BIG EXPLOSION.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18899, 14 January 1927, Page 8

BIG EXPLOSION.

IN BURWOOD HOUSE,

BUILDING WRECKED. | INMATES' LUCKY ESCAPE. U halt-paat one o'clock yesterday \ rifi, explosion in a house at 36 francis sLt, occupied by Mr E A. Lmmett ,a carrier), hi. wife, and two cbildren, aged two and four years respecllV!'ly;- „Vlnpk on Wednesday night Mr if 'melt from a formula given him by Snd Sd an explosive which ho a JrieiiQ, » f the purpose of The substance, of which mi«d two largo Jars was bhSTowever, that "l™ «j I Sd to tho air for any period at aJ the action of the air would cause tho | in S^^nenm.xcdwa Spl,c----«1 in iars and Mr Emmett then placed the as ou one of the kitchen shelves ami let them there for the inght. Early in the morning, when the familvVere asleep, the mixture exploded The back portion of the residence ?vas wrecked and the root was blown next to the k.tchen, whore the explosion took place, tne fourseaSd son of Mr Emmett was sting. Tlw wall next the kitchen S bent right in, and the wall opposite, against which the boy's bed was XW, was nearly blown out. A heavy shelf Was hurled on to the bed in which tho child was sleeping. All tho pictures- in the room fell to the floor. The child had a remarkable escape. I In: ; force of the explosion blew out every | window in tho building. . In Mr Emmett s room the little gu I a cot was placed near the wall oPtt*ito her parents' bed, and when Mr Emmett was awakened by the explosion • -he found the cot held tightly between his bed and the Wall. 11l the dining-room all the pictures Were hurled to the .floor and the coiling wai) partially lifted. Crockery was thrown about in profusion. A heavy iron stove in the kitchen was wrecked, and a shed attached to the house was blown back some inches and its front wall shattered. Mr Emmett was almost •overcome by the fumes, and one of tho children, the boy,, was coughing and choking badly when passed out of a window to a neighbour. . The explosion w,as not. followed by an outbreak of fire, .although sufficient material had exploded to blast 40 logs. The sound of the explosion was hoard by residents ovrr half a mile from the building. Heavy pieces of debriswere hurled a great distance. ' A neighbour, whose hoiiso is nearly 100- yards' away, stated to a representative 6f The Pbess that he thought a tree had fallen 6n his roof. Ro6fing iron from the kitchen was hurled right over the house into the front garden. All the walls in the front of the house were left bulging and all the main beams wero broken. Had the houso been of a heavier construction, death to the occupants would prdbably have resulted.

The house belongs to ~Mr V. Joues, Burnham.