Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-02-08
WATER BACK
EXPLODES

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morning brought about an explosion
in the water back installed in connec-
tiOn with the cook stove at the resi-
dence of Mrs. s. NJ. Trumbower, East
Market street, which not only wreck.
ed the water back but also blew the
stove to pieces, broke the kitchen fur
niture and set the room on fire. 1t was
only by the turning of a hand that
| Mrs. TrumbOwer was not caught il
the explosion, and badly injured
Only last fall the stove and the wat.
er back, both new, were installed in
the comfortable apartment used as d
! dining room in the Trumbower home.
On Monday night the fire went out and
Tuesday morning Mrs. Trumbower
, thinking that the pipes were all right
built fire in the stove and proceeded
to prepare breakfast.
Mrs. Trumbower's daughter, Mrs.
Foulk, was in Wilkes Barre and Mrs.
Trumbower herself expected to leave
Tuesday morning for visit to Sha-
mokin. Miss Krum, a school teacher,
who has charge of the Gravel Bank
school, just north of town, spent Mon
day night with Mrs. Trumbower.
Breakfast being ready Mrs. Trumbow-
er intending to call Miss Krum step
ped from the apartment containing the
water back and stove into the sitting
room closing the door after her
At that very moment there was an
explosion that shook the house, the ac-
companying report being such as could
be compared only to the noise produc-
ed by the blasting at the Bessemer fur
mace being dismantled. Indeed, Mrs.
Trumbower at first thought it was
blast over at the furnace and she re-
marked to herself that it was an I'M
usually loud one The sound of brOk-
en- dishes commingled with the report,
which came from the kitchen, how
ever. caused her to investigate.
Opening the door a scene met her
eyes that staggered her. The stove was
in pieces, the fire was scattered over
the floor and the carpet and furniture
was burning the room was a general
wreck. Russell Foust, the baker who
lives near was one of the first to re-
spond to Mrs. Trumbower's call for
help and succeeded in putting out the
fire.
Wholesale damage had been wrought.
When the explosion occurred frag-
ments of the water back and of the
stD,2o itself raked the room lombard
ing the ceiling and walls and smash
ing the chairs. One of the large stove
doors was found lying on the top of
the sideboard. The sideboard itself,
which stood on the opposite side of the
room from the stove, was ruined, the
large glass inserted in the upper part
being shattered to fragments. The fine
lot of china which the sideboard con-
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piece of stove plate had struck the
wall just beside the door through
which Mrs. Trumbower passed the
very moment before the explosion,
tearing away the plaster and cutting
the lath. Another fragment
of the stove struck the ceiling near the
same spot, cutting through the paper
and making a deep indenture. The
table and all the furniture
was covered with SCOT. The walls and
the ceiling are bespattered with dirt
and will have to be repapered.
a new stove was Immediately in
stalled. The former stove and water
back lay scattered about the room and
these were first removed The new
stove is minus the hot water attach
ment, as Mrs. Trumbower has con-
,luded that she has had about all the |
experience with water backs that she !
wants for the present
The explosion is believed to have |
been caused by the sudden freezing up
Of the pipe which supplied the water
back with water.
The explosion proved quite a shock |
to Mrs. Trumbower. She was dread
fully frightened over her narrow es- !
cape, as it is very plain that had she |
not left the kitchen at the very mo-
nent she did she would have been very
badly injured, if not killed.
The loss measured in dollars and
cents will be considerable, but what
Mrs Trumbower regrets the most is
he loss of her chinaware, which had
| peculiar value to her, nearly all of it
being the gifts of friends and render !
ID doubly dear to her by reason of its
association with her early housekeep-
ng and her married life.