Boston still explosion

The court also heard evidence from the only survivor, Rytas Gecas, who suffered extensive burns in the explosion. Mr Gecas said they had all smoked inside the unit while working.

He said he thought someone had lit a cigarette with a lighter before the blast. He told the hearing he had been working at the factory for two weeks before the explosion happened and his job was to put tops on the bottles. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Ms Taylor said she could not be certain which of the men had lit the cigarette that caused the explosion. She said: "The only certainty is that illegal activities were being carried out in the unit at the time.

Speaking after the inquest, Ian Woods, deputy divisional officer of Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, said: "This was a terrible, terrible, tragic accident which has resulted in five people losing their lives. During the hearing before Ogden, which began on August 9th, , USIA maintained the failure of the tank had been due to sabotage, probably by Italian anarchists, who were known to be active in the country and in Boston at the time.

They claimed a telephone threat against the tank had even been received a year earlier, leaflets threatening violence had been found posted in the neighbourhood only days before the disaster, and a bomb had been discovered at another USIA facility in The plaintiffs argued that the tank was the problem.

They showed the material used to build it was thinner than that specified and that the man in charge of construction, Arthur P. Jell, had spent his career as a financial officer. He could not read the plans and had sought no engineering advice. The plaintiffs also showed the tank's construction had been rushed and it had not been properly tested. By the time the hearing was over three years later, Ogden had listened to witnesses.

The transcript ran to almost 25, pages and lawyers had presented 1, exhibits. Ogden was to study the material for another year before issuing his conclusions. It was the longest and most expensive civil suit in Massachusetts's history. Ogden gave his page verdict on April 28th, and held the company liable for the disaster. He ruled that USIA's attorneys had given no evidence to support their theory about anarchists. Yet evidence had been supplied of the inferior material and construction of the tank.

Ogden wrote: 'The general impression of the erection and maintenance of the tank is that of an urgent job I believe and find that the high primary stresses, the low factor of safety, and the secondary stresses, in combination, were responsible for the failure of the tank. Faced with the negative ruling, lawyers for USIA quickly agreed an out-of-court settlement with slightly higher awards for the families of those killed and injured. As a result of the tragedy, Boston city authorities began requiring that plans for all construction projects be signed off by an engineer or architect and filed with the city's building department, a practice that soon spread throughout America.

The tank was never rebuilt. The site where it stood is now a public park with bocce Italian boules courts and Little League baseball fields, slides and swings. All that remains of that terrible day 90 years ago is a small plaque at the entrance of the recreational complex. On January 15, , a molasses tank at Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people.

A foot wave of molasses buckled the elevated railroad tracks, crushed buildings and inundated the neighborhood. Structural defects in the tank combined with unseasonably warm temperatures contributed to the disaster. Local legend has it that on particularly warm days, you can still smell the faint aroma of molasses seeping up from the streets of the old North End. Jerome F. And only some of the buildings in the state are prepared to withstand such a quake, he says. Northeastern physics professor Alain Karma studies cracks.

His work could lead to better batteries, tougher materials, and an improved understanding of how people age. An interactive story from News Northeastern Thousands of people from Central America are fleeing the unstable governments and widespread violence in…. Major races in…. Pity the poor, struggling artist. We will probably never know for sure what happened.

You are right Sam. We will all be lumped into the same group that produce and sell illegal booze. The authorities were quick to add propaganda to the news release in an effort to discourage consumers of bootleg spirits. If you wanted to try to sell your stuff wouldnt you make the best possiblle? In tough economic times they were trying to make a buck and selling to bars and stores that wanted to make a buck by avoiding taxes.

Obviously they cut some corners on saftey and it cost them their lives. Now I cant get this post out of my head Having been badly burned in the past. Every story about burn deaths is like a kick in the gut. I am very safety conscience. I got into a big pissing match a while back when someone questioned my safety position I have decided to switch from propane to electric on my boiler for safety. I have two thousand degree gas furnaces in my shop and a dozen torches plus welders.

I consider my still the most dangerous piece of equipment I own. It is treated with that respect. Probably didn't have a vent, built up pressure, and being fired from propane had a hot explosive alcoholic mist flying everywhere? It would have contributed the resulting fire though. Propane is much more dangerous and will collect in low lying places until it is vented or ignighted. A simple un noticed propane leak in a closed environment would concentrate and become dangerous fast.

When I run in my garage, I leave the big door open a few inches for heavy gas propane ventilation should any leak without my knowledge. I guess they didn't. It certainly doesn't help the reputation of our hobby! Especially when people who don't know much about distillation are reporting about it in such a negative way. From what I have read and heard on the radio about this story they make it sound like distillation outside of a legal facility inevitably ends in something poisonous.

What chemicals would be present for the production of alcohol? As far as I know the only chemical would be alcohol. Usually when chemicals are present it means meth production. Now there has been a long running rumor that McCormic distilling produces alcohol for windshield washer fluid. Just north of me. Supposedly they just add blue die to it. And this negates taxes for drinkable spirits.