Short Stuff: Boston Molasses Flood | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. But. I should say hey and welcome to the. short stuff. No, >> I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. sitting in for days. So this is short. stuff. That was kind of tasteless even. though it's been more than a hundred. years. Yeah. Crazy. >> Yeah. >> Um it's still I think this is sometimes. taken too lightly or expressed too. lightly as a pretty big tragedy that. we're about to talk about. That's right.

The 1919 Boston molasses flood uh that I. was positive we had covered and it had. to be on a when we made those dumb. videos back in the day. Not don't be. dumb. Those were good videos. All the. other ones were dumb. Ironically. >> enough Thanks, man. Enough people had um. have written in over the years to ask us. for it that that's where I've heard of. it. I don't remember talking about it. Well, we had to have I looked it up just. to make sure, but uh stuff you missed in. history class back in the day covered.

it. But this is our shorty version. Uh. and so we'll take you back. Let's hop in. the wayback machine. It's been a minute. >> Oh, let's do it. >> It is so dusty and it sounds funny, but. let's crank it up. >> Look out for that spider. That's pretty. big. >> It's a pretty big spider, but it came. from uh the Mesazoic era. So. >> yeah, that explains why. >> That explains why. So, we're going to go. back to January 15th, 1919 to Boston, to. the north end of Boston to Commercial. Street in the north end. It's a pretty. warm day for January. So, there's a lot.

of people out and about uh trying to get. a little bit of sun and everyone is. hearing a weird sound. Some people said. it sounds say it sounds like gunfire. Some people it sounds like a a train, like a rumbling of the Elra. And when. you look up, all of a sudden, you see a. 2.3 million gallon wave, 25 ft high and. 160 ft wide, >> uh, coming at us at 35 m an hour. >> Can you imagine?

>> No, sir. I can't imagine a water wave. like that. >> No, I know. And that's the thing, like. there's a couple of different properties. about this that make it way worse than a. wave of water. And one is that molasses. is denser than water. So, the effect it. has when it slams into you is going to. be even worse than when water does. And. two, after it slams into you and takes. you under, it's going to start to. solidify and congeal once it stops. moving. And you're going to have a lot. of trouble getting out of it. >> And so, that happened to a lot of.

people. It injured, I think, 150 people. >> And in addition to that, 21 people were. killed. And in addition to that, uh, a. lot of animals were killed. And then in. addition to that, a lot of property was. destroyed. So this was a big big deal. when this happened. >> Yeah. I can't imagine a more horrifying. death than being basically suffocated. and squashed by 2.3 million gallons of. of molasses in a wave. It's just it's. it's horrible to think about.

>> Yeah, I feel that way about landslides. and I think this is very similar to. that. >> Yeah, for sure. So, who do we have to. blame for this? We have the Purity. Distilling Company uh whose parent. company was the United States al. industrial alcohol. >> Mhm. >> And they are squarely to blame as we'll. see. Uh they made rum and industrial. alcohol on the north end there. And they. built a big huge tank to hold this. molasses. It was 52 feet tall uh 90 ft. wide and at its peak um holds about 2.

and 1/2 million gallons. And on this day. there were 2.3 million gallons. Man, that is so many gallons of molasses, right? >> Yeah. >> And you you say, "Well, why did they. like molasses this much? Were they. making liquid compost?" You say, "No, no, don't be silly." Instead, they were. using it as the main ingredient for this. alcohol. Again, you said they make rum. >> Yeah. >> So, I guess they made a ton of rum. because that's a lot of molasses. Uh, and they found that this tank was not.

built by anybody who knew what they were. doing essentially and that it was not. structurally sound even from the. beginning. And that even the locals in. the North End were like, "Yeah, this. thing's been leaking for a really long. time. You can see it coming out of the. seams." And so, Purity Distilling. Company had a solution for that. They. painted the tank brown so that you. couldn't see the molasses coming out of. the seams anymore. And they said, "Easy. peasy, job done.". >> Yeah. And like people would go get the.

molasses. They would be those kids would. be like, "This is awesome. Sweet. molasses over there at the seam." So it. was very wellnown. Uh what what strikes. me as odd. On January 15th, this was a. year before prohibition. Well, I guess. they didn't. Did they know prohibition. was coming? That was my question. >> I don't know. >> Okay. That's probably an unwarranted. suspicion then. >> Well, you could you could make. industrial alcohol still, so I don't. think they were going to be out of. business. >> Okay. All right. That's what I was. wondering. You You know me so well.

