Page:Accidents and disasters on land.pdf/7



A frightful accident occurred some time ago at Lockerby: Mr W. Johnstone, grocer and spirit dealer, had a cask containing about 20lbs. of gun-powder, which, from whatever cause, had become too damp to be saleable, and which he rather incautiously placed behind the counter, within a few feet of the shop fire. To aid, we presume, the drying process, the top of the barrel had been taken off, and its place supplied by one or more sheets of stout brown paper. When candles were required and lighted at dusk, Mr Johnstone’s father-in-law, who had been assisting his friends during the hurry of the fair, hastily topped one of them with his fingers, and threw the, as he supposed, into the fire. Part of it, however, lighted on the paper that covered the powder, and by, to use our informant’s own words, occasioned such a fearful explosion as threw the whole town for a time into dismay. Though the walls of the house withstood the shock, every article of merchandise was either destroyed, injured, or displaced; and when the neighbours and others had leisure to inquire into the cause of the alarm, a scene of ruin and confusion presented itself, such as is rarely witnessed in a country town. Mrs Johnston and her father were both very dreadfully scorched, and not only was the shop window blown away, but the former carried after it, and thrown with considerable violence on the street.