1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert, joined by Sarah Dowdy. How are you, Sarah? 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: I'm great? How are you? Katie? Could um? Today we're 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: going to be talking about a story that sounds funny 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: but it's really not. And to give you a little intro, 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: some days when it's hot in Boston, even today, people 8 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: claim you can smell molasses. Why would they say that, Sarah, Well, 9 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: to tell you, we're going to have to go back 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: to nineteen fifteen, when molasses was a much more important 11 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 1: commodity than it is today. Right. I think the only 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: thing I've ever used molasses for is maybe to make 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: cookies con pie. Yeah. So they're constructing a tank in Boston, 14 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: and this tank is a big deal. They've got thirty 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: men working around the clock to build it, and it's 16 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: behind schedule because there were all sorts of permits and 17 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: stuff that had to be acquired. But in nineteen fifteen, 18 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: the Purity Distilling Company, owned by the United States Industrial 19 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: Alcohol Company, was not thinking of baking cookies with their molasses. Rather, 20 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 1: they wanted to distill it and use it to make munitions. 21 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: So World War One is going on at the time, 22 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: and even though the United States isn't in the war yet, 23 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: they are supplying weapons munitions. So this is a big 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: industry and a lot of people are not happy about 25 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: our involvement in all of this. President Woodrow Wilson gets 26 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: a petition with more than a million signatures that basically 27 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: says to stop sending arms two countries that are at war. 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: But it's already underway. We're going to get involved, and 29 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: anarchists are not happy. So unhappy, they're setting fires, you know, 30 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: setting off bombs, making threats in New York City. Do 31 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: see two bombs go off in Boston in nineteen sixteen, 32 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: So this is a very um explosive time, no pun intended, 33 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: or was it? Italian anarchists in Boston's North End are 34 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: on watch. People are trying to make sure they're not 35 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: going to get into trouble. And that is where our 36 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,919 Speaker 1: molasses tank comes in. So as the war is heating up, 37 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: the United States Industrial Alcohol and one of its subsidiaries, 38 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: the Purity Distilling Company, want to make a tank that 39 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: can hold a lot of molasses. It's a lucrative business. 40 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: This munitions manufacturing it is, and you want to have 41 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: your tank near the harbor because that's where the ships 42 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: come in with the loads of molasses from Cuba and 43 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: other countries. And you also want to have it near 44 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: the railroad where it can be taken off to get 45 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: processed and turned into grain alcohol. But if you want 46 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: such a prime piece of land, you're going to have 47 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: to file all sorts of permits and spend all kinds 48 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: of money to get it. So construction of this tank 49 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: ends up being a pretty lengthy process getting these permits 50 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: building it. Plus the construction isn't the best well, and 51 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: they're behind schedules, so they're much more willing to overlook 52 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: problems than they otherwise might have been. At the end, 53 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: they've got thirty men working around the clock to get 54 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: this thing finished, and a man dies during construction. There 55 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: are superstorms that December that end up with twenty inches 56 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: of snow in Boston. The rain, sleet, and wind are 57 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: so bad that two roller coasters end up completely destroyed. 58 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: And the guy in charge of this project is just 59 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: at his wits end. His name is Arthur gel and 60 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: just as one example of the shortcuts, he was willing 61 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: to take because he was running late on his deadline. 62 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: He only had six inches of water put in this 63 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: tank that holds two point five million gallons of molasses 64 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: to test for leaks, because you know, six inches in 65 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: a two points that covers the ba. Yes, and you'd 66 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: really call this a hard deadline that's approaching because there's 67 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: actually a shipment of molasses coming up to Boston, so 68 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: the tank tank really needs to be done or there's 69 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: nowhere for all this molasses to go. One for the 70 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: water thing, he realized not only would he have to 71 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: pay to tap into the municipal supply, it would have 72 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: taken weeks to fill. And he doesn't have weeks. He's 73 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: got days at this point. So this tank ends up 74 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: being really huge, even though it's not very well constructed. 75 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: It's fifty feet high, ninety feet in diameter, and it 76 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: holds more than two million gallons of molasses. And remember 77 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: molasses is a lot heavier than water, So this is 78 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: a This is a big, big tank. In fact, it's 79 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: so big it's something of a neighborhood fixture, a leaky 80 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: neighborhood fixture. It leaks so much that people come with 81 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: cans and little buckets to scrape off the leaks from 82 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: the tank to make lollipops, and the tank was painted 83 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: brown to hide some of the leaks, because naturally you 84 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: don't want to see a bunch of leaks in a 85 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: two point three million gallon tank. But we're going to 86 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: face forward now to nineteen nineteen. Munitions manufacturing no longer 87 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: the hot business to be in. But fortunately for the 88 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: United States Industrial Alcohol Company, there's another outlet for molasses 89 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: because people are trying to pass prohibition, the eighteenth Amendment, 90 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: and so you want to get as much alcohol as 91 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: you can made before that goes through. So you want 92 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: to make sure that your enormous molasses tank is full 93 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: to the brim um, weighing twenty six million pounds. When 94 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: it's full, that's a lot of alcohol, a lot of molasses. 