WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Boston Molasses Flood

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I should say, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to the short stuff. No. I'm Josh, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck, and Jerry's sitting in for Dave. So this

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<v Speaker 1>is short stuff. That was kind of tasteless, even though

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<v Speaker 1>it's been more than 100 years. Yeah, crazy. It's still,

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<v Speaker 1>I think this is sometimes taken too lightly or expressed

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<v Speaker 1>too lightly. It's a pretty big tragedy that we're about

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. The 1919 Boston molasses flood that I was

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<v Speaker 2>positive we'd covered. And it had to be on a

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<v Speaker 2>when we made those dumb videos back in the day.

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<v Speaker 2>Not don't be dumb. Those were good videos. All the

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<v Speaker 2>other ones were dumb, ironically.

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<v Speaker 1>No, thanks, man. Enough people had have written in over

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<v Speaker 1>the years to ask us for it. That that's where

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<v Speaker 1>I've heard of it. I don't remember talking about it.

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<v Speaker 2>We had to have it. I looked it up just

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<v Speaker 2>to make sure, but stuff you missed in history class

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<v Speaker 2>back in the day covered it. But this is our

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<v Speaker 2>shorty version. And so we'll take you back. Let's hop

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<v Speaker 2>in the Wayback Machine. It's been a minute.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, let's do it.

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<v Speaker 2>It is so dusty and it sounds funny, but let's

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<v Speaker 2>crank it up.

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<v Speaker 1>Look out for that spider. That's pretty big.

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<v Speaker 2>That's a pretty big spider. But it came from the

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<v Speaker 2>Mesozoic era, so.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that explains why.

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<v Speaker 2>That explains why. So we're going to go back to

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<v Speaker 2>January 15th, 1919 to Boston. to the north end of Boston,

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<v Speaker 2>to Commercial Street in the north end. It's a pretty

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<v Speaker 2>warm day for January, so there's a lot of people

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<v Speaker 2>out and about trying to get a little bit of sun.

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<v Speaker 2>And everyone is hearing a weird sound. Some people say

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<v Speaker 2>it sounds like gunfire. Some people it sounds like a train,

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<v Speaker 2>like a rumbling of the L train. And when you

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<v Speaker 2>look up, all of a sudden, you see a 2.3

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<v Speaker 2>million gallon wave, 25 feet high and 160 feet wide,

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<v Speaker 2>coming at us at 35 miles an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>Can you imagine?

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<v Speaker 2>No, sir. I can't imagine a water wave like that.

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<v Speaker 1>No, I know. And that's the thing. Like, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of different properties about this that make it way

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<v Speaker 1>worse than a wave of water. And one is that

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<v Speaker 1>molasses is denser than water. So the effect it has

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<v Speaker 1>when it slams into you is going to be even

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<v Speaker 1>worse than when water does. And two, after it slams

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<v Speaker 1>into you and takes you under... it's going to start

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<v Speaker 1>to solidify and congeal once it stops moving. And you're

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<v Speaker 1>going to have a lot of trouble getting out of it.

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<v Speaker 1>And so that happened to a lot of people. It injured,

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<v Speaker 1>I think, 150 people. And in addition to that, 21

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<v Speaker 1>people were killed. And in addition to that, a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of animals were killed. And then in addition to that,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of property was destroyed. So this was a big,

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<v Speaker 1>big deal when this happened.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I can't imagine a more horrifying death than being

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<v Speaker 2>basically suffocated and squashed by 2.3 million gallons of molasses

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<v Speaker 2>in a wave. It's just it's it's horrible to think about.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I feel that way about landslides. And I think

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<v Speaker 1>this is very similar to that.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure. So who do we have to blame

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<v Speaker 2>for this? We have the Purity Distilling Company, whose parent

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<v Speaker 2>company was the United States Industrial Alcohol. And they are

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<v Speaker 2>squarely to blame, as we'll see. They made rum and

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<v Speaker 2>industrial alcohol on the north end there And they built

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<v Speaker 2>a big, huge tank to hold this molasses. It was

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<v Speaker 2>52 feet tall, 90 feet wide, and at its peak

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<v Speaker 2>holds about two and a half million gallons. And on

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<v Speaker 2>this day, there were 2.3 million gallons.

