Today in History: The Great Molasses Flood

On January 15, 1919, a storage tank belonging to the Purity Distilling Company burst, spilling an estimated 2,300,000 gallons of molasses into the streets of Boston's North End in a huge wave that killed 21 people and injured 150. Eric Postpischil has written a fascinating account of the disaster, originally published in Yankee magazine.

The estimable Dame Darcy, who draws the delightfully twisted comic, Meat Cake, has a song about it that you can listen to here.