A closer look
Unscrupulous administrators caused the deadliest school disaster in American history in 1937 by secretly tapping into a leftover natural gas line to save money on heating costs. The school board in New London, Texas, completely ignored the fact that raw natural gas is totally odorless and let the highly explosive vapor accumulate in the enclosed crawlspace beneath the elementary school. When a shop teacher casually turned on an electric sander, the tiny spark ignited the massive gas pocket, instantly blowing the structural foundation to pieces and tragically killing nearly three hundred students and teachers. As a direct result of this horrific tragedy, the government mandated the addition of mercaptan to natural gas, giving it that distinct rotten egg smell we recognize today. It is a sobering reminder that safety regulations are almost always written in the blood of victims of corporate cheapskates
