The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 30, July 25, 2004, Article 20

SAN FRANCISCO ASSAY OFFICE EXPLOSION

  Found while searching for other things was a contemporary
  account of an explosion in G.W. Bell's assay office building.
  Bell's business is described in Dan Owens' book,
  "California Coiners and Assayers."  Bell operated in San
  Francisco from 1854-1866.  Bell was killed in the explosion
  at the age of 49 on April 16, 1866.    Owens' book reprints
  several newspaper accounts of the "terrible calamity."

  The next time you're shipping books and the clerk asks you
  if the package contains any banned materials, remember this
  incident, which illustrates why it's not a good idea to ship
  nitroglycerine by mail...

  "On Monday, 16th inst., in San Francisco, at fifteen minutes
  past one o'clock, P.M., an explosion took place in the
  storeroom back of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s building, in G.W.
  Bell's assay office, adjoining California Street, which
  demolished everything with a circuit of 40 or 50 feet, including
  the whole interior of Bell's assay building, the storeroom and
  west portion of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s building, the back
  portion of the Union Club Rooms, and other apartments in the
  vicinity.

  The explosion was powerful as to shake the earth like an
  earthquake for a circuit of a quarter of a mile.  Every window
  in California Street, between Montgomery and Kearney, was
  demolished, and panes of glass were shattered ever as far as
  Third Street, a distance of half a mile.  For some time after the
  explosion it was impossible to tell the cause of the calamity.
  Some asserting that it was a barrel of acid in the Assay Office;
  others said it was a steam boiler in the rear of the office; and
  others, that it was some kind of explosive material stored in
  the yard of Wells, Fargo & Co.  It has since been ascertained
  to have been caused by Nobel's blasting oil, or nitro glycerine,
  a  new explosive five times more powerful in its effects than
  powder.  A box containing this liquid had arrived by steamer
  from the East, and when landed upon the wharf was found to
  be in a leaking condition.  It had been shipped as general
  merchandise, and none were aware of the dangerous contents
  of the box.  It was sent to the office of Wells, Fargo & Co.
  and placed in the rear of the building, among the unclaimed
  freight, where Mr. Webster, the freight clerk in the New York
  department of the Express office, and Mr. Havens, freight
  clerk of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, went to
  examine that in connection with another package claimed to
  be in a damaged condition.  The last seen  of these gentlemen
  alive, they were standing near the box, with several other
  employees, having tools as if about to open the box.  It is
  supposed they made the attempt, when the explosion took
  place by concussion, which resulted in a terrible loss of life
  and destruction of property.

  [The remainder of the article includes some graphic
  descriptions of the carnage, which I won't reprint here.
  To read the full article, see: Full Article ]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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