A collection of stories about the use of Nitroglycerin in the very early days of Oil.
A brief excerpt:
McLaurin relates the story of nitroglycerin, the reluctant lubricant, "Thus far the losses of human life were occasioned by the explosion of great quantities of the messenger of death. The next instance demonstrated the amazing strength of Nitroglycerine in small parcels, a few drops ending the existence of a vigorous man at Scrubgrass, Venango county, in the summer of 1870. R.W. Redfield, agent of a torpedo company, hid a can of nitroglycerin in the bushes, expecting to return and use it the following day. While picking berries Mrs. George Fetterman saw the can and handed it to her husband. Thinking it was lard oil , which nitroglycerine in its fluid state resembles closely, Fetterman poured some into a vessel and sent it to his wells. It was used as a lubricant for several days. Noticing a heated journal one morning, Fetterman put a little of the supposed oil on the axle, with the engine in rapid motion. A furious explosion ensued, tearing the engine house into splinters and partially stunning three men at work in the derrick. Poor Fetterman was found shockingly mangled, with one arm torn off and his head crushed into jelly. The mystery was not solved for hours, when it occurred to a neighbor to test the contents of the oil can. Putting one drop on an anvil, he struck it a heavy blow and was hurled to the earth by the force of the concussion. The can was a common oiler, holding a half-pint, and probably not a dozen drops had touched the journal before the explosion took place. Fetterman was a man of remarkable physical power, weighing two-hundred-and thirty pounds and looking the picture of health and vigor. Yet a quarter-spoonful of nitroglycerine sufficed to usher him into the hereafter under circumstances particularly distressing."Nitro is particularly bad stuff -- the Anarchists Cookbook does not touch it but it does give a recipe for TNT which is marginally safer. Except the recipe in the Anarchists Cookbook leaves out a few precautions so if you make the TNT using their technique, it will blow up in your face. Stick with black powder -- not as much bang but a whole lot safer...
