for a position4 ,she explained that her late employer having gone to ,europe1 she was looking for a new place4 ,after a critical examination1 we found that she would meet our requirements very well4 ,then it developed that1 having read in newspapers and magazines some of the accounts1 highly colored by the writers of them1 of how ,i cooked with high explosives and lighted my cigar with a stick of dynamite1 and burned nitroglycerin in a lamp to light the room1 she1 being of a rather nervous temperament1 was afraid of the prospective companionship with explosive materials4 ,i assured her that the accounts were misrepresentations of actual facts1 and explained that we lived at a very safe distance from any explosive works1 and that she would be exposed to no danger whatsoever4 ,i finally convinced her that our home was a safe place1 and although still harassed with some doubts she decided to come with us4 ,in the edge of the evening1 after her arrival1 she and ,i were sitting at the dining-room table engaged in conversation4 ,i was telling her how groundless had been her fears1 when there came a terrific explosion4 ,the sky was lighted up with a brilliancy that would shame the noon-day sun1 and fragments of brands from the burning fell all about the house4 ,i confess that ,i was as much surprised as she was--and that was going some4 ,i rushed out1 and found that my tool-house1 located about a hundred yards from my residence1 had blown up1 and the wreckage was on fire4 ,being sure that there were no explosives in the building1 ,i was greatly puzzled4 ,there were in the place at the time perhaps a hundred rounds of ,mauser rifle cartridges4 ,these were exploding1 one after another1 from the heat4 ,the neighbors who had run to witness the fire1 were greatly frightened1 and did not dare to render any assistance in putting out the flames1 especially while the cartridges were exploding4 ,i ran to a hydrant nearby1 got out the fire-hose1 and found1 to my amazement1 what one usually finds under such circumstances1 that the nozzle of the hose had been taken off1 and the hose disconnected from the hydrant1 and that there was no wrench there4 ,i ran and got another hose and a wrench1 made the connections1 and ran out the hose to extinguish the fire1 when ,i found that only a small stream of water as big as my thumb flowed from the hose4 ,i then ran down to my house to see if there were any faucets open which would reduce the pressure1 and then to the pump-house to measure the water in the supply tank1 and found that the tank was nearly full1 and that thirty-five thousand gallons of water were available for extinguishing the fire4 ,yet ,i could get no pressure4 ,the result was that nothing was saved1 and the building and all its contents were a complete loss4 ,as there was no insurance1 the loss was about fifteen hundred dollars4 ,after it was too late to save the building1 ,i walked down to the ,hotel ,durban1 on my property1 which ,i supplied with water1 to calm the fears of some of the guests who were agitated1 when1 to my amazement1 ,i found a two-inch fire-hose turned on full1 and running in the road4 ,i learned then that a stupid fellow who was staying at the hotel1 had turned the water on at several fire hydrants to play water on the hotel1 although the hotel was at such a safe distance from the tool-house that there was not a particle of danger whatsoever4 ,it never occurred to him to close off one hydrant when he opened another2 consequently1 the pressure was reduced so that no water at all could be had at the scene of the fire1 and not pressure enough on the hose-pipes that he had turned on to do any good even had they been needed4 ,after things had quieted down1 ,i returned to the house to resume my conversation1 and to repeat my assurances to the young lady secretary1 but ,i found a polite note tacked to the table-cloth1 requesting that her trunk be forwarded the next day4 ,she had not waited for further conviction as to the safety of her new position4 ,on investigation1 ,i learned that a fire had started in the tool-house from some cause unknown1 and had proceeded long enough to get one side of the interior of the building well ablaze4 ,as there were five gallons of denatured alcohol in the place1 and the same quantity of gasoline1 and about ten pounds of sulphuric ether1 it is probable that one of these had become heated and1 bursting1 set free a lot of vapor which1 mixing with the