Typed as spelled and written - Lena Stone Criswell

THE DAILY DEMOCRAT
(Year missing) - Number 103
Marlin, Texas, Friday Morning, March 18, 1955

STOVE EXPLODES, IN HGHBANK
STORE, MAY HAVE BEEN
FIRECRACKERS

Noise of a heating stove exploding in the store of Austin Washington at Highbank about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday attracted considerable interest when it was heard over a wide area.

Until other evidence may be disclosed, the owner is inclined to believe the explosion was caused by a blast from a carton of left over Christmas firecrackers.

Washington is said to have related that he a youth cleaning up inside the store on Tuesday and some of the trash was deposited in the wood burning stove.  The owner arrived at the store Wednesday morning and started a fire in the stove to warm the store.  A short time later the loud explosion happened.

The stove was blown to bits and store fixtures and merchandise in the store were damaged but a destructive fire did not follow.  The owner was uninjured.

He is said to base his theory about the explosion being due to firecrackers in the stove because he did have a carton of these noise makers in the store and had not been able to locate them since the blast and he believes the box got into the stove along with trash that may have been gathered in the Tuesday cleanup.

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Copyright permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing
by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls County, Texas.