After I had sold out my interests at Maxim, the place was taken over by
a dynamite-manufacturing company. As there was left in one of the
magazines a considerable quantity of dynamite when the property changed
hands, the new concern, not choosing to sell it as their own
manufacture, proceeded to utilize it as fertilizer upon a field of
potatoes.
One of the natives, with his team and helper, was engaged to do this
work. They had been instructed to use great care in opening the cases,
but they still held their own opinions about the care necessary, which
were based largely upon the contempt that is born of familiarity, and,
having arrived upon the potato-patch with a good, big load of dynamite,
they began to knock the cases open in any old way.
There were no surviving witnesses, not even the horses.
AT FOLLY'S MERCY
After I had sold the works at Maxim and had invented motorite, I needed
a place in which to make the material, and hired a branch of the works
there for that purpose.
It was winter. My wife had accompanied me as a precautionary measure.
She was sitting in the laboratory to keep warm, near a big barrel stove
charged with bituminous coal.
On entering the laboratory for something, my wife asked me what was in
those two tin pails sitting near the stove. She said that she had a
suspicion it might be nitroglycerin, and she informed me that one of my
men had just been in, stirring the fire, and that the sparks flew out in
all directions, some of them lighting in the buckets, to be quenched in
the very thin film of water floating on top of the oily liquid.
"Horrors!" I said. "It _is_ nitroglycerin!"
I called the man who had placed it there, and told him to take it away.
As it was necessary to keep the material from freezing, he took it into
the boiler-house near by. A little later, on going into the
boiler-house, I saw one of the men stirring the fire, while the other
was standing with his coat-tails outstretched in either hand, forming a
shield to keep the sparks from flying into the nitroglycerin.
It is practically impossible to make the ordinary man appreciate the
necessity of care in the safe handling of explosives, and the life of
the careful man is always endangered by the actions of the careless
one.
THE WATCHMAN'S DOUBLE VISION
My successors in the use of the dynamite plant at Maxim had in their
employ a day-watchman, an all-round combination useful and useless man,
his usefulness and uselessness alternating with the alternation of his
sobriety and inebriety.
One morning, after a night out, he proceeded to build the fire in the
laboratory stove. To start up the kindling wood, he had been in the
habit of lighting a handful of shavings, and then pouring on a little
kerosene from a tomato can, which he kept upon a near-by shelf.
During that night, someone--possibly one of the laboratory
operatives--had placed a similar can, filled with nitroglycerin, upon
the same shelf, to keep it from freezing.
In periods of convalescence from his various stages of intoxication, the
watchman had before seen two cans upon that shelf or shelves, but he
knew that one of them was real, and the other an hallucination.
Couldn't fool him that way!
Thinking that the hallucination would naturally be the lighter of the
two cans, he took the one containing the nitroglycerin, and proceeded to
pour it upon the fire.
There was so little of him left together after the explosion that, like
Captain Castagnette, he died of surprise at seeing himself so
dissipated.
THE ZEALOUS FOOL
On one occasion, at my laboratory near the shores of Lake Hopatcong, I
was conducting some experiments to test the efficiency of the safety
chamber of a detonating fuze for exploding projectiles charged with
Maximite. 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 distance.
To prevent any possibility of a circuit being formed to explode the
detonator while making the connections at the pit, I went into the
machine-shop, and opened the switch at the other end of the wires where
they were connected with the battery. Not only did I take this
precaution, but I disconnected also the wires themselves, in order to
make assurance doubly sure.
Returning to the pit to connect up, my assistant, my wife and my
father-in-law accompanied me. My assistant descended into the pit,
while we stood over him, looking on. The instant he brought the wires in
contact, the detonator went off. We looked at one another in amazement.
It takes time to get thoroughly scared; but, as soon as we realized the
full danger through which we had passed, we were numb with fright. Even
now, when I think of it, I have a creepy feeling.
We had made half a dozen tests before this, and all of the shells had
exploded except one. This was the second in which the safety-chamber had
proved effectual. Had it failed this time, and had the Maximite charge
exploded in the huge shell, we should all have been blown to ribbons.