95 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: Neighbors and workmen have long reported ominous rumbling sounds coming 96 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: from this tank. There was a guy who worked there 97 00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: who would even go in the middle of the night 98 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: to make sure the tank had not exploded because something 99 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: about it just wasn't right. But it turns out you 100 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: wouldn't need to go check to see if the tank exploded. 101 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: You would definitely know, and people unfortunately learned this the 102 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: hard way. January nineteen nineteen at twelve thirty when the 103 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: tank exploded. First there was a roar, then an explosion, 104 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,919 Speaker 1: followed by what sounded like the machine gun, which was 105 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: the steel bolts popping out of the tank, and the 106 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,799 Speaker 1: steel plates of the tank were torn apart and propelled 107 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: in all directions. So this was wasn't just a big leak. 108 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: It actually exploded and the flying plates cut the girders 109 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: of the l in A fifteen foot high, one hundred 110 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: and sixty foot wide wave races through North End at 111 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: thirty five miles per hour, And it sounds ridiculous, but 112 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: you have to think of this huge, fast wave of thick, 113 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: sludgy molasso, lions of gowns and molasses just plummeting down 114 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: twenty six million pounds of molasses. There were fragments of 115 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: metal two hundred feet away, and that original shock wave 116 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: from it exploding just flattened people. But as they were 117 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: getting up, there was a vacuum created by everything coming back, 118 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: and then they just fell down again. So there are 119 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: people and horses on the ground. As this wave is coming, 120 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: the elevated train is lifted off its rails, their buildings collapsing, 121 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: getting knocked off their foundations and getting buried. Yeah, the 122 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: three story engine thirty one firehouse is completely knocked off 123 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: its foundations. Electrical poles are falling over, and the wires 124 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: are sparking in the molasses, and the rivets, like we said, 125 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: are just shooting everywhere and bouncing off things. People died 126 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: from being asphyxiated or smothered, some of them were crushed. 127 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: There were horses shot by the police because they were 128 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: stuck in the molasses and there was no way to 129 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: get them out. There was a firefighter who was trapped 130 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: under beneath the firehouse and he managed to keep his 131 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: head above the molasses for a few hours before it's 132 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: the coming and going under, because how do you pull 133 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: someone out of a giant wave of molasses. The basements 134 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: of buildings were just filled to the first floor with molasses, 135 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: and it turned out that twenty one people died and 136 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty were injured. At least twenty horses 137 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: were killed, and the rescue effort for this ends up 138 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: being pretty extraordinary. The first and the scene or a 139 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: hundred and sixteen sailors from the USS Nantucket They're joined 140 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,239 Speaker 1: by Boston Police and Red Cross and some army personnel. 141 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: They set up kind of a triage unit at the 142 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: Haymarket Relief Station. Um actually removing molasses from people's noses 143 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: and mouths so they could breathe. Um. The dead apparently 144 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: looked like they were covered in heavy oil skins because 145 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: they were just coated in molasses. The nurses are covered 146 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: in molasses. They have it in their hay are molasses 147 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: mixed with blood. It's just really nasty scene. And the 148 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: cleanup took months, months and months. As you can imagine, 149 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: can imagine what I mean, Just spill some molasses on 150 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: your countertop. It's kind of nasty. Try doing two point 151 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: three million gallons of it in an entire city. So 152 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: they used picks and chisels to get rid of the 153 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: molasses that it hardened, and otherwise tried to cut it 154 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: with seawater and sand. It turns the harbor brown until summer. 155 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: This is in January, and obviously the molasses gets tracked 156 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: all over the city too, so you can just imagine 157 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: months of stickiness in Boston as street car seats and 158 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: molasses phones and trolleys. It's just everywhere and Oddly enough, 159 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: the night after the disaster, when people are still cleaning, 160 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: church bells start ringing because prohibition had just become law 161 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: when Nebraska ratified the eighteenth Amendment. So only a month 162 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: later February nineteen nineteen, the blame game again. Somebody is 163 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: going to have to pay for this. Boston is spending 164 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: huge amounts of money. They're all these dead. Someone's going down, right, 165 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 1: And it turns into one of those evil corporations versus 166 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,559 Speaker 1: you know, poor victimized families kind of trial. And at 167 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: first the chief Judge of the Boston Municipal Court holds 168 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: us I A guilty of manslaughter um, and the d 169 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: A presents the evidence to a grand jury and they 170 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: think that the tanks are built shodily. They agree to that, 171 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:41,440 Speaker 1: but they don't go as far as manslaughter um. But 172 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: by nineteen twenty there have been a hundred nineteen separate 173 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: civil suits filed against the U. S I A. And 174 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: this trial is insane. Litigation for this takes over six years. 