Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

A TERRIBLE SUBSTANCE.

SOME ACCOUNT OF DYNAMITE.

HERE is a story | introduction it commanded an annual sale of no less than 3,500 tons, equal in point of strength to 19,500 tons of gunpowder. Since that time the manufacture of dynamite has largely increased, and will probably continue to increase, seeing that it is one of the latest and most powerful blasting agents in use. Miners and quarrymen alike prefer it to any other material, both because of its plastic nature, and because, unlike gunpowder, it never explodes by contact either with spark or flame.

[graphic]

which, though we imagine not true, is certainly well invented, of a witty professor of chemistry who scored dynamite out of the subjects to be treated by him, as he said it more properly belonged to political economy, in which science it was now a most impor

tant factor! There is some truth in the statement. The whole policy of an empire may be changed, or permanently affected by the explosion of what we may with propriety call this epochmaking substance. Witness the assassination of the Czar of Russia; witness the attempt, happily unsuccessful, made to blow up the government offices in London, in March, 1883. It will be of interest, then, to our readers, if we lay before them the following account of dynamite and its manufacture, taken taken from the Pall Mall Gazette, which, in connection with the Westminster outrage, thus writes a few days after the occur

rence:

"The explosion which occurred at Westminster last week has naturally directed attention to the trade in dynamite. What is dynamite? What are its properties? What the dangers of its use? Where is it made, and how is it purchased? These are the questions which are being asked; and although since its first introduction in 1866 by Dr. Nobel, a Swedish chemist, thousands of tons have been sold and used in this country, the public generally have but an imperfect idea of its nature and uses. Eight years after its first

There are several dynamite manufacturers doing a large business in London, and some particulars about the trade in which they are engaged may be interesting. The largest manufacturers are probably the Nobel's Explosive Company, whose works are situated at Ardeer, in Ayrshire. From the manufactory there, where some hundreds of workmen are employed, very considerable quantities of this giant powder,' as the Americans, call it, are despatched all over the country for blasting purposes, while-so greatly has its use increased during the past few years-great quantities are shipped to different parts of the world, chiefly to the gold mines and the diamond fields of South Africa and Australia. As many as five tons a-day are turned out from this factory. The production of dynamite is effected by taking a spongy kind of clay called Kieselguhr, which is found in Germany and in some parts of England, and impregnating it with nitro-glycerine. By this means a soft, plastic material, somewhat resembling putty, is obtained, which, though very destructive in its action, can be handled with ease and safety. The production of this material is attended by considerable risk, but once manufa RO

tured it is comparatively harmless so long as it is kept apart from the detonators which are used to explode it. The plastic material having, then, been produced, it is made up into cartridges, some forty of which would represent five pounds, and cost about 7s. 6d., Is. 6d. per pound being the present market. price of dynamite. That which is intended for export is despatched to the magazines of the company, situated in different parts of Essex, and eventually shipped abroad. That which is destined for use in England, for mining and other purposes, is sent to the various district agents, who also store it in magazines under their control, which are regularly inspected by the government authorities.

It is popularly supposed that the transit of dynamite is a very dangerous proceeding; but in reality it is much. safer than gunpowder under all conditions of transport. Many thousands Many thousands of tons have been carried by rail on the Continent, and considerable quantities in this country also, without a single accident being reported. In 1873, 3,500 tons of dynamite were conveyed by carts and railways over a collective distance of 1,333,250 English miles in various parts of the Continent. Of this, about twothirds was conveyed by rail, and onethird by carts, and although much of it was subjected to very rough usage, no accident occurred. This was stated in evidence before the Special Committee on Explosives, which sat in 1874, and seemed to justify Colonel Majendie in asserting, as he did at that time, that 'the law relating to dynamite was as much too stringent as the gunpowder law was too lax; and that the time had arrived for relieving safe nitro-glycerine preparations from the unnecessary restrictions imposed upon them.'

The ease with which dynamite may be carried about was curiously illustrated lately in a case which came before the justices at Chester-le-Street. A miner,

who was engaged in the Pelton Fell Colliery, had been to Newcastle and purchased ten pounds of dynamite for his blasting, the material being packed in two parcels of five pounds each. Contrary to the bye-laws of the North Eastern Railway Company, he took them into the carriage with him and laid them upon the seat. At Gateshead another man, who had been purchasing a pair of boots, got into the compartment and laid his parcel beside the dreadful dynamite. Unfortunately, when he left the train at the next station he took with him five pounds of dynamite instead of his new boots. Arrived at his journey's end, the miner made the discovery that part of his dynamite had been taken away by mistake, and in great alarm he took up the remaining parcel and hurried to the station-master, to whom he was obliged to confess what had happened. The telegraph was put into operation, and in a few minutes a message was received to the effect that the missing parcel of dynamite was safe at the other railway-station. The miner was ordered to pay £5 and costs for a breach of the law. To show the harmlessness of dynamite under certain conditions, it may be mentioned that a wooden packing-case, containing fiftysix pounds of the explosive, has been set on fire, the only result being a burst of dynamite flame, without any explosion at all. Given ordinary conditions of temperature, it may be subjected to severe concussion with equal safety; for boxes filled with dynamite have been thrown from great heights without exploding. A dynamite van has been in a railway collision, and though the van and boxes containing it were broken, no explosion took place.

