Bill's Stories About Growing Up
in Pistol Ridge, Mississippi
Written and Compiled by Bill Bounds
Stories with Dynamite
DYNAMITE MAN
(~ 1952)
by Bill Bounds
I quit high school during my junior year after football season was over to take a job hauling heart pine stumps to the stump plant in Picayune, MS. At first I only trimmed off the stump roots with an axe and helped load the stumps on brother-in-law, DV Soley”s two-ton bob-tailed truck to haul to the stump plant. The stumps could be no more than 18 inches thick and the tap root had to be removed.
D-7 or D-8 caterpillar tractors equipped with a yoke and a sharp splitter blade
were used to push the stumps from the ground. These stumps were very big with long tap roots as they were the remnants of the virgin forests harvested in the early 1900's.
The bulldozers attempted to split the stumps into 18 inch or less diameter pieces, but were not always successful.
D.V. had hired a black man to use dynamite to split the greater than 18 inch diameter stump pieces and use the dynamite to blow off the tap root from the heart pine portion of the stump.
A long handled drill about 1and 1/4 inches in diameter was used to drill a hole in a selected place in the stump. It was slanted into the stump so that a proper size charge of dynamite would split the stump to less than 18 inch widths.
A dynamite hole could be drilled and slanted as much as 24 inches or more deep into the wood. The required splitting charge of dynamite was usually slanted to obtain a splitting action instead of a cutting action. Also the dynamite man had to know how much dynamite to place in the drill hole to get the desired splitting or cutting action from the exploding dynamite.
After about a month, the black man got a better paying job, but agreed to stay 2
more weeks to teach me how to use the dynamite for splitting stumps and cutting tap roots from the stump.
At first my arms were not strong enough to drill the required holes. After about two weeks of working the drill, my arms got strong enough to drill the required holes and I learned to place the holes in the proper place with the proper dynamite charge to split or cut the stumps as required. After about 3 weeks, I considered myself proficient in the safe use of dynamite for splitting and cutting wood.
I worked with the dynamite for several more months and then went back to high school for my senior year to play football.
Note: The above story sets the stage for my following adventures with dynamite and other explosives.
DYNAMITE ADVENTURES
(~1952)
by Bill Bounds
CASE OF DYNAMITE SLIDES OFF MOVING TRUCK
DV, Henry and I had delivered a 9 ton load of heart pine stumps to the stump processing plant in Picayune, MS.
We were running short on dynamite so DV bought a 100 stick case of dynamite, placed it on the back of the truck and we headed home. We came north on the paved Highway 11, turned east on Highway 13 and headed toward Carnes.
The box of dynamite was riding just fine on the back of the truck. We turned off the highway by Elder Ridge church onto what was then commonly called a “corduroy” gravel road.
The vibration through the truck from the “corduroy” road caused the case of dynamite to slide off the front left side of the truck body onto the road where it was struck, and flattened, by the dual rear wheels of the truck.
Whew! One of the first things that you learn about dynamite is that a sharp blow can detonate it. How close did we come to being vaporized or launched into the sky like a rocket that evening? Only the Lord knows. It scares me now just to think about what could have happened!
TWO ABSENT-MINDED BOUNDS BROTHERS
(~1952)
By Bill Bounds
DYNAMITE STORIES
DV’s stump truck was not fully loaded. We needed 3 or more stumps to complete (tail out) the load. The bulldozer men had pushed the needed stumps from the ground.
I drilled and set the dynamite charges to reduce three stumps to the required size. I told Henry to light the fuses, while I set my dynamite rigging equipment by a fourth stump and got out of the way until the three charges exploded. I forgot that I had told Henry that it was alright to set off the first three charges. Forgetting that I told Henry to light the fuses, I was drilling the fourth stump for a dynamite charge,
Absent-minded Henry forgot to yell “Fire in the Hole, Fire in the Hole!” as he moved safely away from the lighted fuses.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” Three explosions in a row, about 30 to 40 feet behind ne. Luckily, none of the flying dirt, splinters, and chunks of wood flying through the air struck me.
After a stern lecture from DV, we promised to be more aware of the potential danger of dynamite.
ADVENTURES WITH DYNAMITE
(~1952)
by Bill Bounds
I had become very proficient in using explosives by working in the stump wood splitting business and constructing drainage ditches using Ammonium Nitrate and dynamite.
A neighbor and friend (Joe) one day told me he had purchased a case of dynamite to blow some stumps out of the ground at the edge of a small fish pond in front of his house. He asked me to come show him how to use the dynamite to blow the stumps out of the ground.
I agreed to come by the next day to show him how to rig the primer and fuse and insert it into the dynamite stick and then dig down, drill a hole in the stump, place the dynamite in the hole, light the fuse and, for safety, holler “Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!”
I instructed him how to choose the length of fuse to allow about 40 seconds in order to move a safe distance away before the dynamite exploded.
He only had 3 small stumps to be removed. We used 3 sticks of dynamite from the 100 stick case. This left 97 sticks of dynamite unused in the case.
In the meantime a Mr. Bailey from Hattiesburg, MS. had almost finished constructing a beer joint in Forrest County near the Lamar county line, about one mile from Joe’s house.
It was illegal to sell alcoholic beverages in Lamar County. Alcoholic drinks like “beer” were legal in Forrest County but no legal sales of alcohol existed in the southern part of the county.
