did you wonder why natural gas smells like rotten eggs or spoiled cabbage
well here is why
the picture above is of dorothy ann
she was born on january 3 1925
she died tragically at 12 years old on march 18 1937
today is the 82nd anniversary of her death
she would be 94 if she was still alive
she was my maternal grandmothers niece
if my ancestry tree calculations are correct she was my 2nd cousin
her last place of residency was new london texas
her final resting place is in pine bluff arkansas
she went to a school at the new london independent school district that was the richest independent school district in the united states at that time
thanks to the gas and oil in the area
the district to save money on gas hooked the school up to an unauthorized gas line
ive heard stories over the years of folks doing that
now this was a rich school district
they were saving $300 a month on gas
there was stories that teachers would have the kids open the windows to improve the ventilation and wear their jackets in the classroom in the winter because of the headaches and other symptoms
now natural gas is an odorless gas
it at that time was not a gas that smelled bad like it does now
thanks to this school all natural gas has to be foul smelling now
a very tragic thank you
they say what happened that day has probably saved thousands of lives over the years
at 230 pm that day grades 1-4 were released to go home
just about 30 minutes later the shop teacher turned on a sandpaper grinder in the shop which ignited the odorless natural gas that had been leaking for awhile under the crawl space under the school
it blew through 8 inches of solid concrete
a 2 ton concrete slab was blown 200 feet away
it lifted the building up several feet in the air dropping it back down collapsing the walls and the roof trapping all in the rubble
some students were blown as much as 75 ft in the air
dorothy and 299 students and teachers were killed that day
her sister survived that day
eventually because of this tragedy the foul odor we all know caused by mercaptan and have probably smelled was added to natural gas
why does tragedies always have to happen before the right thing is done
i have always not liked living in a house with natural gas
now that fear has been reinforced
here are links to the story
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/yqn01
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-new-london-school-explosion/
thanks to my historian brother who discovered dorothys story while doing our ancestry tree
the organicgreen doctor
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