>> Mhm. >> You saw where I was headed with that. >> Mhm. >> All right. So, uh this rushes through at. 35 miles an hour. Like I said, um. smaller buildings were completely. crushed and consumed. Uh larger. buildings were moved off their. foundations. Uh it knocked an L train. off of its tracks and like you said, 21. people died. A lot of them were um sort. of laborers and drivers in the area in. the north end, but uh there were also. kids. Um Pasqualtoska.

and Maria Dustaceio were two. 10-year-olds who were out just enjoying. the sun and they were killed. It's it's. brutally sad. >> Yeah. So was a firefighter named George. Ley who had gone to bed, I guess after. the late shift at um Engine 31's. station. And I think he had gone to bed. in maybe the basement and the basement. was swamped with molasses. So he died in. bed. And so you know all of this um. horror and and carnage of people and.

animals like a lot of horses were killed. too because they were this is a a really. like um workingass area. So there was a. lot of horses like pulling carts and. wagons and stuff at the time that were. stuck in this stuff or or drowned in it. as well. Um, but in addition to that, all that destruction, um, what made it. even worse is that it was covered in. molasses that had solidified, which made. it really hard to clean up, like to just. get like these pieces of elrine or.

pieces of building or whatever out of. this the neighborhood. You couldn't even. do it because it was stuck in just a ton. of molasses. >> That's right. Uh, but they had a. solution and we'll talk about that right. after this. [music]. [music].

[music]. We're back everybody. Yeah, I do want to. point something out. I I mentioned. earlier uh that most of the the people. who perished were laborers and drivers. and stuff for the north end paving yard. >> Uh that that is not and then we you know. highlighted a few a couple of kids and a. firefighter. Uh I hope that didn't sound. like we were. just saying like their lives didn't.

matter because they were lowly laborers. and let's talk about this firefighter. and kids. We just wanted to highlight. some real names. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well put. Hopefully most. people got that, but they just stopped. like a couple of bad reviews on on. Apple. [laughter]. >> Well, I just want to clear that up. Uh. like they wanted to clear up the north. end. Uh and we promised talk of a. solution, and the solution was. saltwater. It breaks down molasses. So, they were like, "All right, we we've got. the the idea here now. We're going to. pump water from the harbor." uh that. engine 31, which is the firehouse that.

was um consumed where the firefighter. died. They used their fireboat and uh. and it and it worked, you know, pretty. well. They they very sadly were still. pulling bodies. I think that the last. body they found four months later, so it. was a pretty slow process still. >> So, um initially people were like, well, what what happened? and Purity. Distilling Company said anarchists and. anarchists clearly bombed our um. company's you know tank holding tank and.

that was what did it wasn't us and they. beat that drum like the whole time but I. guess once somebody started looking into. it there was a World War I decorated. veteran named Hugh Ogden who was tasked. with be um acting as auditor to. basically get to the bottom of this and. uh he found out pretty quickly. uh that that it was like you said 100%. that company's fault and responsibility. >> Yeah, I think this is still known in a.

lot of circles as like an explosion. >> that like blew this tank open and that's. just not true. Uh I guess the sound they. heard was just this thing. >> uh you know I mean I want to say. exploding but it wasn't an explosion but. this tank failing was what they heard. Yeah, I'm sure it made its way out of. that tank once the tank failed pretty. quickly. Probably close to what would. have seemed like an explosion initially. I could see people mistaking that, right? >> Yeah. Uh but, you know, there was no. regulation at the time. Uh that's not to.

say they weren't responsible, but there. was no like oversight for this kind of. thing back then in 1919. Uh but you can. bet there was afterward, right? >> Yeah. They changed um the rules for. something like a holding tank. I mean. like if you if they had made a bridge, some agency or other had to would have. had to have checked off on it, but there. was nothing like that for that kind of. thing. Then there was afterward you had. to have an architect and an engineer on. file look at your plans and say this is. structurally sound. This is going to.

work. And then you had to file the plan. with the city of Boston. And very. quickly after that, they they kind of. ended up setting the pace for other um. cities around the country who required. the same thing. shortly after. So, there. was a silver lining to it in that sense. that they they went in and made sure. that something like this wouldn't happen. again. But, you know, that didn't bring. the the people back or the horses. >> Yeah. I mean, this is one of those. things like with the hotel fire and I. feel like we've covered quite a few. tragedies where they had this kind of.

same kind of silver lining that things. changed for the better afterward. >> Yeah. Um the US industrial alcohol uh. business, the company that the parent. company of Purity Distillery was forced. to pay about a million1 1919 or 1920ish. dollars in damages. And I looked up I. was, you know, want to know what. happened to that company and that that. was the end of that company. >> Oh, okay. Well, that's kind of a silver. lining too then, I guess, because they. really should have. I saw Chuck that. even for the standards of the day, they. used below standard materials. So they.

were cutting corners and. >> with 2.5 million gallons capacity of. molasses. That's just dumb. >> Does that mean [music] short stuff is. out? >> Yeah. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever [music] you listen. to your favorite shows.