I rushed back to the machine-shop, where I found that a certain
employee--one of those careful, painstaking souls who are always
attending voluntarily to the odds and ends of work left undone by
others, had discovered the wires detached from the switch. With no
memory of the rule that the switch should always be left open, he
forthwith connected the wires, and then, to make his culpable industry
complete, he closed the switch, thus making the electric connection
with the loaded shell; and, doubtless, he was comforted by a sense of
duty well done. His duties in my services certainly were done, for they
ended right then and there.
SOME LIVELY COTTON WASTE
I once had an Italian laborer as man-of-all-work, who was rather a
good-looking fellow. An exquisite mustache and a wealth of curly hair
were sources of great pride and joy to him. One day he was engaged in
burning up some rubbish, and to start a fire, took what he supposed to
be a bunch of dry cotton waste, but which was in fact guncotton. Holding
in one hand the wad of guncotton the size of his head, he applied a
match to it. There was a quick, bright flash, and hair and mustache had
disappeared. He did not mind the burn so much, but his anxiety about his
appearance in the eyes of his sweetheart was pathetic.
SAVING TIME
When I had completed at my works, Maxim, New Jersey, a certain frame
building of generous proportions, of which I was quite proud, and in
which I had installed various processes and apparatus for making
smokeless gunpowder, I told one of my assistants to have a gauge put on
a large bell-drier that stood in a corner, which was employed for the
time being to extract the moisture from about forty pounds of guncotton.
He gave instructions to a machinist to do the job, telling him to remove
the guncotton first.
As it was necessary for the machinist merely to bore a hole through the
bell-drier and screw in the connecting pipe, he thought it a useless
expenditure of time and effort to remove the guncotton. After he had
bored the hole nearly through, he took a punch and hammer to knock out
the remaining burr. A spark ignited the guncotton, and that bell-drier
went right up through the roof and turned a somersault, striking about
a hundred feet away. The walls of the building on the end where the
explosion occurred were thrown outward, and the roof came down.
My assistant and another young man were in the building with the
machinist at the time. Although dazed by the shock, they immediately
rushed to the rescue of the poor fellow, who lay prostrate under a pile
of burning débris. Not much could be done for the unfortunate, and he
died soon afterward.
This instance is a type of many that result from inadequate precaution
by workmen in the manufacture of explosives.
THE BROKEN SCALE
One of the closest calls that I ever had in my life occurred in my
laboratory at Maxim, New Jersey, in the early nineties.
Two of my assistants and myself were weighing out small batches of
fulminate of mercury from a ten-pound jar. There were on the bench as
many as half-a-dozen small squares of glass, each with its little pile
of fulminate upon it. There was also a five-pound bottle of
nitroglycerin standing on the bench. A little way removed, and under the
bench, was a fifty-pound can of gelatin dynamite.
We were proceeding very cautiously, when all at once the scoop toppled,
and an iron weight fell, striking within an eighth of an inch of one of
the pieces of glass on which was fulminate of mercury. After a second of
suspense, we stared at one another in amazement, wondering whether or
not we were still in the land of the living.
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 before, and, with
criminal reticence, had made absolutely no mention of the fact to
anyone. Had that weight fallen upon the fulminate, it must have dealt
death to all of us.
THE SINGULAR GOOD FORTUNE OF A GENTLE ENGLISHMAN
It so happened that during a tour of inspection seven of us were
together, going over the works. On entering the guncotton dry-house, I
noticed a strong odor of nitric acid.
"Out of here, quick!" I cried. "The place is going to blow up!"
There were perhaps a hundred pounds of dry guncotton in the room at the
time, spread out in pans. As was afterward learned, the foreman, being
in a hurry for the guncotton, had turned live steam into the pipes
instead of circulating hot water through them as instructed.
