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Day #3

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prices had dropped, and most Americans nolonger needed to sweeten their foods withmolasses. The sticky brown syrup was being putto a new and perhaps surprising use: to makebombs. Heated up in a process called distillation,molasses can be turned into a liquid calledindustrial alcohol. In this form, molasses becamea key ingredient in the explosives used in thewar against Germany.

All during World War I, ships loaded withmillions of gallons of molasses arrived atBoston's ports. Trains would then take the gooeycargo to distilleries, where the molasses wasturned into industrial alcohol.

In 1914, the leaders of one molasses company,United States Industrial Alcohol (USIA),decided to build an enormousmolasses storage tank nearBoston Harbor. The tank wasconstructed very quickly,and it was huge-biggerthan any tank ever builtin Boston. As if the NorthEnd weren't already grimenough, now a three-story steel tank toweredover the neighborhood,blotting out the sun and

Molasses is a thick, brown syrup that wasonce the most popular sweetener in America.Like white sugar, molasses comes from thesugarcane plant, which grows in the Caribbeanand other hot and humid regions. Until thelate 1800s, white sugar was so expensive thatonly rich people could afford it. Molasses wascheap. So despite its bittertaste, it was molasses thatsweetened early America'stasty treats, like pumpkinpie and Indian pudding.

By the 1900s, sugar

From Pies to Bombs

manure that wafted up from the streets. Life was, "tough for the people of the North End. And thepast two years had been especially challenging­not only for them, but for most Americans.

World War I had been raging in Europe.Five million American soldiers had joined thebrutal fight to defeat Germany. In the war'sfinal months, another horror hit the world: theinfluenza epidemic of 1918. Fifty million people'died, including more than 600,000 Americans.

But now the war and the epidemic were over.Anthony might have even sensed a mood ofhopefulness on that bright January day. Theresidents of Boston's North End had every reasonto believe that better times were just ahead.

They were wrong.A shocking disaster was about to strike

Anthony's neighborhood. In fact, a deadly threathad been looming over the North End for years.It was not a German bomb or a deadly disease.

It was a giant steel tank filled with molasses.~

LOOK FOR WORD NERD'S 9 WORDS IN BOLD

Violent SWirlThe first sign of disaster was a strange sound:Rat, tat, tat, tat,Rat, tat, tat, tat,Rat, tat, tat, tat.It was the sound of the thousands of steel

rivets that held the molasses tank togetherpopping out of place. After years of strain, thetank was breaking apart.

People froze in their tracks. And then came athundering explosion.

"Run!" a man screamed. "It's the tank!"Anthony looked up just as the molasses

tank seemed to crack apart like a massive egg,unleashing 2.7 million gallons of thick, stickymolasses. The molasses formed a gigantic brownwave-15 feet high, 160 feet wide, and travelingat a staggering 35 miles per hour. The stickysyrup was far heavier and more destructivethan a wave of ocean water, and it moved withincredible speed and power. Within seconds, itcrushed wooden houses and flattened a three­story fire station. It swept away motorcars and

snapped electrical poles. Anthonyand dozens of others were caughtin the violent swirl.

The wave pulled Anthonyunder. Molasses gushed intohis mouth. He was carriedfor several blocks untilhe crashed into a metallamppost. The blowknocked him out. Afirefighter saw Anthonypinned against the

1919, when Anthony di Stasio was making hisway home.

And so theyears passed. Themolasses keptleaking from thetank. The noises ofthe straining steelgrew louder-untilthe moment on thatbright January day in

blocking the view of the harbor.But it wasn't only the tank's ugliness that

,.. upset the residents of the North End.Just hours after it was first filled with molasses,

brown syrup was leaking from the seams of thetank, oozing like blood from invisible wounds.When the tank was filled, it rumbled andgroaned, as though the steel walls were cryingout in pain. Some people living near the tankworried it was unsafe. But what could theydo about it? USIA was a big company, andthe people in the North End were poor and

~~ powerless. It was a time when many Americans~ viewed immigrants with deep suspicion and~

prejudice. Even a person bold enough tocomplain about the dangerous tank would havehad a hard time finding anyone willing to listen

and help.

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tank. The experts' conclusion: The tank hadbeep. shoddily built, and the leaders at USIAhad known it.

USIA refused to take responsibility, andat first it seemed the company would not bepunished. But the victims demanded justice.The trial dragged on for years, but finally USIAwas forced to pay $1 million (equal to about $7million today). For the poor immigrants of the

North End, it was a big victory.It took years for the North

End to rebuild after the flood.Even today, on hot days,some claim that the sweetscent of molasses rises up,like a ghost.

But somehow thisdisaster has been largelyforgotten. Indeed, fewhave ever heard of theMolasses Flood of 1919and the incredible stories

from that day-like the story ofAnthony di Stasio.

Anthony's limp, molasses­soaked body was taken to a largebuilding that was being used to

store bodies of those who had died.His body was covered with a sheet.But Anthony wasn't dead, onlyunconscious. Hours later, he wokeup to the sound of his mother's voicecalling him. Anthony tried to answer.

But his mouth was filled with molasses.Suddenly, he sat up. And soon he was

surrounded by his family, a lucky survivor of oneof the strangest disasters in American history .•

8 STORYWORKS

The Strangest DisasterWithin hours of the disaster,

leaders of USIA were insistingthat the disaster was not theirfault. Their tank, they claimed,had been bombed by "criminals."But few believed this explanation.In the weeks following thedisaster, experts sifted through thewreckage, inspecting the remains of the-tank.They spoke to residents who had seen the leaksand heard the strange noises echoing from the

lamppost.Rushing through

waist-deep molasses, the mangrabbed Anthony just before he was

swept away.The firefighter held Anthony's limp body and

looked at his molasses-coated face. The poorboy, the firefighter believed, had not survived.

By the time the wave lost its power, halfa mile of the North End was flooded withmolasses. Hundreds of firefighters, policeofficers, nurses, and sailors fromdocked ships rushed to thescene. They freed peopletrapped under collapsedbuildings and tangled inmolasses-soaked debris.Plain water did little towash the thick, syrupymolasses away. Instead,firefighters used salt water to scourthe hardening goo from the streets.In the end, 21 people were killed,

.--...and 150 were injured.

© 2014Scholastic Inc. Teachersmaymakecopiesof this page to distribute to their students.

Effect 3

on your own.Think of one more effect

... SCHOLASTIC

Effefll 2

What happened to housesand buildings?

Effeel 1

What happened to peoplewho were in the path of themolasseswave?

Event: A ~l)geJVlo/o.sses stor0.ge to.n~ j,ro~ o.po.r-t, spillin<j 2.1 JVlillion 90.IIonso-F JVlolo.>ses into ~e streets o-F 0. Boston nei9~j,or~ood.

Cause 3

Think of one more causeon your own.

Cause 2

Why wasn't the tankrepaired when peoplesuspected it was dangerous?

Cause I

How did USIA constructthe molasses tank?

Dil'ections: Fill in the boxes below to identify the causes and effects of the molassesflood.Use our clues to help you.

In "The Boston Molasses Flood of 1919," you read about a terrible disaster. In this activity, you'llidentify what caused the disaster to happen and what effects it had on the people of Boston.

(~ A__ M_o_l_a_ss_e_s_M__es_s ~)

Cause and Effect"The Boston Molasses Flood of 1919"

January 2014Date: _Name: _

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