ABSTRACT
In January of 1919, Frank McManus was working as a Boston police officer. It was a warm day for Boston, almost warm enough to want to take our coat off. McManus was enjoying the break from Boston’s usual ice and snow. McManus heard a rat-a-tat-tat sound like a machine gun throwing bullets. The Purity Distilling Company was in the molasses business in a BIG way. They were storing molasses in the hope of using it to produce liquor. Molasses is more than 5,000 times hicker and heavier than water. The tank was overloaded and literally burst at the seams. The molasses rolled over people, horses, and dogs. Anything caught in the sticky substance was stuck like flies on flypaper. The brown liquid pulled them under, then filled their mouth and nose with molasses until they suffocated. There were 21 people who died in the flood and another 150 people who were injured by crashing buildings and floating debris.
