The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-06-12 00:00:00

FATAL EXPLOSION AT BOSTON.

The New York papers of the 29th ult. contain par-
ticulars of a terrible explosion which occurred on the
night of the 25th, in a brick structure on the north-
west corner of Lagrange and Washington streets. The
lower floor was occupied by G. D. Dows and Co. as a
drug store, and just at this particular season it was
chiefly resorted to by those who thirsted for soda.
The upper floors were occupied for various purposes,
the extreme attic being occupied in part by a family
and a tailor. The intervening floors to the lower one
were filled with a perfect medley of tenants. In one
room a dozen or more girls were engaged as tailoresses,
and in other parts of the building were apartments
occupied by clairvoyants and fortune-tellers. At the
hour of the explosion it is believed a great many of
the occupants were in.

One correspondent says :—" I have seen a dozen or
more eye-witnesses of the terrible disaster, and their
description's of the scene do not materially differ.
There was at first a bright flash of fire, which seemed
to leap out of all the doors and windows simul-
taneously. Then there was a cloud of black smoke,
which was followed almost immediately by another
lightning-like flash, and immediately succeeding this
the whole building settled down in one conglomerated
mass of ruins. It did not topple over into the street
either on the Washington or Lagrange-street corners,
but seemed to settle down on its own circumference
or territory like a ponderous pile of brick dropped
from a high eminence. Neither was the explosion of
any particular loudness, but a sort of a deafening that
was sensibly felt .throughout the immediate vicinity.
The street at the time was full of pedestrians,
and all were stunned and some injured by the shock
and the flying pieces of wood and brick which were
rushed out after striking the earth. A Metropolitan
horse car was passing down town at the time, and this
was blown bodily over against the kerbstone on the
opposite side of the street. Every window was broken,
and the passengers, some twenty in number, were
rendered momentarily insensible by the concussion.
The horaoc, too, were rendered insensible, and for a
time it was believed that both of them had been killed.
The windows in the stores in the immediate vicinity
were generally broken. It is not improbable that some
of the buildings closely adjoining were seriously weak-
ened. Almost instantly flames darted up through the
ruins and from the few wooden fragments of framework
of the building which had been spared. If every one in
the building had not been killed outright, it seemed
certain they were to suffer the more terrible fate of
being burned to death. Everybody lent a helping
hand to extricate and assist the wounded, and a few
were taken bleeding to their homes. The fire alarms
soon brought the department to the scene of the
disaster, and the flames were easily subdued, although
at one time many adjoining buildings were seriously
threatened. It is a disputed question as to the cause
of the explosion, and it is doubtful if an investigation,
however thorough, will ever explain it satisfactorily.
Mr. Dow, the druggist, says there was nothing
whatever in his store sufficiently powerful to de-
molish the building FO effectually. Many are under
the belief that it was the powerful soda fountain
which burst under a too heavy charge, but
it is claimed by scientific men that nothing
of that kind could have elected such utter demolition
ot the building. The theory of a gas explosion seems
hardly worth considering, for no one had noticed any
gaseous odour about the premises wither before or
after the calamity. It is rumoured that some of the
clerks in the drug store have recently been engaged in
experimenting in a cellar with nitro-glycerine, and
that it was through their criminal folly that the acci-
dent occurred. Mr. Dow says he is ignorant of any
such experiment having been made and, furthermore,
he is equally at a loss to know What possibly could
have been the cause of the explosion. None of the
clerks have been seen since the c.alamity, and it is
generally believed that they are in the mins. Six per-
sons are reported to have been killed and about thirty
badly injured."