atmosphere1 exploded4 ,there were also in the building about thirty pounds of finely pulverized aluminum1 ten pounds of magnesium powder and other ingredients for flashlight powders1 with which ,i intended to conduct experiments4 ,as these materials were not mixed1 they were not explosive1 but their combustion was what produced the wonderful light when the explosion occurred4 ,the result was not like that from an explosion of dynamite1 in which case the building would have been literally blown to fragments1 but1 as is usual in gas explosions1 the roof of the building was lifted up1 the sides thrown out1 and the roof dropped in4 ,even the front door of the building1 charred from the initial fire1 was found otherwise intact4 ,while sitting on the porch of my house on ,lake ,hopatcong1 dictating this story to my stenographer1 and when ,i had arrived at this point1 she suddenly called to me1 ,look6 pointing her finger across the ,lake to a huge column of smoke going up from the ,atlas ,powder ,works1 and mushrooming out into the sky4 ,the direct distance is about three miles1 but it seemed quite a long time before we felt the shock and heard the sound4 ,although the sound was loud and the shock considerable1 the sound was much louder and the shock much heavier even at longer distances in several directions1 owing1 ,i imagine1 to the difference in the underlying strata of earth4 ,as ,i learned later1 the explosion took place at one of the packing houses1 which carried another packing house with it1 together with a nitroglycerin storehouse1 so that about ten tons of dynamite1 or its equivalent1 went up in that column of smoke4 ,i understand that seven men were killed1 and about twice as many injured4 ,it was the largest and most destructive explosion that had ever occurred at those works4 ,,when ,,the ,,wash ,,vanished ,i was once invited to speak at a ,county ,fair at ,pittsfield1 ,massachusetts1 where ,i used to live when in the publishing business4 ,my subject was ,explosive ,materials and ,their ,use in ,warfare4 ,the management was especially desirous that ,i should give my auditors some sort of spectacular demonstration1 to show what explosives would do4 ,a platform was erected in an open field1 and ,i had an arena roped off at the rear of the platform about fifty feet wide1 and running back several hundred feet4 ,in the rear portion of this arena ,i buried several sticks of dynamite1 and connected them with an exploder and a battery on the platform4 ,also1 ,i brought several cotton bosom-shirts1 several cotton undershirts1 half-a-dozen handkerchiefs1 a couple of towels1 half-a-dozen pairs of cotton socks1 and as many cheap cotton collars and cuffs4 ,these ,i had immersed in a concentrated mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids1 converting them all into guncotton4 ,then ,i washed and soaked the acid out of them1 and dried them4 ,i stretched a clothes-line from the speaker's platform to a distance of about thirty feet to my right1 and on this ,i hung my guncotton clothes1 only a few feet away from the front of the audience4 ,there were1 perhaps1 a thousand people massed in front of me1 crowding up close1 that nothing should miss them4 ,i made a brief talk on the nature and use of explosives1 and burned some smokeless powder under water1 and then ,i touched off the dynamite in the rear of the field1 which made a very pretty showing4 ,the audience was very curious about that wash4 ,that ,i should have hung my linen out to dry on that occasion they thought was very peculiar taste1 to say the least2 and some of them did not hesitate to say that they considered it very bad taste4 ,i then said to the audience that ,i must beg their pardon for displaying my underwear as ,i had done2 that ,i appreciated the fact that it was an unsightly display1 and1 to accommodate them1 ,i would immediately proceed to get it out of sight4 ,i then touched it off with an electrical igniter1 and that laundry disappeared in one great bright flash of flame4 ,there happened to be in my audience an ingenious fellow with some knowledge of chemistry1 who was a noted wag and practical joker4 ,taking the hint from my nitrated laundry1 he nitrated a cotton handkerchief and sent it to the ,chinese laundry with the rest of his wash4 ,when he called for his clothes1 he found ,john ,chinaman with his right arm in a sling4 ,however1 ,john was all smiles1 and apologized for the absence of the one handkerchief1 