A terrific explosion occurred in Dr. Dows’ drug-store, at Washington and Lagrange Streets, Boston, on Wednesday evening, May 26th. The building was four stories in height, and built of brick, with a front of thirty feet on Washington Street, and a depth of seventy feet on Lagrange Street. The ground-floor was occupied by G. D. Dows, apothecary and manufacturer of soda water. It was one of the most complete and well-arranged establishments in the city.

Three persons were killed and some twenty wounded. It is feared that several are fatally injured, and that probably other bodies may be found buried in the debris.

A metropolitan horsecar was passing downtown at the time, and this was blown bodily over against the curbstone on the opposite side of the street. Every window was broken, and the passengers, some twenty in number, were rendered momentarily insensible by the concussion. Since the disaster, various theories have been advanced as to the cause of the explosion—some attributing it to nitroglycerine, some to the soda generator, and others to an escapement of gas from the pipes in the cellar; but the cause is still a mystery.

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 12, 1875.