April 6, 1898: A Dynamite "Bright Idea" Causes Damage and Near-tragedy

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

April 6, 1898: “Bombarding the Democrat” was the headline in the newspaper when workers at the Union Manufacturing Company foundry, who were trying to break up a heavy casting for remelting, got the bright idea of blasting it apart with dynamite instead of the prescribed method of using a sledge hammer.

One of the pieces, weighing more than three pounds, was hurled into the air and fell on the roof of the home and newspaper office of Charles Spatz at 43 East Philadelphia Avenue. It broke through the roof, cutting the carpet and cracking the floor under it.

The metal had a very sharp edge and narrowly missed hitting one of the editor’s children. The distance between the foundry and the Spatz house is about a quarter mile.

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