The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-12-25
ROMAN CANDLES
HIT TORPEDOES
And 7yrOtechnic Display That
Followed Was Terrific.
EXPLOSION AFTER EXPLOSION
Young Eugene Reed, Unwilling Cause
of the Premature Display, Had
His Eyes Painfully But Not
Seriously Injured.
EXPLOSION AFTER EXPL OSION

terrible explosion of fireworks which
came near costing one boy both his eyes,
occurred yesterday morning shortly after 10
o'clock in Second avenue, between Nine
tenth and Twentieth streets. Had the ac-
cident occurred at night, it would have
been a beautiful sight, for a big pile of as
sorted fireworks which were valued at
| about $15O exploded within space of a
| few minutes, causing a pyrotechnic display
| which, could it have been seen at night,
would have rivaled 1.-The Last Days of
| Pompeii." or come other spectacular pro-
duction OF that kind.
Sky rockets and Roman candles flew
hither and thitner around the street, one
of them breaklng a big pane of glass across
the avenue.
Although the spectacle was not as pleas
ing to the eye as it might have been, the
noise the explosion produced was sufficient
to have satisfied the ears of the most In
satiate fire cracker fiend' in existence.
The noise of the exploding cannon crackers,
"tnunderbolts, bombs and other such
nerve destroyers. was loud and prolonged,
and was sufficient to attract what seemed
to be every boy in the city.
The stand was being run by Walter
FOWlheS anu y. w. hODlI1SOn. lH0y ndQ
part OF their goods in a snow case and the
other part in an empty box, both of them
stationed just off the sidewalk. 1t was in
the rush of the morning hours, and these
two gentlemen had secured Eugene Reed
to assist them. Reed says that he caused
the explosion, as he let package of Roman
candles fall on box of the famous Dir
mingham'' torpedoeS. They did what they
were intended to do under the circum-
stances-exploded, thereby setting off all
the other fireworks ON the stand and wreck
ing things in general. Reed had his face
badly torn up and burned, and it was
thought at first that his eyes had been put
out entirely. AS soon as Mr. Robinson
could get to the injured boy he tried to blow
the sawdust and other debris out of his
eyes, but had little or no success. Reed was
taken Immediately to DR.. l.. G. WoodSonS
office, where for nearly an hour the latter
worked in removing the sawdust, gravel,
sand, paper and other stuff The eyes were
so thickly coated with the trash that at
first it was impossible for DR.. Woodson to
see the eyeball. After thoroughly cleaning
out the trash and bathing Reeds swollen
ewes the doctor pronounced the case not
very dangerous one, and said his sight
would be fully recovered Young Reed lives
at Woodlawn and is the son of John Reed,
an employee in the county tax collectors Of
flee.
Inc greater part VI Tic hiSWoihS 80 49,
box of course, exploded at once, tearing 10
pieces the piano box in which they were
being displayed and hurting the fragments
high in the air. The empty shells OF the
Roman candles, the paper and the wooden
sticks of the rockets had by this time
caught on fire and whenever the flames
reached a rocket or a cracker which had not
gone off in the original melee, there was a
loud report as 1t exploded. running
fire." was kept up for several minutes, and
ii goes without saying that the crowd which
was gathering kept at safe distance.
One boy, more adventurous than the rest,
rushed in and pulled out a big package OF
crackers which had not yet exploded. They
were opened up out in the street at a safe
distance from the fire and in an instant
there were a large number of white and
negro boys "scrapping' for the plumber.
BY this time some one had gone to the
fire department., two blocks away and
turned in the alarm The whole department
responded, and at first only the fire extin-
guishers were used but for precautions
sake, a big stream of water was turned on
the pile and all of the unexploded fireworks
were thoroughly drenched.
Thentorpedoes which were the cause of all
the trouble, have habit of causing trouble
whenever they go off, especially when they
act in concert. These young bombs are
manufactured out at East Lake, and few
weeks ago, it will be remembered, while a
wagon load of them was being brought to
the city, the lot exploded throwing the
wagon and the driver high in the air, and
wrecking the whole outfit.