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.

Ether Drinking in Russia — He Blew Up Their Wedding

1907

The Fatal Result of Festivities at a Trossno Wedding

The habit of ether drinking is extremely prevalent in some parts of Russia, as of east Prussia, and all the efforts of the authorities to combat the evil have hitherto been almost fruitless.

An idea of the extent to which the habit prevails may be gathered from reports given in the Russian newspapers of a recent accident which occurred at a place called Trossno.

A farmer celebrating his son's wedding, in the fullness of his hospitality, got in two pails of ether, says the Family Doctor. During the process of decanting the ether into bottles a violent explosion took place, by which six children were killed and one adult was dangerously injured and 14 others more or less seriously injured.


Teetotalers in the Navy

Speaking at the Kent Temperance congress at Tunbridge, Wells, England, recently, Rear Admiral Startin, declared that the finest shots in the British navy were teetotalers. This is further corroboration of the views Lord Charles Beresford has always maintained in this regard. It is a sign of the times that eminent naval officers are at the present day, almost without exception, strong advocates of temperance.

Insurance Collected, "Dead" Man is Alive

1922

CLARION, Pa. — A. W. Weed, formerly an "oil shooter" of Oklahoma, today told how he wandered about the country for nearly two years, his mind a temporary blank, following an explosion of a magazine of the Osage Torpedo company at Pawhuska, Okla., where he was employed. Weed, whose wife collected $6,000 insurance in the belief that he was blown to atoms, related his experiences from the time he found himself lying beside a small stream following the explosion, until he was arrested and lodged in jail here for driving an automobile without a license.

—The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, Aug. 26, 1922, p. 2.

A Terrific Explosion – The Destruction of 2½ Tons Nitro Going Off

1878

Fearful Destruction by Two and a Half Tons of Nitroglycerine — Men Torn to Pieces — Machinery and Windows Demolished

Particulars of the recent nitroglycerine explosion, near Negaunee, Lake Superior, have been received. Nearly two tons and a half of nitroglycerine had been hauled to the Chicago and Northwestern railroad track, half a mile west of Negannee, and was being loaded into a freight car preparatory to its shipment to the Republic iron mine, some fifteen miles distant. In some unaccountable manner the nitroglycerine exploded just before ten o'clock in the morning.

The people of Negaunee thought at first an earthquake was about to overwhelm them. The entire city was shaken up, and a dense cloud of smoke and dust arose. The shock was terrible beyond imagination. Where the freight car had stood the railroad track for about fifty feet was torn from its bed and the rails twisted, broken and hurled away, and a hole twenty-five feet in diameter and five feet deep excavated and the earth thrown for rods around in every direction.

Not the slightest trace of the car was visible. The locomotive and tender, which stood behind the car, were thrown back over one hundred feet. Wheels, blues, cab, tubes, bell and everything about it were wrenched, twisted and torn asunder. Long lines of ore cars, standing upon a side track nearby, were stove in and demolished, and shreds and scrape of iron, wood, tin, etc., covered the snow in all directions.

Lying on the bottom of the cab were four of the seven men who were engaged in loading the car — the engineer, fireman and two brakemen — mangled and burned beyond recognition, with their heads hanging over the edge. As soon as the horror-stricken crowd which hastened to the scene could recover their senses, they took the charred and mangled remains of these unfortunates from the cab and, laid them on the ground until a team was procured, when they were taken to the depot for recognition. Of the other three men who were engaged in handling the cars nothing could be seen, but after diligent search a few fragments of charred flesh and bones were picked up and put together. Not more than enough fragments to fill an ordinary bucket were found.

About one hundred feet from the place of the explosion is the north pit of the Jackson mine. Down into this pit were hurled a horse, cart and driver. At the engine house adjoining this pit the force of the explosion rent the roof, stove in the sides and splintered every loose board, besides shattering and breaking the engine machinery inside. The engineer in this building luckily escaped with a few bruises. At the upper Jackson location, the windows, doors, ceilings, furniture and dishes at all the houses were broken and strewn about in great confusion, and women and children were lifted from their feet and hurled among the rubbish. The location was in fact a general wreck. At the Jackson school, where the children had just been called together, when the shock came every window in the west aide of the building was crushed in with the sashes, throwing a shower of shattered glass and fragments of sash over the heads of the children, and injuring four of them.

