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| carrobin |
 Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:12 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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It was an explosion at a molasses factory, in a heavily populated area, that caused the flood. Pretty awful.
I think Americans are quite intrigued by royalty, but their hijinks are mostly just gossip fodder for magazines, not real news coverage--except when a prince or princess gets married, like the current William & Kate situation, though that's pretty much gossip stuff too. Diana's death was a big news item because she had become so well known all over the world. I remember when the Big Wedding happened, a young woman I worked with told me that "Diana is our generation's Jackie O." |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:25 pm |
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Was not a big fan of Jackie O's either.
Does anyone remember the huge todo about Princess Margaret and her ill fated love affair with Captain Townsend? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:30 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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Gary, regarding....
Quote: It should of happened in January of course.
(COUGH) (from wiki)
Quote: The Boston Molasses Disaster, also known as the Great Molasses Flood and the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. A large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore, and residents claim that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses.
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:48 pm |
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Everyone knows that when it's as slow as molasses in January it's very slow. Surely they could have outrun the molasses.  |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1168
Location: Chicago
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| Musta been some hot stuff then... |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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From About.com:
THE DATE was January 15, 1919, a Wednesday. It was about half-past noon. In Boston's industrial North End, folks were going about their business as usual. Only one small detail seemed out of the ordinary, and that was the temperature — unseasonably warm, in the mid-40s, up from a frigid two degrees above zero just three days before.
But trouble was brewing fifty feet above street level in the form of a cast-iron tank containing two-and-a-half million gallons of crude molasses. The molasses, owned by the United States Industrial Alcohol Company, was slated to be made into rum, but this particular batch would never make it to the distillery.
At about 12:40 p.m. the giant tank ruptured, emptying its entire contents into Commercial Street in the space of a few seconds. The result was nothing less a flash flood consisting of millions of gallons of sweet, sticky, deadly goo.
The Boston Evening Globe published a description based on eyewitness accounts later that day:
Fragments of the great tank were thrown into the air, buildings in the neighborhood began to crumple up as though the underpinnings had been pulled away from under them, and scores of people in the various buildings were buried in the ruins, some dead and others badly injured.
The explosion came without the slightest warning. The workmen were at their noontime meal, some eating in the building or just outside, and many of the men in the Department of Public Works Buildings and stables, which are close by, and where many were injured badly, were away at lunch.
Once the low, rumbling sound was heard no one had a chance to escape. The buildings seemed to cringe up as though they were made of pasteboard.
The bulk of the devastation was caused by a "wall of molasses" at least eight feet high — 15, according to some bystanders — which rushed through the streets at a speed of 35 miles per hour. It demolished entire buildings, literally ripping them off their foundations. It upended vehicles and buried horses. People tried to outrun the torrent, but were overtaken and either hurled against solid objects or drowned where they fell. More than 150 people were injured. 21 were killed. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 4:21 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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More Scattered Observationals Dept.:
I certainly do recall the bittersweet romance between Princess Margaret Rose and Group Captain Townsend, due to my maternal grandmother's enduring fascination with it, long after the fact.
It's got Big Screen potential. Paging Stephen Daldry, paging Ronald Harwood, paging Keira Knightley and Christian Bale.
So, in gooey heartwrenching spades, does the Boston molasses catastrophe. Paging Ron Howard. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 4:54 pm |
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| This January it wouldn't have killed anyone in Boston. Bad timing. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:07 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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This is fun stuff. And to think I thought you all were pulling my leg about the molasses flood.
For some reason, I missed the whole Peter Tounsend saga. But I did see Margaret Rose get married to Anthony Snowden. In fact, I have a wonderful book of his photographs on my desk. I guess royal weddings came to some of us in place of fairy tails. Actually I have no idea why they were so fascinating, but I think of of that ended with Diana. It must have as I have no interest in Kate & Will. And also my twin sister had just gotten her first job at the NY Times, and she was sent to London to cover Diana's wedding. She sent back tons of Fleet Street papers.
It was such fun back then. We were all so innocent - better yet, naive. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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I remember waking up early to see Diana's wedding.........Nope......not doing it for Will and Kate.
My link to royalty: my mother looked like a combination of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:53 pm |
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| Will and Kate are a far more attractive couple than Charles and Diana. I never watched any of the Royal weddings. Boring. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:26 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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Gary, I agree. But Charles and Diana was the first in a long long time. I think that had a lot to do with the interest.
Bets, I doubt I'll get up early either. Last time I didn't. I just didn't go to sleep! |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:09 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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Looks like the Great Molasses Digression of 2011 has ended -- it all began with an innocent remark about pancakes.
The flood our family talks about is the Rapid City disaster in the early 70s, took out the center of the city and killed 237 people. Like many Nebraskans, I have connections to the Black Hills area and also married someone with roots there. My kids have heard stories from their grandfather about the flood and good friends who were lost. What made it so vicious was that the heavy rain (10 inches in an hour or two) was all up in the hills and it was not even raining down in RC, so the wall of water that came blasting down the canyon caught everyone completely off-guard. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1168
Location: Chicago
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bartist wrote: Looks like the Great Molasses Digression of 2011 has ended -- it all began with an innocent remark about pancakes.
The flood our family talks about is the Rapid City disaster in the early 70s, took out the center of the city and killed 237 people. Like many Nebraskans, I have connections to the Black Hills area and also married someone with roots there. My kids have heard stories from their grandfather about the flood and good friends who were lost. What made it so vicious was that the heavy rain (10 inches in an hour or two) was all up in the hills and it was not even raining down in RC, so the wall of water that came blasting down the canyon caught everyone completely off-guard.
We had one in Colo. similar in quickness and devastation it was call the 'Big Thompson flood and killed 144 people in 1976. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:08 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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I remember that one. Blue-sky floods are the worst.
Speaking of disasters, I recently read this plot description of "The Beaver," due for release in a month or two, starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster (who also directs):
Quote: A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating.
I don't claim to have a working crystal ball, but vibrations from the astral plane are telling me that this might be really awful. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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