but said nothing more about it4 ,a short time after the fellow had put on his clean underwear1 he developed a very severe case of prickly heat1 followed1 a little later1 by a sensation like that of needles being stuck into his body over the entire surface4 ,anyone who has taken a bite of a wild ,indian turnip knows what that sensation is4 ,the ,chinaman had charged his customer's garments with a preparation extracted from a ,chinese variant of the ,indian turnip4 ,it took a couple of weeks1 with the aid of a physician1 for the wag to recover from the little unpleasantness which the ,chinaman had inflicted upon him4 ,,the ,,frightened ,,fisherman ,when testing big guns at ,sandy ,hook1 the officers are often greatly annoyed by fishing boats that persist in getting within range of the guns and in remaining there1 entirely regardless of the work or wishes of the officers of ,uncle ,sam4 ,it is a curious circumstance that1 according to the law of the country1 these ships have the right of way1 and even the officers of the ,government ,proving ,grounds have no power to compel a fishing smack to move out of range4 ,there was one boat of this kind that persisted in anchoring daily exactly in the range of a ten-inch gun that was under test1 and day after day the tests had to be delayed4 ,one morning1 however1 there being a haze or fog floating close down upon the water at a distance of a couple of miles from the shore1 and the sea looking perfectly clear to that distance1 the officers in charge of the testing of the gun concluded that the range was clear1 and they fired1 but the captain of the fishing boat above referred to happened to be on his job1 just as usual1 though concealed by the fog4 ,he had stretched himself out in a hammock on deck and was taking a snooze1 when a ten-inch projectile passed through his boat under him1 and ricocheted on out to sea4 ,he kept out of the gunner's range after that4 ,following this incident1 one of the officers conceived the brilliant idea of keeping fishermen from coming into the line of fire in the following manner3 ,when a boat was seen sailing into range he would fire several six-pound shells1 exploding them in the water along the line of range1 and directly in the path of the oncoming boat4 ,this method served the purpose admirably4 ,while the fishermen would calmly cast anchor and occupy a position directly in range of a gun being tested1 they did not dare to sail directly into the line of fire of exploding six-pound shells4 ,,the ,,colonel ,,was ,,provoked ,an ,army officer tells me the following story3 ,one time1 while he was on duty at the ,sandy ,hook ,proving ,grounds1 they were testing a gun-shield to see whether or not it would resist the penetration of a six-inch shell4 ,the officer whose duty it was to attend to the loading and firing of the gun did not always allow the required time to elapse after sounding the warning before discharging the gun1 especially when he took it for granted that no one was in the zone of danger1 in which case he was apt to consider the signal of warning a mere formality4 ,such was his attitude and action on the occasion to which this story refers3 ,he gave the signal1 and immediately fired4 ,the projectile1 which was expected to penetrate the shield1 went only half through1 and stuck there1 when1 to the horror of all participants1 especially of the careless officer referred to1 the ,colonel of ,artillery emerged from behind the shield1 unhurt1 but madder than a demon in ,dante's ,inferno4 ,no more guns were fired without the lapse of an ample period of warning4 ,,when ,,the ,,darkies ,,turned ,,pale ,at one of our ,government proving grounds1 some years ago1 the officers were testing a new high explosive1 and1 as was their custom1 they charged a twelve-inch shell with the material in order to estimate the power of the explosive by the fragmentation of the projectile when the charge was detonated4 ,they had a bomb-proof chamber prepared for this purpose4 ,it consisted of a room about ten feet wide1 twelve feet long1 and eight feet high1 lined with armorplate4 ,the projectile was placed on the armored floor in the middle of the room1 and covered with a few hundred pounds of fine sand4 ,it was armed with an electrical exploder1 which was set off from another bomb-proof at a safe distance4 ,after each explosion1 the fragments were sifted from the sand and counted and weighed4 ,a twelve-inch shell charged with ,maximite and exploded at ,sandy ,hook during the tests there of that explosive1 was broken into ten thousand fragments4 ,the fragments made deep dents in the hard face of the armorplate4 ,the shell that enters into this story was exploded under similar conditions4 ,when the officers were ready to explode the shell1 they sounded the usual alarm to give warning to laboring men on the premises to seek cover4 ,now1 it so happened that about a dozen negroes who were engaged in some pick-and-shovel work had been in the habit of using this very bomb-proof as a shelter when a big gun was fired2 consequently1 when the warning was sounded1 they immediately rushed for cover within that bomb-proof4 ,the officer in command was about to close the switch to explode the projectile1 and his hand was already upon it1 but1 being an exceedingly cautious man1 he thought he would take another look to be sure that all was safe1 and1 to his amazement1 he saw a negro who had been screening himself behind a pile of rubbish making a dash for the bomb-proof containing the projectile1 when it was revealed that the dozen darkies had all huddled into it for safety4 ,when those darkies found out how close a call they had had1 they turned just as pale as negroes can turn4 ,had the projectile been exploded while they were in the bomb-proof1 they would not only have all been killed by the blast1 but would also have literally been blown to ribbons4 ,,the ,,dog ,,that ,,was ,a ,,real ,,mascot ,in the long line of trenches that constitutes the ,french and ,british front1 facing the equally long ,german front1 the soldiers relieve time's tedium by numerous artifices4 ,many kinds of pets--dogs1 cats1 owls1 doves1 parrots--are harbored for the sake of their company1 or as mascots--bringers of good luck4 ,a ,french soldier had a dog that was a great favorite in the trenches1 for the reason that he was a famous ratter1 and as the trenches were infested with rats1 he was a most welcome guest4 ,one day1 when the ,germans were bombarding the ,french position before ,verdun preparatory to a charge1 a huge howitzer shell1 penetrating deep into the earth in front of one of the ,french trenches1 and exploding1 buried half a hundred men--among them the owner of the dog4 ,the dog also was quite buried by the explosion1 but he quickly dug himself out1 and then he began an eager search for his master4 ,smelling out his location1 he dug furiously with all his might to unearth him4 ,fortunately1 his master's head was near the surface of the ground1 but his arms and legs were bound tight so that he could not move1 and he was nearly suffocated when the dog succeeded in digging out his head and face so that he could breathe4 ,happily1 relief came soon1 and when the rescuing party arrived1 they found the dog still working with all his strength to uncover his master4 ,pick and spade soon brought the dog's quarry to the surface1 who was quite unharmed except for a few bruises1 while the dog1 it was seen1 was bleeding at ears1 eyes and mouth from the effect of the explosive blast4 ,,weary ,,willie',s ,,discomfiture ,some good old ,english folk whose prosperous son had made a large amount of money in the railroad business in ,america1 were persuaded by their boy to give up their fine1 old-fashioned ,english country home for such home life as ,america could afford4 ,the dutiful son had anticipated the wants and pleasures of his parents1 and on a fine country estate he had built practically a replica of the old ,english homestead4 ,there was the big fireplace and the big1 wide chimney1 to be swept by the smutty chimney-sweep4 ,the chimney was provided with pegs to climb up and down4 ,some time after the good parents were quartered in their new home1 ,weary ,william the wanderer1 a real hobo1 walking past the place late one night1 could see enough of it in the moonlight to recognize its genuine ,english aspect2 for ,weary ,willie had1 in his boyhood days1 been one of those smut-faced chimney-sweeps in old ,england1 and when he walked up and peeped through the window and saw a few embers in the familiar fireplace1 he concluded to go down that chimney and take a nap in the cosy comfort that the room provided1 and perchance find something to eat and drink without waking anyone4 ,entering the room by way of the chimney1 he did find1 all set as though for himself1 edibles and wine--left-overs from someone's late supper4 ,after feasting1 he took a snooze on