The Marquette Mining Journal says Captain Merry, of the Jackson mine, stood near the fatal car when the men commenced loading it, but fearing an accident started to leave the spot. He had walked about one hundred feet when the explosion took place, just as he happened to stand behind a small mound, which sheltered him from the full force of the shock. As it was he was thrown upon the ground violently, but sustained no serious injuries.

C. M. Wheeler, manager of the nitroglycerine works, was standing in front of the northwestern depot when the explosion took place and fainted when he heard the report. The horse attached to the cart that was thrown by the explosion into a pit fifty feet from the fatal car, when hauled out walked off as though nothing had happened. The driver escaped with slight injuries. The shock of the explosion was felt at Ishpening Cascade, the Saulsbury mine, the Carp Hill section house and Sand Switch, fully ten miles from Negaunee.

The losses by the explosion will reach nearly $20,000. Very little work was done at any of the Negaunee mines after the explosion, as most of the miners were kept busy boarding up the windows of their houses.

The Perils of War Correspondents

1878

A war correspondent of the London Times writes from Giurgevo on the Danube: When I descended I found I was not the only Englishman in the train. Col. Wellesley, our military representative at the emperor's headquarters, had also come down from Bucharest after a couple of days' stay there. He was bound for Poradim, whither I was also going, and, like me, he had to find a carriage for himself and luggage.

We placed the luggage outside in front of the station under the portico, and the colonel left his servant, Jagor, who is a Russian, in charge, with instructions to get himself something to eat in the meantime at the buffet. We had hardly quitted the station five minutes when we heard the sound of a shell tearing its way through the air above our heads. The people about the street, which was the main one, ran right and left, and we heard the dull explosion of the iron missile somewhere near the railway station.

We did not know at that moment what terrible havoc that piece of iron had done, and what a terrible fate we had only just escaped. We went on, thinking but lightly of this single shot, until we entered a chemist's shop. A minute afterward a person who entered the shop told us that three soldiers had been killed at the station.

Although we were quite near, we both jumped into an open fiacre standing in the street, and were driven up to the station. We thought that the colonel's servant, Jagor, had possibly been hit. As we drove up, the first thing which met our view outside the station under the portico, on the very spot where we had left our luggage, was a large mass of something partly covered with a gray overcoat. Could this be Jagor? We got out of the carriage and came near. It was not Jagor; it was a soldier, or all that was left of the poor fellow. One side had been torn completely away, and there he lay in a pool of his own blood. The ground was torn up all around him, and the wall of the building was splashed with blood. Windows were smashed, the portico had been broken through, and the stone pavement was thickly strewn with human remains.

Col. Wellesley looked around for Jagor. Hearing the carriage drive up, the faithful servant immediately came out of the station, and, much to our relief, was quite unhurt. But he had the narrowest escape imaginable.

He showed us our luggage which he had dragged into the ticket office directly after the fatal shot. It was covered with blood, Another soldier, also, lay inside smashed to death. Both poor fellows were standing by our luggage outside the station, having been asked by Jagor to keep an eye upon the things while he went into the buffet to get a little refreshment. Jagor had scarcely sat down in the room, through the window of which he could himself see the things, when the shell struck the portico and burst with a report that almost stunned him. One of the soldiers fell across the iron stove of the colonel's, and completely washed it with blood.

Price of Bread Now Two Loaves a Quarter

1921

Price of Bread Drops One and Two Cents Here

The retail price of bread dropped in Madison Wednesday. Pound loaves are now selling at 9 cents and pound and a half loaves at 13 cents a piece or two for a quarter. The small loaves formerly cost 10 cents, the large ones 15c.

—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, May 13, 1921, page 8.


