Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1875 — An Accident at Dubuque. [ARTICLE]

An Accident at Dubuque.

It does seem as though a little reflection must convince any reasoning person that Dubuque newspapers are sometimes guilty of exaggeration. Not that the journals mentioned willfully construct outrageous tales, but that journalism there is sufficiently peculiar to allow of temporary aberrations of mind in regard to one of the commandments. Take, for instance, the account of a recent nitroglycerine explosion near the city named. The substance of the story is as follows: “Some miners near the town who had been using nitro glycerine set some of the liquid in an open crock where the sun w T ould fall upon it in order that it might thaw out. An old, motherly sow, with- a piggish progeny of six, came nosing about, and,stumbling upon the crock, upset it. Then the sow r and her litter ate up the nitro-glycerine. Continuing their explorations the family of porkers went into a neighboring barnyard where a three-year-old colt w T as feeding. The sow, rooting about, approached the colt and touched her snout against its heels. The colt instantly kicked out fiercely and accurately and struck the porker squarely on the ribs. As the hoofs rattled against the side of the hpgvthere came a thundering explosion which shook the entire neigh borliood: The colt sailed over the barn and landed in a neighboring field, a total wreck. The sow and pigs were lost at once in space, but since the aflair people have gathered sausage-meat in dooryards and along the roadside.” That is all there is of the recent account of a nitroglycerine explosion at Dubuque? and while it is out of place, of course, to be hypercritical about such little things, it does seem as if some portions of Die story might be incorrect. Tnere appears to be, as it w T ere, a modest garb of fancy delicately covering the naked truth from leering lookers-on.— St. Louis Republican.