European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse Daily Magazine disaster by John Neumyer staff writer some people Don t know bean about Boston. But those who do can Tell you that Beantown was the scene Ozone of the most unusual tragedies in . History the Day two million Gal Lons of molasses rushed through the City s North end through the streets molasses it happened Jan. 15, 1919. Patrolman Frank Mcmanus was phoning a routine noon report to the Hanover Street Sta Tion. Just As he was about to hang a the receiver he raised his voice a yelled hold it there s been an explosion on commercial Street 1 Send ambulances i Send help it was a mild sunny Day. The North end Market District bustled with residents shopping and strolling Aaden Joying the midwinter warmth. People chatted in doorways on the Charles River docks teamsters and la borers sat in the open with their lunchboxes while harnessed teams of Dray horses nuzzled nos bags. Traffic was heavy on the elevated that ran along Side commercial Street flanked by Complex of warehouses municipal build Ings and boarding the Complex was a huge molasses storage tank. It towered five stories bad a circumference of 282 feet and a capacity of More than two million Gallons. Those Days molasses was As Mucha part of Boston As baked Beans. Mer chant ships from the West indies would put in at the Charles River docks and pump their cargoes of the gooey stuff into the towering tank. Molasses was the main source of in come for the purity distilling company a firm that distilled the thick Golden syrup into raw spirits from which it made the Day the molasses engulfed North end was just one Day away from prohibition and the distilling company had already made the switch from brew ing rum to production of alcohol for Industrial purposes to stay in few Days earlier freighters had pumped the colossal tank to the brim with two million Gallons. Officer Mcmanus shouted the warning and made tracks for safety because the storage tank had blown is top and was releasing its Sticky contents onto an unsuspecting Public. Two million Gallons of Sticky molasses swept up people swallowed carriages and shoved houses into River. Explosion killed 21 persons. People were caught in their tracks. Horses and carriages were swallowed trucks that could not outrun the deadly 35 mile per hour Stream joined Frame houses and Corner stores that were torn from their foundations and swept into the River. The tank had burst with the Force of blockbuster filling the air with shrapnel sheets of Metal and a barrage of nut Sand bolts. One massive missile sheared the supports of the elevated As a train came pounding around the Bend. Part of the trestle collapsed into the sticking mess. The brakeman yanked the Cord As the train bore Down on the widening Gap. The engine s front wheels leaped the rails but it groaned to a halt jus Short of diving to disaster. By then the flood had passed its pea of 15 feet and had begun to flatten and to spread out in a sullen oozing stormed ashore from a . Naval training ship and joined countless firemen police and residents in trying to extract people floundering in the ankle deep morass As though trapped by King size flypaper. The tank burst with the Force of a blockbuster. A Rescue Worken were immobile it in ankle deep morass. I ext Day the new York time sprinted a Brief report of the disaster "12 killed when tank of molasses explodes read the modest headline. Actually 21 persons died. Scores were injured. The 12 bodies were recovered the Day of the disaster Niue More were found a week utter in syrup inundated cellars. A Dull muffled Roar gave but an in Stant of warning before the top of the Lank was blown into the air said the times. One of the sections of the tank fell on the firehouse nearby. The building was crushed and three firemen were buried in the while the sailors searched the Are for More bodies an Aid station was set up in Haymarket Square fire engines Hook and ladders and ambulances were up to their hubs in the clinging goo. Saturday february 15, 1969 the stars and stripes some of the rescuers died in the at tempt to save the lives of others. A group of nurses in freshly starched Street length dresses bravely minced in to the sludge Only to be rendered immobile. Firemen had to Hose them Loose what is there in molasses that would make it explode in wintertime when the Sticky syrup is proverbially slow that question was asked in the feb. 1,1919 Issue of the scientific american. The Magazine tried to answer its own question with a Brief summary of the catastrophe saying no completely Satis factory explanation of the disaster is , the Magazine offered what it labelled a plausible explanation based on the Assumption that there was an accumulation of alcohol in the order to have the molasses fluid enough to flow readily through pipes steam heated coils were placed in the tank and it is quite possible that there was some fermentation generating a certain amount of May be that the steam was left on too Long warming the molasses sufficiently to vaporize the alcohol and this mixing with air at Ilu top of the tank resulted in the accumulation of the explosive mixture which needed but a spar to touch it the Magazine concluded by suggesting that possibly an attendant lowered a lantern into the tank or dropped a lighted match into it to determine How much molasses it contained. Or maybe an enterprising attendant wanted to syphon off a pint or two of alcohol on the Day before prohibition Page 1 1