the sofa1 intending to take his leave the way he came at an early hour before the family was up1 but he had drunken more of the good wine than he ought1 and he slept soundly4 ,he was awakened by voices1 which told him that it was high time and past for him to make his exit1 and he scooted up the chimney in great haste1 but not a whit too quickly1 for by the time he had raised himself up out of sight1 several persons entered the room4 ,he did not dare continue his ascent or move for fear of making a noise4 ,he waited there1 breathless1 for a more favorable opportunity to climb out4 ,it so happened that an ingenious ,yankee neighbor of the ,english gentlefolk had suggested a more expeditious way of cleaning the chimney than by sweeping it out in the old ,british fashion4 ,he said that all that was necessary was to throw several pounds of black gunpowder into the fire1 which1 flashing1 would blow the soot out of the chimney4 ,of course1 the genius had never tried the experiment himself1 but as such geniuses are usually cocksure1 he was so confident of success that he did not feel the need to make any preliminary experiments4 ,therefore1 just as the tramp had mounted above the line of vision into the chimney1 the genius1 entering the room1 threw the gunpowder into the fire1 which instantly exploded with a great flash and smoke1 blowing cinders and embers all over the room and filling it with dense1 black1 sulphurous smoke1 burning the face and hands of the genius considerably1 and frightening the elderly people out of their wits4 ,but what frightened them all still more1 was the appearance of the thoroughly singed and scared tramp1 who fell from his perch in the chimney1 down into the fireplace1 and rolled out into the room1 sneezing1 coughing and saying things1 all at once4 ,the terrified tramp was easily secured1 and when the master's gold watch--a gift from royalty and a family heirloom--was found upon his person1 the genius was not only forgiven for his miscalculated experiment1 but also thanked for his good offices4 ,,lo1 ,,the ,,poor ,,indian6 ,dave ,king1 editor of the ,morris ,county ,press1 ,morristown1 ,new ,jersey1 was reared a lariat man in the ,wild and ,woolly1 in the days before civilization1 rum and guns had subdued the ,cheyennes1 the ,comanches and the ,sioux to extinction or to the more uncongenial fate of enforced good behavior4 ,in all of ,dave's hair-ruffling experiences--corralling stampeding long-horns1 lassoing and riding a bull-buffalo bare-back1 hunting1 with ,rex ,beach1 the great ,kadiak bear in ,alaska1 whose enormous bulk and ,ivan-the-,terrible disposition would by comparison make the grizzly of the ,rocky ,mountains a gentle companion--his most intimately interesting1 close-to-nature adventure was when he was ten years old1 and dwelt upon the upper waters of the ,arkansas4 ,dave's father1 a husky pioneer1 accompanied by his ten-year-old son1 his brother1 ,uncle ,joe1 an assortment of dogs1 guns and ammunition1 embracing a dozen kegs of gunpowder1 had gone there to stake a squatter's claim1 hunt buffalo and grow up with the country4 ,timber was scarce1 so1 after the manner of the troglodyte1 they burrowed out a room in the side of a hill1 which constituted at once cook-room1 dining-room and parlor1 and also museum of rare weapons1 dog-kennel and powder-magazine4 ,the cook-stove was placed in the middle of the room1 and the flue was run up through the ground for ventilation and the escape of products of combustion4 ,one day1 ,dave's father and ,uncle ,joe went on a buffalo hunt1 much to the disconsolation of ,dave1 who wanted to go along4 ,toward the end of the afternoon following the departure of the hunters1 ,dave built a roaring fire in the stove to keep himself company1 and incidentally to prepare supper for himself and the hunters1 who were expected to return before sundown4 ,his eyes regarded longingly a double-barreled shotgun hung on the wall4 ,he had many times been warned by his father to exercise caution in handling the guns during his absence1 but ,dave had the dare-devil spirit of his parent1 with the added impulses of the small boy1 and he took down the shotgun and fondled it lovingly1 examining its firing mechanism4 ,then he proceeded to return it to its hanging1 not noticing that he had left one of the hammers cocked4 ,he did not know that the gun was loaded1 and he would not have been deterred had he known4 ,in putting up the weapon he