| Dexter Hart | |
| Fictional Character | |
| 1632 series POD: May, 1631 | |
| Appearance(s): | Grantville Gazette II Grantville Gazette XX Grantville Gazette XXV |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct |
| Nationality: | United States of Europe (born in the United States OTL) |
| Relatives: | Monkey Hart |
Dexter "Ape" Hart was a high school dropout living in Grantville at the time of the Ring of Fire. He worked with his brother Monkey in the percussion cap business, and began selling ammunition to the New United States Army after the town was sent back in time. Like many of the other "undesirables" of Grantville, Hart and his brother socialized at 250 Club , counting themselves among the anti-German crowd. However, they did soon realize the value of hiring Germans workers.
The Harts' business was dangerous at best; one incident saw four Germans die from an exploding stockpile of fulminate of mercury. Things went from bad to worse when one of their workers "Heinz Green" (actually French spy Henri Vert) attempted to steal a batch of fulminate of mercury and accidentally killed himself on December 23rd, 1633. A week later, Ape and Monkey's remaining workers quit for better employment. The Harts desperately made their percussion caps themselves as their profits could not support hiring replacement workers. Ape took a second job as a street sweeper after a meeting with Kathryn Riddle.