Joe sold illegal “white lightning” whiskey to anybody wanting to drink alcohol. In other words, Joe was a “bootlegger”.
Mr. Bailey”s new legal beer joint was stocked with legal beer and was to open for business in a few days.
The night before this beer hall was to open, it was “blown to smithereens” in the middle of the night. This had the whole community excited and upset as to what, why and who blew up the new beer joint. Things gradually got back to normal in the Pistol Ridge - Carnes community. I was completely in the dark about what, why and who blew up Mr. Bailey’s new beer joint.
About 25 year later, I stopped by Joe’s legal auto repair shop to visit with him. We were sitting there talking about things in general, when all of a sudden Joe says “Bill, do you remember long ago we used 3 sticks of dynamite out of a 100-stick case of dynamite to blow 3 stumps out of the ground?” I said, “Yeah Joe, I remember that.”
He than calmly asked, “Do you know what I did with the remaining 97 sticks of dynamite?” I said, “No, I don’t know.” He then said “I used the remaining 97 sticks of dynamite with a primer and four foot long fuse to blow up Mr. Bailey’s beer joint before it opened, because it would have put me out of the bootlegging business.”
I had never realized that I had 25 years before unknowingly played a part in blowing the new legal beer joint to “smithereens” to protect Joe’s bootlegging business. I don’t think he hollered “Fire in the Hole” when he lit that fuse. When I think about it now I sort of think he lit the fuse and ran like hell.
When I think about it now I shake my head, laugh and thank the Lord that nobody was hurt by the explosion.
LATER ADVENTURES WITH DYNAMITE
(~ 1952)
by Bill Bounds
FISHING WITH DYNAMITE
It had been raining for several days south of Pistol Ridge, meaning the earth was soft and wet. The stump hauling trucks were bogging down in the woods near Vancleave, MS. This meant two days in a row we had driven DV’s stump truck about 50 miles to Vancleave and failed to gather a load of stumps to sell to the stump processing plant.
DV had to provide food for his wife, Nancy, and children. We were desperate to help provide food for his family. DV and I discussed the possibility of dynamiting a water hole that Red Creek flowed through near Stump Texas. We decided to set off a small charge of dynamite in this Red Creek water hole, hoping to stun some fish, capture them in the shallows downstream from the water hole, to feed DV’s family.
I cut a stick of dynamite in half, inserted a detonator with about a 4-inch long fuse to throw into the water hole, hoping to stun the fish when it exploded. In the meantime DV rigged a dip net, by using a croaker sack and a curved branch from a nearby bush to dip up any stunned fish that might flow out of the deep water hole through shallow water on the downstream side of the water hole.
I cautiously looked up and down the creek. I didn’t see anybody, so I lit the fuse and threw the dynamite into the water hole, backed off a few feet to be safe and waited.
All of a sudden I heard the sound of a boat paddle striking the side of a boat. I looked upstream and there were two guys in a boat floating around a bend in the creek. Before I could yell “Stop, go back”, the dynamite loudly exploded and a large geyser of water erupted into the air about 25 feet from their boat.
We took one last look at the startled men in the boat to be sure no one was hurt. The men just looked thoroughly shocked and confused. We then made a hasty retreat because we knew it was illegal to take fish by stunning them with dynamite. The two men never saw us.
I think those two guys are still puzzled about what caused the loud noise and geyser of water near their boat.
I think we all had potted meat and grits for supper that night. We were thankful to have something to eat called “poor-do” by DV.
This story reminds me of another of DV’s sayings: “O.K. folks, tonight we’re having poke and grits for supper! Poke your feet under the table and grit your teeth!”
Another DV saying:
“The old pelican, he’s got such a big billican, I don’t see how the hellican hold that much in his bellican.”
GIANT FIRECRACKERS
(~ 1952)
by Bill Bounds
LATER ADVENTURES WITH DYNAMITE
My friend, Marthel Warden (Little Mutt) was also a stump woods dynamiter.
We decided to have some Saturday night fun by quietly driving around the neighborhood in Little Mutt’s A-Model Ford Coupe setting off homemade firecrackers. These firecrackers were made from sticks of dynamite cut into about 3-inch sections and then equipped with primer and a fuse long enough for us to clear the area before the homemade firecracker exploded.
These homemade firecrackers caused quite a bit of excitement in the community.
It was so much fun that we decided to do it again the next Saturday night. We rigged up our homemade firecrackers and set out to excite the whole community again. “ Boom! Boom!” the first firecrackers exploded near a neighbor’s house. A mile or two down the road it was “Boom! Boom! “ again near a neighbor’s house.
Whooping and hollering, we continued down the road. All of a sudden there was a flashing red light on a car blocking the road in front of us.
It was “Joemar” Landrum, the local constable. He stopped us and inquired if we were the ones upsetting the whole community with loud explosions. We had plenty more dynamite firecrackers laying on the seat and floorboard of the car in plain sight. There was no use denying that we were guilty.
He told us that if we threw the remainder of the homemade firecrackers into a hole of water on the Double Branch, that he would not arrest us, but if he caught us again doing such mischief, he would put us in jail.
We threw the remaining makeshift firecrackers into the branch water and we didn’t try that prank again.