Vagrant Gets Ten Days At Solitary

Ten days of solitary confinement in jail was the sentence given Fred Hannigan Wednesday by Judge Hoppmann in superior court. Hannigan pleaded guilty to a charge of vagrancy. He was arrested after the police had received complaints from several women residing on the east aide. They allege he called them names and annoyed them.

—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, May 4, 1921, page 4.


ENGINEERS DISCARD CORDUROY TO DANCE

Engineers will lay aside texts, corduroys, T-squares, and slide rules on Friday, May 6, to dance. Lathrop hall gym will be used for the occasion.

The only reminder of the day's routine will be a small blue print program tied with chalk-line string and decorated with sketches showing engineering activities. Punch is to be served, and Thompson's orchestra will play. Prof. and Mrs. Richard McCaffery and Dean and Mrs. James D. Phillips are to chaperone the dance.

—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, May 4, 1921, page 6.


Oil Stove Explodes; Burns Hole in Floor

A small hole was burned in the living room floor of the Michael Erber home, 118 N. Frances St., Tuesday afternoon, when a small oil stove exploded. No. 2 fire company answered the call. The damage was slight.

—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, May 5, 1921, page 7.


100th Anniversary of Napoleon Death Observed

PARIS — Mass was celebrated in Notre Dame cathedral in observance of the 100th anniversary of the death of Napoleon.

—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, May 5, 1921, page 7.


Oklahoma, 1954

Tonkawa Music Pupils Set Vesper Service

TONKAWA, Dec. 6 — Members of the instrumental and vocal music departments of Tonkawa high school will hold a Christmas vesper service at 4 p.m. December 19, in the high school auditorium, Supt. A. J. Evans announced.

The program will be under direction of Miss June Skeels, vocal music instructor, and Bob Stephens, band director.

—The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, December 7, 1954, page 13.

Atmospheric Phenomenon Startles Jersey Folks

1922

Asbury Park, N. J., April 23. — Gaseous odors flashed through space to the south of this place at 9 o'clock tonight, disappearing in a thunderous roar and frightening residents of many coast towns.

Window panes in residences at Toms river were shattered by the explosion and the gas, polluting the atmosphere for more than a quarter of an hour, compelled the residents to hold dampened handkerchiefs to their nostrils.

In Lakehurst, many of the buildings were shaken, as if by an earthquake, but the gas was not noticed.

A party led by two town officials has set out for the spot at which the meteor fell. It is believed the spot is near Brown's-Mill-in-the-Pines, a village 30 miles from here.

The atmospheric phenomenon, according to many of the persons who witnessed it, lasted for about a minute. But a tiny streak of light at first, it became beautifully colored as it neared earth and at times it seemed to halt momentarily in space, adopted a new course, and then zig-zagged back again, witnesses declared.

The meteor fell in the sea, about a mile off shore at Seaside Park, 35 miles south of here, it is reported.

The celestial mass, as it struck the water, caused an explosion that shook the residences of the village and threw spray to a great height, residents say. Volumes of steam then arose and, drifting ashore, nauseated many.

Members of two coast guard companies say they believe the phenomenon was caused by a large explosive rocket. No trace of a giant rocket could be found, however.

—Oneonta Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, April 24, 1922, page 1.

Boy Hurt By Dynamite Cap Recovering

Debruce, New York, 1913

HARRY LOWE, AGED 5, IS IN GOOD HANDS

Harry Lowe, a five year old child from Debruce, Sullivan county, who was brought to Thrall Hospital about two months ago, after a part of his left hand had been blown off by dynamite cap, has so nearly recovered that he is able to be up and about the hospital and outside, and has firmly established himself as a prime favorite with the hospital staff and nurses, and with all with whom he comes in contact.

The case was a particularly sad one, and one which has enlisted the aid of various charitable persons and organizations in this city. The lad was playing in the yard at his home in Debruce, when he was handed a dynamite cap by a man who is said to have been intoxicated at the time. Not knowing or realizing what he held, the little fellow touched off the cap with a match, with the result that the third and fourth fingers and a part of the left hand were blown off. He was brought to this city the next day, and has since been at Thrall Hospital under the care of Dr. T. D. Mills.

