During the oil boom a plant was built along the railroad just east of De Leon that produced torpedos, not the typed used by submarines to destroy enemy ships but instead an explosive device lowered into oil wells that were being drilled to break up rock or surrounding soil and hopefully cause the oil to start flowing. The plant continued production until the mid 1930’s. After production at the plant ceased, the facilities had to be removed. The problem was that a spark or a blow from a hammer could cause the entire facility to explode. So, rather than tear the buildings down, they were simply blown up. Dewey Daniell (son of F.T. Daniell) managed the plant from about 1920 and was in charge of its demolition. De Leon enacted an ordinance that prohibited the manufacturing or transportation of nitroglycerin within the city limits out of the fear that it might put the entire town in risk. A fire did breakout near two structures on the east side of town that were owned by the company but all the nitro had previously been removed and the fire never reached the structures. On August 28, 1937, Dewey was critically injured in an explosion 12 miles from Seguin near Luling. He had produced an explosive charge in De Leon and had transported it by truck as he had many times before. Daniell, Pete Smith of Breckenridge and two others were working on the rig. The total charge was to be 160 quarts of nitro. They had lowered 120 quarts and had 40 setting on the rig platform. Suddenly the nitro that was in the hole exploded and they heard the explosion. Someone shouted to run. The other three got about 60 feet away before the 40 quart charge went off, but Daniell ran in another direction and encountered stacked casing he had to climb over. He had only gone about 20 feet when the force of the explosion caught him. He was thrown 20 feet into the air and blown into the fork of a small pecan tree 126 feet from the platform. He was it in the back by flying metal severing two ribs and puncturing a lung. He also broke his arm. It was believed he was dead and others went for help. When help arrived, Dewey had recovered and was walking around dazed. It took more than a year for his recovery. He later was transfered to Illinois working for the company. After retirement, Dewey and his wife Thelma Collie returned to De Leon. They lived at Austin and Ayers
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 22:43:07 +0000