I have used the charcoal method, it really worked well.I had a neighbor who always burned them out with charcoal briquettes. It took a couple days, but it worked. On the liquid method, I heard some old-timers talk about pouring buttermilk into the holes to increase the biological activity.
I wondered if that's what he meant, as well.OP - do you mean "stump" as in "still attached to the roots"? Or "very difficult to split round of wood"?
Seriously, I think the stump killed him. I've lost a lot of sleep about this. I just need to see how it turned out.
Holes 2-3' deep where the main roots were, leaving a perfect negative impression of the root that used to be there. 
![[Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year. [Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/142/142868-23ca441f35baa1b7f5d853ac7ad13e0f.jpg?hash=Y7PfzroLkw)

![[Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year. [Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/142/142914-93477cdb810b6ca8fde8e6d7f71c92c7.jpg?hash=YVZQcZiEH3)
![[Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year. [Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/142/142915-76da44a19522b2c3e008518148d830c6.jpg?hash=hjm-WoxBHq)
![[Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year. [Hearth.com] Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/144/144041-7d552eadb04fcac77352ae87853f9c13.jpg?hash=0l20oKnCmt)