We were barely out of the room when the guncotton burned with a flash,
wrecking the building and setting fire to the fragments. I was just
congratulating myself that no one had been injured by the explosion,
when it was discovered that one of the party, an Englishman, the even
tenor of whose way nothing could accelerate or disturb, and who feared
nothing, had not quite made up his mind in time to get out of the room
before the flash came. On seeing him emerge at last from the zone of
destruction, I was horror-struck, for apparently every hair had been
burned from his head and face, while shreds of skin hung from his hands
and cheeks and brow.
Nevertheless, the Englishman's usual phlegmatic manner was wholly
unruffled, and he spoke in his conventional voice, untinged with
emotion:
"Mr. Maxim, it isn't often that one has an opportunity under such
circumstances of witnessing exactly what occurs."
THE MATCH AT THE PEEP-HOLE
A certain patented device is used for the recovery of solvents in the
manufacture of smokeless gunpowder. 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 hats. He
conducted experiments successfully, having the hats placed in a chamber
through which hot air was circulated, and from which it was afterwards
conveyed to a refrigerating compartment to condense out the alcohol,
then reheated and returned to the drying chamber.
Ultimately, this ingenious person so won the confidence of a company of
hat manufacturers that they determined to build the apparatus at their
factory, and to give it a thorough trial to test its practicability.
Things progressed very well indeed, until there came a day when a leak
was discovered in some part of the apparatus, and a plumber was called
in to make the necessary repairs. This artisan's first act was to open a
peep-hole, light a match, and peer into the drying chamber.
There was much instantaneity in the activities that followed. Fourteen
persons were killed outright, including the plumber and his assistant,
and the building was completely wrecked.
THE FLASK OF LIQUOR
Some years ago, in Austria, a worker in one of the mines found a flask
nearly full of a liquor that he took to be whisky. Delighted with this
treasure trove, he raised the flask to his lips, and gulped down a
portion of the contents. Another workman, standing by, snatched the
flask, and, in his turn, quaffed the liquor greedily.
That liquid in the flask was nitroglycerin, which, taken internally, is
one of the most virulent of poisons. Both of these workmen were stone
dead in less time than it has taken to tell this story of their fatal
folly.
IMPERTINENCE PUNISHED
During the experiments at Sandy Hook which preceded the adoption of
Maximite by the United States Government, a young lieutenant just out of
West Point was placed in charge of the loading, although he knew
absolutely nothing about explosives. He tried hard, however, to make up
for his deficient knowledge by the most exacting, impertinent and
foolish requirements.
I rebelled, but was told by the commanding officer that, while he fully
appreciated the situation, he must, as a matter of duty, support his
subordinate officer, and he advised me to return to my task in looking
after the loading of the Maximite, under the direction of the impudent
youngster. This I did.
The lieutenant, now having his own way, heated some Maximite very hot
and filled a projectile with it through the false base plug provided for
the purpose. There were two holes in the false base plug, through one
of which the Maximite was poured into the projectile, while the other
served as a vent. Being uncertain whether or not the projectile was
filled solidly, the officer took a round stick, and rammed it down one
of the holes, while he looked into the other. The result was that his
eyes were filled and his face covered with the hot liquid Maximite,
putting him out of commission for a week.
My sympathy for the fellow was quite overbalanced by my gratification.
CURIOSITY'S UPLIFT
Shortly after the Russo-Japanese war, there drifted in upon the Chinese
shore one of the huge floating mines constructed by the Russians,
containing about five hundred pounds of guncotton. This strange object
greatly excited the curiosity of the Chinese, who flocked in large
numbers to view it. While half a thousand of them were crowded in close
upon the mine, marveling over the mystery of this flotsam, one of their
number began to investigate it with a hammer, and, hitting the fuze a
heavy blow, exploded the mine.
An American witnessed the event from a distance. Wondering what all the
excitement was about, he had started toward the crowd with the intention
of making an investigation on his own account, when, of a sudden, there
was a flash and shock. The horde of Chinamen that had been clustered
about the mine vanished in a cloud of dust. Fragments of heads, arms and
legs rocketed skyward in the form of an inverted cone. The head of a
Chinaman, severed from the trunk, went hurtling through the air, with
the queue out-streaming behind, like a comet coming to perihelion. It
passed just over the horrified American and struck the ground some
distance beyond him.