accidentally touched the trigger of the cocked hammer and the charge in that barrel exploded1 sending shot and burning wads under the sleeping-bunks1 just missing one of the kegs of gunpowder4 ,dave proceeded with his cooking1 but soon he smelled smoke1 and looking under the bunks discovered1 to his horror1 that a fire had started4 ,under the bunks he went1 pawed at the fire with his hands1 and smothered it with his hat1 until he thought that he had extinguished the last spark4 ,then he started for a water-hole an eighth of a mile distant1 to get a pail of water1 accompanied by his favorite dog4 ,when he got out into the open1 he saw a dozen horsemen just coming into view over a rising ground between him and the sinking sun4 ,he thought at first that his father was bringing company home to dinner1 and he waited and watched4 ,but he soon saw by the feathered and blanketed make-up and demeanor of the horsemen that they were savages on the warpath4 ,dave was not long getting himself and his dog out of sight in a badger-hole which he had1 during many days of hard labor1 enlarged for a playhouse4 ,the ,indians were a party of ,cheyennes who had been forcibly located in the ,indian ,territory by the ,government4 ,on this occasion1 half a thousand of those fierce warriors decided to go on the warpath and return to their former hunting grounds in ,wyoming4 ,on their way they burned houses and slew and scalped everybody that fell in their path4 ,among many other outrages they1 for a little diversion1 killed and scalped a young woman school-teacher and forty pupils4 ,united ,states troops then rounded them up and corralled them in ,fort ,robinson1 ,nebraska4 ,one night they made a break to escape and the soldiers1 now out of patience1 killed the whole bunch4 ,but to return to ,dave3 ,when the ,indians saw the smoke coming out of the top of the ground1 their curiosity was excited1 and discovering that it was a dwelling they rode round it1 red-man fashion1 in a constantly narrowing circle1 firing guns and war-whooping4 ,the dog began to bark and struggle to free himself to get after those ,indians1 but ,dave thrust his hand into the animal's mouth1 and grasping his lower jaw managed to keep him from barking4 ,it took all of ,dave's strength to hold that dog1 but he knew that it meant life or death1 for if the dog should escape he would betray their hiding-place4 ,the ,indians1 finding no sign of life in the dugout except the barking dogs that ,dave had shut in1 came closer and closer4 ,half a dozen of them got up on the top of the dugout1 and the others bunched themselves in close to the entrance1 preparatory to rushing the place4 ,but ,dave had not succeeded in extinguishing the last spark of the fire that he had started under the bunks1 so1 coincidentally with the ,indians arranging themselves about the cavern1 the twelve kegs of gunpowder went into action4 ,dave could not imagine what had happened4 ,he thought that possibly the ,indians had captured the gunpowder and exploded it purposely1 but he did not dare to emerge from his hiding4 ,there was an interval of silence4 ,there were no more war-whoops1 and he concluded that the ,indians had departed4 ,they had1 but not exactly in the manner that ,dave imagined4 ,the parent and ,uncle ,joe1 returning on the edge of evening1 were dumbfounded at finding only a great hole in the ground where the dwelling had been4 ,dave's father wrung his hands and bemoaned the loss of his boy1 while ,uncle ,joe consoled him with the usual ,i-told-you-so that he ought not to have kept the gunpowder in the place4 ,they began a diligent search for any souvenirs of ,dave that might have happened to return to ,mother ,earth4 ,after they had gathered up about a wagon-load of the disintegrated ,indians1 ,uncle ,joe suggested that they must be on the wrong scent4 ,at this puzzling juncture1 ,dave1 hearing the voices of his father and ,uncle ,joe1 cautiously emerged from his hiding4 ,when he came in sight1 ,uncle ,joe said1 ,there's ,dave now6 ,there's your boy6 ,his father looked blankly at him for a moment4 ,though the vision looked like ,dave he could not trust it4 ,he said1 ,no1 it can't be my boy6 ,it can't be my boy6 ,but it was2 and ,dave is still with us4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,notes ,printer inaccuracies were silently corrected4 ,archaic and variable spelling has been preserved4 ,variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved4