OIL EXPLOSION
• CHEMIST TRAPPED. IN BURNING LABORATORY. 7 ADELAIDE; July 23. Trapped in an inferno of blazing oil. Silas Wilson, 56, of Gibson Street, Bowden, was terribly burnt to-day and is• lying" irT the' Adelaide Hospital in a low condition.
Wilson, who is a ' manufacturing chemist, was 'working at his house in a back room, which he had' converted into a laboratory. He was extracting benzol from oil distilled from coal tar. The oil was in a petrol tin on a kerosbne stove,-and he was keeping it at a temperature of 210 degrees Fahr. Ho saw a drop of water enter the oil arid knew thf danger. He rushed over to the stove to extiriguish the •flame, and saw another drop of water enter- 1 the oil. • Immediately there was an' explosion- and the room became a raging ■ inferno of blazing oil. ♦ . The' explosion jammed the door, which did not have a knob on it. Wil-son-rushed to it arid tried to tear it open with his fingers, but without success. His cries for,help attracted the attention of his son, who pushed the door op.en. Wilson statggered out of the room, a human torch,, and rolled on the floor of the room opposite to extinguish the .flames. .. His son threw a fug oyer his father, who rolled in it. Firemen . wore able to confine, the fire to'the room in-which it occurred.'
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Bibliographic details
Northern Advocate, 4 August 1932, Page 9
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230OIL EXPLOSION Northern Advocate, 4 August 1932, Page 9
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