PROUD EVEN UNTO DEATH
An inventor, who lived in the mosquito belt of Staten Island,
constructed a dynamite gun out of a piece of four-inch-gas-pipe, and a
dynamite bomb out of a short section of gas-pipe, capped at both ends.
The bomb was filled with No. 1 dynamite. He placed several pads of felt
between the projectile and the powder charge, to lessen the shock upon
the bomb. By using small charges, he succeeded in firing a number of the
projectiles safely. Although the velocity was low, still it was greater
than that obtainable with the Zalinski pneumatic dynamite gun, which at
that time was beginning to receive some measure of public attention.
The inventor was so fortunate as to have a "pull" with the congressman
from his district, and through this influence he succeeded in getting
Government permission for a test of his piece at Sandy Hook. In the
meantime he had strengthened the powder chamber of his gun by driving
on several steel hoops, in order to use larger charges of powder. So
confident was he of the safety of his system of throwing high
explosives, that, when the officers at Sandy Hook insisted on his
retiring with them behind the bomb-proof during the firing of the piece,
he balked and insisted that he be permitted to stand by his gun while
firing it, as he had done in his previous experiments on Staten Island.
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 charge.
The officers, however, were obdurate. They told him bluntly that he must
either stand behind the bomb-proof, or his gun would not be tested.
He replied:
"Very well, if Uncle Sam does not want my gun enough to let me test it
in my own way, then I will sell it to foreign governments, and make
Uncle Sam feel very sick and sorry."
On his return with his gun to Staten Island, he gathered together a
party of neighbors and some representatives of the press, to witness
the experiments that Uncle Sam had missed. When the gun was ready to
fire, the little knot of spectators frayed out, and peeped from cover.
There was but one shot, which was not a shot, but an explosion.
After waiting for some time for the inventor to come down and explain,
the spectators went home, disappointed.
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 projectiles. The compound
consisted of fulminate of mercury with gelatinated guncotton and
nitroglycerin.
One of my workmen had a pup of a miscellaneous breed, which would eat
anything under the sun that he could masticate, and when anything was
thrown into his mouth not too big for him to bolt, he swallowed it
without the formality of chewing it.
One day his master gave him about half a pound of this fulminate
compound. Another of the workmen put some metallic sodium and dry
fulminate into a gelatin capsule, stuck this into the end of a quintuple
dynamite cap, wrapped the whole thing in a piece of meat, and, calling
the dog out into the field, made him stand up and "speak" for it. Then
he dropped it into the dog's throat and it was swallowed at a gulp.
The next instant, the latter workman's own dog, which he prized very
highly, came upon the scene and entered into a very brisk wrestling-bout
with the dog that had been charged. Before he could call him away, there
was a terrific explosion, and both dogs vanished from this vale of
tears.
INSECURE SECURITY
Before the discovery by Nobel that the absorption of nitroglycerin by
infusorial earth rendered it much less sensitive to shock, numerous
attempts were made to bring it into general use, in liquid form, as a
blasting agent, the most notable of which was during the digging of the
Hoosac Tunnel. But, owing to its highly sensitive character, fatalities
were numerous; while, furthermore, the necessity for perfect purity in
order to render nitroglycerin stable--that is to say, to make it keep
well--was not at first recognized, and many disasters were the result
from explosions due to its decomposition.
The first attempt to introduce nitroglycerin as a blasting agent into
the United States was made by a young German student. He called the
stuff "glonoin oil." He brought over a few hundred pounds in cans on the
steamer with him, most of which he disposed of during his sojourn in
the States. But his venture was not a financial success, and he was
obliged, when he returned to Europe, to leave an unpaid board bill at a
New York hotel where he had been staying. He had left one fifty-pound
can of glonoin oil, which he let the hotel proprietor hold as security,
but which, however, later developments proved to be insecurity.