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<v Speaker 1>Man, that is so many gallons of molasses, right?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And you say, well, why did they like molasses this much?

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<v Speaker 1>Were they making liquid compost? You say, no, no, don't

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<v Speaker 1>be silly. Instead, they were using it as the main

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<v Speaker 1>ingredient for this alcohol. Again, you said they make rum. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So I guess they made a ton of rum because

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<v Speaker 1>that's a lot of molasses. And they found that this

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<v Speaker 1>tank was not built by anybody who knew what they

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<v Speaker 1>were doing, essentially, and that it was not structurally sound

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<v Speaker 1>even from the beginning. And that even the locals in

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<v Speaker 1>the North End were like, yeah, this thing's been leaking

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<v Speaker 1>for a really long time. You can see it coming

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<v Speaker 1>out of the seams. And so Purity Distilling Company had

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<v Speaker 1>a solution for that. They painted the tank brown so

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<v Speaker 1>that you couldn't see the molasses coming out of the

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<v Speaker 1>seams anymore. And they said, easy peasy, job done. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>And, like, people would go get the molasses. Those kids

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<v Speaker 2>would be like, this is awesome, sweet molasses over there

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<v Speaker 2>at the seams. So it was very well known. What

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<v Speaker 2>strikes me as odd, on January 15th, this was a

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<v Speaker 2>year before Prohibition. Well, I guess they didn't. Did they

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<v Speaker 2>know Prohibition was coming? That was my question.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay.

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<v Speaker 2>That's probably an unwarranted suspicion then.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, you could make industrial alcohol still, so I don't

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<v Speaker 1>think they were going to be out of business.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay. All right. That's what I was wondering. You know

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<v Speaker 2>me so well. You saw where I was headed with that.

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<v Speaker 2>All right. So this rushes through at 35 miles an hour,

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<v Speaker 2>like I said. Smaller buildings were completely crushed and consumed.

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<v Speaker 2>Larger buildings were moved off their foundations. It knocked an

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<v Speaker 2>L train off of its tracks. And like you said,

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<v Speaker 2>21 people died. A lot of them were sort of

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<v Speaker 2>laborers and drivers in the area in the North End.

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<v Speaker 2>But there were also kids. Pascual Antosca and Maria D'Estacio

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<v Speaker 2>were two 10-year-olds who were out just enjoying the sun.

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<v Speaker 2>And they were killed. It's brutally sad. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So is a firefighter named George Leahy, who had gone

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<v Speaker 1>to bed, I guess, after the late shift at Engine

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<v Speaker 1>31 Station. And I think he had gone to bed

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<v Speaker 1>and maybe the basement in the basement was swamped with molasses.

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<v Speaker 1>So he died in bed. And so, you know, all

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<v Speaker 1>of this, um, horror and carnage of people and animals,

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<v Speaker 1>like a lot of horses were killed too, because they were,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a really like, um, working class area. So

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<v Speaker 1>there was a lot of horses like pulling carts and

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<v Speaker 1>wagons and stuff at the time that were stuck in

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<v Speaker 1>this stuff or drowned in it as well. Um, but

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<v Speaker 1>in addition to that, all that destruction, um, What made

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<v Speaker 1>it even worse is that it was covered in molasses

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<v Speaker 1>that had solidified, which made it really hard to clean up,

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<v Speaker 1>like to just get like these pieces of L-train or

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<v Speaker 1>pieces of building or whatever out of the neighborhood. You

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't even do it because it was stuck in just

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<v Speaker 1>a ton of molasses.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. But they had a solution. And we'll talk

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<v Speaker 2>about that right after this. We're back, everybody. I do

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<v Speaker 2>want to point something out. I mentioned earlier that most

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<v Speaker 2>of the people who perished were laborers and drivers and

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<v Speaker 2>stuff for the North End paving yard. Uh, that, that

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<v Speaker 2>is not, and then we, you know, highlighted a few,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, a couple of kids and a firefighter. Uh,

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<v Speaker 2>I hope that didn't sound like we were just saying

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<v Speaker 2>like their lives didn't matter because they were lowly laborers.