175 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: There's something like three thousand witnesses, thirty thousand pages of testimony, 176 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,959 Speaker 1: undred exhibits, and there are so many lawyers involved. Supposedly 177 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 1: there wasn't enough room to actually hold all of them 178 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: in the courthouse. Well, it's a it's a very odd 179 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,440 Speaker 1: sort of hearing too. The superior court judge, um, you know, 180 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 1: has so so many lawsuits here that he consolidates the 181 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: suits and appoints an auditor to hear the evidence and 182 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: issue a report about liability and damages, thinking that from 183 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,959 Speaker 1: there the cases could proceed proceed to actual jury trials. 184 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: He was kind of hoping it would streamline the process, 185 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: but that didn't really with six years of litigation, I'm 186 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: gonna say, I don't know about things moved as slow 187 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: as molasses, okay, And typically as of the Evil Corporation, 188 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: the owners claimed that it was anarchists sabotage and Italian 189 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,319 Speaker 1: anarchists had come and set a bomb off on their 190 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: tank and it exploded, and how could they possibly be 191 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: held guilty for something that these horrible America hating anarchistic 192 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: kind of reminds me of Sacco and Vinceti reminds me 193 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: a lot. At the same time, the Italian immigrant scapegoats 194 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: similar story, and no one thought this was particularly credible. 195 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: It was one of those things where you know, you'd 196 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: think they'd issue a public apology, but instead they were 197 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: trying to blame it on the poor anarchists. Yeah, and 198 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: they're saying that there had been threats against the tank. 199 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: A bomb had been discovered in another USA a I 200 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:33,079 Speaker 1: A facility, but they don't, like you said, they don't 201 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,679 Speaker 1: have any actual proof for it. Well, and even then 202 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 1: it could have been true, but it was fairly clear 203 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,440 Speaker 1: that that wasn't what caused this. They had a policeman 204 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: on guard at the tank to keep any anarchists with 205 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: ideas of explosions in their heads from getting too close. Meanwhile, 206 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: the plaintiffs are saying that the tank is the problem. 207 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 1: They're showing that the material is too thin. They had 208 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: an m I T professor who examined the shell and 209 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: said it was too then there weren't enough rivets. The 210 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 1: man in charge of construction was actually in finance and 211 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: didn't get any engineering advice on it coming. And like 212 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier, they're proving the construction was 213 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: rut rushed and the tank wasn't tested properly. When they 214 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: even used a much thinner kind of steel than they'd 215 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:23,679 Speaker 1: actually said they were going to use in their permit, 216 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: so they weren't even truthful when they were applying for it. 217 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: So this hearing goes on for years, and eventually the auditor, 218 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: Hugh Ogden, um takes a whole year to review all 219 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: the information he's been presented with. It ends up being 220 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: the longest missed expensive civil suit in Massachusetts history. That's insane. 221 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: So Ogden ends up giving his verdict fifty one pages 222 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: of it in April, holding the company liable. He says 223 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: that the U. S i. A. Gave no support of 224 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: no evidence to support their anarch key theory, whereas he 225 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,679 Speaker 1: had plenty of very convincing evidence on the shoddy construction 226 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 1: side when he said the factor of safety wasn't high 227 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: enough in this tank, So the tank wasn't even strong 228 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,560 Speaker 1: enough for what they were doing with it. And because 229 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: of this trial, there were regulations put in place that 230 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: toughened up, you know, building regulations and specifically required that 231 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: engineers certified structural plans, which I can't imagine we didn't 232 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 1: have before. Then. Yeah, Boston requires that an architecture and 233 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: engineer actually sign off on the plans and that they 234 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: actually get filed through the city's Building department, something that 235 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: it seems inconceivable that that didn't exist already by two 236 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: point three million gallon tank by the twentieth century. It's 237 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: it's just surprising. The crazy thing is that no one 238 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: still knows what made that whole tank explode. There are 239 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: different theories, and one of them was that the molasses 240 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: fermented because the amperatures had gone at that time from 241 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: two degrees to forty two degrees within a few days 242 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: January day, so things were warming up and maybe that 243 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: caused the problem. Or maybe because that hold shipment of 244 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: new molasses was added on top and it was warmer 245 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: and the old stuff was colder, or the tank was overfilled, 246 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: or maybe there was just some sort of structural defect. 247 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: But we still don't know why it blew up. But 248 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,000 Speaker 1: even though they don't know exactly what caused it to explode, 249 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: then Odden recommended pretty generous damages for the parties involved. 250 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: Six thousand going to the families of the deceased, twenty 251 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: five thousand to the City of Boston, which obviously had 252 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: to pay for this huge cleanup effort, and forty two 253 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: thousand to the Boston Elevated Railway Company, which had broken 254 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: girders probably prices to fix. Because these damages are so generous. 255 00:15:56,120 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: The lawyers for the us I quickly agree to out 256 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: of court settlements with um even slightly higher damages because 257 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: they don't want to go through the price of a 258 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: jury trial. Aside from the rumors that the smell of 259 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: molasses still lingers in the North End on a hot 260 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: summer day, um, the site is a park now has 261 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: botchy courts, so um because they cleaned it up all right, 262 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: maybe you should visit. 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