Kick in Brewery Malt Puts Man in Hospital

1920

Barrel Explodes and Driver's Ribs Are Fractured.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — A barrel of malt extract, a fluid explained by the police to be a byproduct of breweries and much reduced in content, acquired sudden strength as a result of the heat as it was trucked thru the Bronx.

Unmindful of the ominous sizzling that came from its interior, Theodore Kirchy, the truckman, banged the barrel down inconsequentially on the pavement at its destination. The barrel exploded, the flying staves whizzing thru the air around Kirchy's body. Two of them struck him, fracturing a rib on each side.

The rest of the barrel and its foamy contents disappeared for a moment. Then the malt began to collect on the pavement and some of the barrel staves came to earth. No one else was hurt. Kirchy was taken to a hospital.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.