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<v Speaker 2>And let's talk about this firefighter and kids. We just

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<v Speaker 2>wanted to highlight some real names. Yeah. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Well put. Hopefully most people got that, but then you

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<v Speaker 1>just stopped like a couple of bad reviews on, on Apple.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. Well, I just want to clear that up. Like

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<v Speaker 2>they wanted to clear up the North end and we

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<v Speaker 2>promised talk of a solution and the solution was saltwater.

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<v Speaker 2>It breaks down molasses. So they were like, all right,

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<v Speaker 2>we've got the idea here now. We're going to pump

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<v Speaker 2>water from the harbor, that engine 31, which is the

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<v Speaker 2>firehouse that was consumed where the firefighter died. They used

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<v Speaker 2>their fireboat and it worked pretty well. They very sadly

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<v Speaker 2>were still pulling bodies. I think that the last body

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<v Speaker 2>they found four months later. So it was a pretty

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<v Speaker 2>slow process still.

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<v Speaker 1>So, um, initially people were like, well, what happened? And

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<v Speaker 1>purity distilling company said anarchists and anarchists clearly bombed our, um, companies,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, tank holding tank. And that was what did

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<v Speaker 1>it wasn't us. And they beat that drum like the

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<v Speaker 1>whole time. But I guess once somebody started looking into it,

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<v Speaker 1>there was a world war one, the decorated veteran named

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<v Speaker 1>Hugh Ogden, who was tasked with, um, acting as auditor

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<v Speaker 1>to basically get to the bottom of this and uh

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<v Speaker 1>he found out pretty quickly uh that that it was

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<v Speaker 1>like you said a hundred percent that company's fault and responsibility.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah i think this is still known in a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of circles as like an explosion that like blew this

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<v Speaker 2>tank open and that's just not true uh i guess

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<v Speaker 2>the sound they heard was just this thing uh You know,

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, I want to say exploding, but it wasn't

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<v Speaker 2>an explosion. But this tank failing was what they heard.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm sure it made its way out of that

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<v Speaker 1>tank once the tank failed pretty quickly, probably close to

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<v Speaker 1>what would have seemed like an explosion initially. I could

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<v Speaker 1>see people mistaking that.

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<v Speaker 2>Right.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>But, you know, there was no regulation at the time.

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<v Speaker 2>That's not to say they weren't responsible, but there was

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<v Speaker 2>no like oversight for this kind of thing back then

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<v Speaker 2>in 1919. But you can bet there was afterward.

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<v Speaker 1>Right. Yeah, they changed the rules for something like a

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<v Speaker 1>holding tank. I mean, like if they had made a bridge,

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<v Speaker 1>some agency or other would have had to check off

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<v Speaker 1>on it. But there was nothing like that for that

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<v Speaker 1>kind of thing. Then there was afterward, you had to

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<v Speaker 1>have an architect and an engineer on file, look at

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<v Speaker 1>your plans and say, this is structurally sound, this is

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<v Speaker 1>going to work. And then you had to file the

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<v Speaker 1>plan with the city of Boston. And very quickly after that,

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<v Speaker 1>they kind of ended up setting the pace for other

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<v Speaker 1>cities around the country who required the same thing shortly after.

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<v Speaker 1>So there was a silver lining to it in that

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<v Speaker 1>sense that they went in and made sure that something

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<v Speaker 1>like this wouldn't happen again. But you know, that didn't

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<v Speaker 1>bring the people back or the horses.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I mean, this is one of those things like

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<v Speaker 2>with the hotel fire. And I feel like we've covered

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<v Speaker 2>quite a few tragedies where they had this kind of

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<v Speaker 2>same kind of silver lining that things changed for the

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<v Speaker 2>better afterward. Yeah. The U.S. industrial alcohol business, the company

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<v Speaker 2>that parent company of Purity Distillery was forced to pay

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<v Speaker 2>about a million nineteen nineteen dollars or nineteen twenty dollars

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<v Speaker 2>in damages. And I looked up, I was, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>Wanted to know what happened to that company, and that

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<v Speaker 2>was the end of that company.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, okay. Well, that's kind of a silver lining, too, then,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess, because they really should have. I saw, Chuck,

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<v Speaker 1>that even for the standards of the day, they used

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<v Speaker 1>below-standard materials. So they were cutting corners. With 2.5 million

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<v Speaker 1>gallons capacity of molasses, that's just dumb.

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<v Speaker 2>Does that mean short stuff is out?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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