Untitled

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 24, 27 April 1870, Page 7

What camo of “ thawing out” some Glycerine.

On the afternoon of the 16th December, one Brophy, in the employ of Messrs Roberts and Co., of Titusville, Pennsylvania, vent into their nitro-glycerine wavehouse, near that town, stating that he was going to “ thaw out some glycerine.” Soon afterwards the town was startled by a concussion that shook every building, and, but for the protection of an intervening bluff, would have razed every building to the ground. It is supposed that SOOOlbs. of gunpowder, SOOlbs. of compound, and from SOOOlbs. to 40001bs. of glycerine exploded. People walking in the streets were thrown to the ground ; heavy logs were hurled over ; trees and granite boulders were carried half a furlong ; windows were broken—almost entire fronts blown in. A church bell was chimed several strokes. Where the magazine stood, tons of eartiv were blown away, leaving a chasm large enough to contain a good-sized dwell-ing-house. A tavern, half a mile off, presented die appearance of having been bombarded. The concussion was distinctly felt at Oil City, eighteen miles distant. Brophy was blown to pieces; the largest remnant of him found was a section of the hip joint. It is stated that some of the glycerine did not explode, but was tumbled out to some distance. This had been packed in cans placed in wooden boxes, and surrounded witlv plaster of Paris, the outside covering being securely fastened with screws to avoid hammering or jolting.