How, then, are its destructive properties brought into play? That question may best be answered by describing the method in which blasting operations are carried on by its means. If a rock is to be shattered, the requisite number of

loaded cartridges are pressed into the borehole, and over these, which form the charge, is inserted a different kind of cartridge, called the primer. This primer cartridge has previously been prepared for firing by inserting in it a 'detonator,' which is a copper cap, about an inch in length, containing a small charge of fulminate powder. To this is firmly affixed a fuse, and when the fuse burns down to the fulminate in the detonator it explodes; and this shock, in its turn, fires the dynamite and shatters the rock.

Everything depends upon the skill of the operator in fixing the detonator and the fuse, for if the former is inserted with more than three-fourths of its length in the dynamite the fuse may set fire to the dynamite and burn it harmlessly away before the fulminate is reached and exploded. If the charge is a large one, this want of skill would at least be attended by a great loss of power. No doubt this accounts for the many unsuccessful attempts to blow up buildings which have been reported of late. It has been said that twenty pounds of dynamite must have been used in the explosion at Westminster; but those best acquainted with the properties and power of the explosive know that half that amount, if properly used, would be quite sufficient to produce the destruction then caused, and twenty pounds, skilfully manipulated, might have blown up the whole block of offices.

What, then, are the conditions of sale of this fearful agent of destruction, and what the facilities of its purchase? Merchants who trade with the article are compelled to take out a licence from the Home Office, and persons who wish to purchase fifteen pounds of dynamite or more have in like manner to obtain a licence for its use. But supposing a man wants to obtain a smaller quantity-say five pounds-he goes to a manufacturer or an agent, and asks to be supplied with the quantity. He is asked to give

his name and address, is called upon to explain what he wants the dynamite for, and if the would-be purchaser makes a plausible reply, such as that it is wanted for blowing up the roots of trees, the dynamite would then be supplied. No further questions would be asked. Practicallyspeaking, there is no difficulty, therefore, in the purchase of dynamite for improper purposes, for one or two such purchases as that just mentioned would suffice for the perpetration of the most diabolical outrage. Yet, if other restrictions were imposed on its sale, it can readily be bought on the Continent, and, failing that, it could as easily be manufactured from nitro-glycerine and pulverised paper or wood. Hartmann made his dynamite in Russia from nitroglycerine and sugar. It is more than probable that the persons who perpetrate such outrages as that of Thursday, instead of purchasing the dynamite from a merchant, manufacture it themselves. There are several several companies in London that manufacture and supply. the article. The Explosives Company (Limited), for instance, are the largest manufacturers after Nobel. At their large works at Pembrey, in South Wales, where, somewhat recently, an explosion caused the death of seven young girls, they produce two tons a day. Several Continental manufacturers have agencies in the City. Foreign dynamite is more dangerous than that made in England, it being manufactured without the restrictions which are imposed upon English companies; and not being subjected to the same crucial tests as in this country, a good deal of impure material is turned out. When any of this is discovered on its importation into England it is immediately seized, the danger lying in the fact that impure. dynamite is liable to spontaneous explosion. One of the largest dynamite works in France is situated in the Pyrénées Orientales, where the daily output is about two tons. There are

large dynamite works in Switzerland, where the explosive was procured that was used at Montceau-les-Mines, and from their central position they command much of the Continental market. In Australia the Australian Lithofracteur Company have works at Braybrook, in Victoria, where they produce twenty tons per month of dynamite and other compounds of nitro-glycerine. In addition to this quantity manufactured in

the colony, Victoria imports from four to five tons per month from abroad."

We add one remark to this account. How mixed with evil is all the good of civilisation! By the discovery of dynamite we have indeed armed ourselves against natural obstructions, and provided ourselves with a force nothing can resist, but we have placed in the hands of reckless and criminal men, an agent, unfortunately, as powerful for evil as it is for good.

THE MARTYRED PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES LINCOLN AND GARFIELD.

[graphic]

HE world has seen within our own time a revival of many apparently extinct modes of thought and action. Many of these are noble and worth preserving; some are detestable, and their reappearance shows something lost in the onward progress of humanity. Among the very worst of these is the crime of political assassination. All nations have felt the effects of these dastardly deeds. Who that was in London on that Sunday in May, 1882, when the news of the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke first became generally known, will forget the intense excitement and sorrow of the vast crowds that gathered in Fleet-street and the Strand. to learn the last details of the tragedy? All will remember, too, the horror felt when it was known that the Nihilists had succeeded in murdering the czar. Nor have the popularly elected heads of republics escaped. Twice in twenty years have the presidents of the United

States fallen by the hand of an assassin, for it was thus that Lincoln and Garfield died.

The motives that led to Lincoln's assassination were very evident. Under his rule the Southern States attempted to secede from the Union-they had been defeated, and slavery had been abolished. It was natural, or at any rate conceivable, that some discontented and desperate men should make an attempt, as a sort of wild revenge, on the life of the illustrious man under whom all this had happened. There seems no doubt that an extensive plot was in existence to destroy at one blow the chief officers of the government, whilst an after investigation "failed to show that the Confederate Government had any knowledge of the plot, or was in any way directly responsible for it." It was only in this case, unfortunately the most important of all, that the plot succeeded.

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln went in the evening to the theatre at Washington to see a piece called "Our American Cousin." The president was in a box close to the stage. A little after 10 o'clock, John Wilkes Booth, an actor of little note, though both his brother

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »