(_New York Times_)

NEW YORKER INVENTS NEW EXPLOSIVE AND GIVES IT TO THE UNITED STATES

Nine young men recently rowed to the middle of the Hudson River with
a wooden box to which wires were attached, lying in the bottom of
the boat. They sank the box in deep water very cautiously, and then
rowed slowly back to land, holding one end of the wire. Presently a
column of water 40 feet through and 300 feet high shot into the air,
followed by a deafening detonation, which tore dead branches from
trees.

The nine young men were congratulating one man of the group on the
explosion when an irate farmer ran up, yelling that every window in
his farmhouse, nearly a mile away, had been shattered. The party of
young men didn't apologize then; they gathered about the one who was
being congratulated and recongratulated him.

The farmer did not know until later that the force which broke his
windows and sent the huge column of water into the air was the War
Department's newest, safest, and most powerful explosive; that the
young men composed the dynamite squad of the Engineer Corps of the
New York National Guard; and that the man they were congratulating
was Lieut. Harold Chase Woodward, the inventor of the explosive.



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