Since his injury, his parents have separated, his father, Cyrus Lowe, residing at Debruce, while his mother is believed to reside at Cooley, Sullivan county.

—Orange County Times-Press, Middletown, New York, November 14, 1913, page 1.

Commits Suicide By Exploding Dynamite Between His Teeth

1917

Fargo, June 30. — Adolph Peterson, 35 years of age, unmarried, a farm hand employed by E. O. Studlein, near Moorhead, Minn., killed himself early this morning by exploding a stick of dynamite between his teeth. NO cause for his action is known. Peterson was injured in an accident several years ago, and at times has been irrational.


Runaway Team Grind 18-Months Babe Into Dust of Barn Yard

Ryder, N. D., June 30 — The 18-months-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Johnson of Rice Lake was instantly killed while playing in the barnyard of his home by a runaway team, which took fright on the prairies, and in their mad dash for the stable ran over the little one, grinding him to pieces under their hoofs.


Cromwell's Last Words

Of the great Oliver, who brought Charles I to the scaffold, Thomas Carlyle has written a notable book, and in the fine description of the death scene Cromwell's last words are recorded. When, being restless, he was offered something to drink, he said: "It is not my design to drink or sleep, but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone."

—The Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota, June 30, 1917, page 3.

Man Drowns In River, Friends on Bank Thought He Was "Fooling"

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1909--

RESULT OF A BLAST.

Thrown Into the Sioux River by an Explosion and was Drowned Before He Could be Rescued.

Sioux Falls, S. D., Aug. 17—Harold Clein, who only about two weeks ago came to Sioux Falls and accepted a position with the Bennett Light and Power company, was drowned this afternoon as the result of being thrown into the Big Sioux river by the force of a blast which himself and other workmen had set off in the granite bank of the river. It appears that Clein, when off duty, had been accustomed to perform a number of stunts in the water for the edification of his companions, and that when he virtually was blown into the river and floundered around in the effort to save himself his companions believed he was only "fooling" and did not go to his assistance until too late. No blame whatever attaches to the company, as the usual precautions were taken before the blast was fired. With the exception of a brother, who worked with him, the dead man had no relatives in the west so far as known.

--Weekly State Spirit and Dakota Huronite, Huron, South Dakota, August 26, 1909, page 4.


A Separated Separator.

Hurley, S. D., Aug. 16.—Annie Nelson, the daughter of a well known farmer living near Hurley, was injured in a peculiar manner. A cream separator being run at high speed by her brother suddenly went to pieces. The disks in the separating tank were revolving at tremendous speed and they were hurled with great velocity all over the room. The flying fragments cut Miss Nelson severely about the face and neck, though the injuries will not prove fatal. Her younger brother, who was turning the crank, was also injured, but not so severely.

--Weekly State Spirit and Dakota Huronite, Huron, South Dakota, August 26, 1909, page 4.

Plenty of "Kick" in Grocer's Brew; Still Blows Up and Wrecks Store

1920--

NEW YORK, N.Y., May 20. -- The plate glass windows of a grocery store in South Brooklyn were blown out a moment after Policeman Francis Smith had passed the building at 2 a.m. By the time Smith and Policeman McMahon had climbed through the jagged aperture and made their way through the store's tumbled heaps of cans and green goods, scores of residents of the neighborhood were pouring into the street.

In a back room of the grocery were found two stunned men, who later at the police station, where they are held for the Federal authorities, described themselves as Dario Santeveshl, 35, proprietor of the grocery, and Tony Petitschi, 49, the grocery man's friend.

The police say the explosion was of a home-made still. Apparently a milk can filled with "mash" had been put to boil on a gas stove. From the top there had been a spiral copper pipe running to a barrel. The lid of the milk can was clamped down so tightly that the steam supposed to condense in the pipe, and run into the barrel as "hootch," blew up. There was little left of the can and windows in several other buildings in the neighborhood were broken. The residents for a time attributed the explosion to a "blackhand" bomb.

According to the police, they found near the wrecked apparatus a forty-gallon barrel of wine and a three-gallon jug of alcohol. The two prisoners suffered only from shock.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.