1884 CIDER AND SORGHUM MILL EXPLOSION (author unknown)
The location of the Cider and Sorghum Mill was one block North of the First National Bank. (Southeast corner of First and Madison)
On September 18 1884 at four o’clock in the afternoon the Mill exploded. Investigation showed that weights were added to the valve controls to keep them from operating at a safety level.
In this explosion Christian Ackerman, Jr. who had just stepped into the Mill, Jacob Slagel a pedestrian walking by, Carl Drexler, a seven year old boy playing nearby, and the operator George Lohman were killed.