The Laundry Room Explosion
A Highlands teacher narrowly escapes serious injury after a dangerous kitchen accident.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Miss Dorothy Mann was painfully burned on her arm and slightly burned on her face Friday by an explosion of gasoline which she had added to water in which she was boiling clothes. The water slapping on the hot stove carried enough gasoline with it to cause the explosion. Medical attendance was immediately secured and Miss Mann is reported as doing nicely, although she is not able to resume her teaching duties at Locust Grove for a few days.
“The water slapping on the hot stove carrying enough gasoline with it to cause the explosion.”
Gasoline was frequently used for household cleaning and fuel in the early 20th century, leading to common, often devastating, domestic accidents. Modern safety standards and the shift to electricity for household tasks have rendered these types of 'laundry room explosions' a relic of a more hazardous domestic era.
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