The glonoin oil occupied a place of honor in one corner of the barroom
for several months after the departure of the German student.
Decomposition having set in, yellow nitrous fumes began to emerge from
the receptacle, the malevolent odor of which was soon noticed by one of
the guests, who called the landlord's attention to the fact. Highly
disgusted, the landlord picked up the can, walked to the front door, and
threw it into the middle of the street. The act resulted in a miniature
earthquake, which shattered the walls on both sides of the street, broke
window-glass over a square mile, and landed the hotel proprietor in the
hospital.
THE LOADED CHINAMAN
During the Russo-Japanese war a certain officer of the Czar, who was an
impatient, overbearing person and a great martinet, had a Chinese
servant whom he treated with the utmost harshness for the smallest
delinquency, or for none at all. One of his favorite methods of
inflicting punishment for offenses was to order the Chinaman to leave
his presence, and, as the fellow went, to give him a hard kick.
The Chinaman aired his grievances one day to a Japanese spy, whom he
took to be a brother Chinaman. The Jap suggested padding the seat of the
Chinaman's trousers to prevent further contusions, and this was done,
the padding being furnished by the Jap. A rubber hot-water bag was
filled with absorbent cotton containing all the nitroglycerin it would
hold. A small exploding device armed with percussion caps was placed in
the bag so that the nitroglycerin would be exploded by any sudden blow.
The unfortunate Chinaman was wholly unaware of the nature of the
padding.
At the next meeting of the Russian with his servant, the poor Oriental
inadvertently spilled some tea upon the officer's new uniform. Thereupon
the enraged master proceeded to dismiss the Chinaman from his presence
in the usual way, but with somewhat more precipitation.
One of the officer's legs was blown off, one arm was crushed to pulp,
four ribs were broken, and it was more than a day before he was restored
to consciousness. When he did come to, he found himself a prisoner in a
Japanese hospital, having been left behind by the retreating Russians.
As to the Chinaman himself, poor fellow, he never knew that he had been
loaded.
LIVING BOMBS
An American reporter, who was with the Japanese during the Manchurian
campaign, told me the following story:
Column after column of Japanese had assaulted a Russian position, the
capture of which was exceedingly desirable. Line after line of the brave
little fellows was swept down by the unerring gun-fire of the Russians,
but each time a few Japanese would scale the works, and go over them,
only to be slain by the Russians inside.
There was a lull for a short space, and the reporter thought, as
doubtless did the Russians, that the Japanese had given up the task,
when, suddenly, a troop of perhaps a hundred Japanese rushed forward, in
a widely scattered line. Onward they flew toward the Russian position,
and, as they went up, there was a blaze of the Russian rifles, and half
the Japanese column disappeared with a flash and a tremendous report....
They had exploded!
Each of them had been loaded with an infernal machine, hung across his
breast and over his shoulders, so that should but a few of them reach
the enemy's position, they could explode themselves and hurl death and
destruction all around them.
The Russians were so astounded, so paralyzed by the spectacle and by the
unexpectedness of it, that they ceased firing, while the remaining
living bombs scaled the ramparts and leaped in among their enemies, who
instantly vacated the place, flying like rats from a sinking ship.
SHIPS THAT PASSED IN THE NIGHT
During the Russo-Japanese conflict, more than one of the Czar's warships
disappeared in a night cruise without leaving a trace.
I got the following story somewhat indirectly, and for that reason
cannot vouch for its truth. 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 Mikado.
This Japanese official at the time commanded a torpedo-boat. In the
flotilla of which his vessel was one there was a torpedo-boat that
carried neither guns nor torpedoes, for she had been stripped of all
armament and every mechanical device not absolutely essential to her
navigation, in order to lighten her. And then she was loaded with
dynamite to her full capacity.
The Japanese officer declared that when a volunteer crew of half a dozen
men was called for to navigate her, ten times the required number
offered themselves, although they well knew that they were going to
certain death.