| Transcribed by Norma Knotts Shaffer from microfilm
of the Calhoun Chronicle dated 1/31/1918.
Glycerine Wagon Explodes
One Man Instantly Killed
Charley O. Strain, a shooter for the Marietta Torpedo Company, was
instantly
killed here Wednesday afternoon when his nitro-glycerine wagon slipped in
the
icy road across Phillips Run from Frank Johnson's residence.
Elmore
Stump of Russett, who was helping Mr. Strain bring the wagon from the
Fowler
well, in the Russett fields, escaped, miraculously, with only a few
bruises.
The horses and wagon were blown to atoms.
The explosion was heard several miles from here and the concussion
was
felt at Cabot's factory.
Strain had been in town Wednesday morning when he called his
employers
to get their permission to bury the glycerine before returning with
the
wagon to Marietta, but his orders were to return to Marietta with the
glycerine.
He had gone to Russett Sunday to shoot the Fowler well, but the well
was
not ready. He had 35 quarts.
Upon starting to this place he procured Elmore Stump to come with
him
to check the wagon and they got along very well until ___________
place
of the accident.
Before the Russett road intersects the Phillips Run Road it is very
narrow and steep. The road was a solid stretch of ice, and when
Strain
and Stump came to that place they stopped to allow Stump to go back
with
his line and put it around a tree; before Stump reached the tree he
heard
the horses shuffling and when he looked around the team and wagon were
going over the bank. The wagon turned over twice; when it first
turned
over Strain was thrown off, leaving him behind the wagon, after it had
turned the second time, and when the explosion occurred, Stump dropped
to the road as the wagon turned, leaving him hardly exposed to the
concussion.
When the explosion was heard here several people rushed to scene of
the accident. Strain was lying about where Stump had last seen
him.
Both legs were broken, his left side horribly mangled and his face was
torn beyond recognition.
The remains were taken to the undertaking rooms of Ira N. Stump
where
they were prepared for burial. They were taken to Cairo Thursday
where his wife was visiting.
The unfortunate man was between 35 and 45 years of age. Those
who talked to him when he was here declare that he was a very affable
and
likable man. He was a member of the Ham_in K of P Lodge and of
the
Griffithsville I.O.O.F. He was married but had no children, we
understand. | 
