Percy Wallace Maguire ¹⁸³⁴

Lewiston Daily Sun
Lewiston, Maine
April 5, 1955
p. 1

PERCY MAGUIRE KILLED IN GAS TANK EXPLOSION

Was Thrown 12 Feet Into Air -- Was Cleaning Unused Underground Tank On Middle Street With Carbon Dioxide -- Static Electricity Blamed -- His Cousin, George Anthony, Hurt Slightly

by William G. Harkins

Percy W. Maguire, 49, of 21 Moody St., was killed yesterday afternoon when an abandoned underground gasoline tank exploded while he was treating it with carbon dioxide to eliminate the danger of a blast.

The fire fighting equipment firm operator and former Lewiston fireman was pronounced dead on arrival at the CMG Hospital.

Auburn City Councilman, George K. Anthony, Maguire's cousin, also was tossed into the air by the explosion which ripped a gaping hole in the sidewalk at Middle and Oak Streets and smashed a large plate glass window on the Middle Street side of the adjacent Twin City Motor Co., 28 Park St.

Thrown 12 Feet

Anthony said he was standing only a few feet away and talking with his cousin when the blast occurred.

The blast, which rocked the neighborhood and attracted scores of curious persons, lifted Maguire an estimated 12 feet into the air. His body came to rest on the medal grid of a catch basin about 12 feet away from the source of the explosion.

County Medical Examiner ... F. Greene, M.D., said an auto... on the body disclosed the prime cause of death was a ruptured aorta, the large arterial vain connected with the heart ... which distributes blood to other vessels throughout the body.

He said this apparently was caused by the impact of the explosion. Outward injuries he said included small punctures about the forehead, cuts and bruises and first and second degree burns about the right hand.

The autopsy was performed by Dr. Paul Wakefield, assistant to the CMG Hospital chief pathologist, Dr. Charles F. Branch. The autopsy was authorized by Androscoggin County Attorney Gaston M. Dumais.

Lewiston Fire Chief Z.F. ... reported he recently advised the management of Twin City Motor Co. to remove the tank. He estimated the tank of the type installed when it was common to find gasoline pumps at curb... was abandoned 20 years ago.

The fire cheif said he instructed the company owner to neutralize the tank either by forcing sand into it or filling with water. He said he advised removing the tank after a two week waiting period.

Blame Static Electricity

The fire chief theorized the explosion was touched off by static electricity caused when Maguire shoved the medal nozzle of the carbon dioxide tank into the filler hole of the 4,000 gallon tank.

Anthony said, "the explosion knocked me into the air and I came down at the side of my car, landing on my feet and hands." He said he was shaken but not seriously hurt. He reported bruises and scratches from his ankles to his knees and complained of a sore shoulder.

The councilman, a salesman for Twin City Motor Co. said he had driven onto the scene only five minutes before the blast occurred. He said he talked with Maguire and even peeked into the filler pipe leading to the tank.

"I was standing beside my car only three or four feet away and saw Percy squirt some CO-2 into the pipe," related Anthony. "He then eased up on the trigger on the discharge tank and then gave it another squirt."

"Then it happened. I was knocked off my feet and came to the ground at the right rear side of my parked car. I rolled beneath the car because the dirt and everything else was coming down around me."

"When everything looked clear, I got out from beneath the car. I saw Percy lying on the catch basin. I went over and he looked dead to me then."

Left Big Hole

At 3:18 p.m. police headquarters received an anonymous report of the explosion. Patrolman Wallace Cloutier responded in the police patrol ambulance and Lt. John W. Harkins and Patrolmen William Matthews, Arthur N. Bissonnette and Noel Ouellette went to the scene in cruiser cars.

Maguire was placed in the ambulance and taken to the CMG Hospital.

As a precautionary measure, police roped off the area and warned the scores of onlookers to extinguish their cigarettes. The blast left a hole in the sidewalk of about four feet wide and six feet deep. A corner of the tank of torn off.

Dirt, Debris Scattered

Sand, dirt and debris littered the area. Some of the earth landed on window sills on the third floor of the large building housing the motor car company and other firms.

Chief Drouin reported Maguire became a callman in the Fire Department on May 1, 1935, and he was appointed permanently on May 13, 1936. He resigned Oct. 27, 1944 to operate his own fire equipment firm, known as the Maine Fire Equipment Co.

Maguire, a popular Twin City resident, was born June 30, 1906 at Leeds, the son of Daniel and Grace Anthony Maguire. He attended schools at Leeds and Auburn and in 1928 he married Hazel Park of Auburn.

He organized the Maine Fire Equipment Co. about about 10 years ago after he had been a member of the Lewiston Fire Department for nine years. A Seventh Degree member of the National Grange, he was a past master of Stevens Mills Grange and was a member of the State Grange.

He was also a member of the Lewiston Firemen's Relief Association, Androscoggin Lodge, IOOF, and Ruth Rebekah Lodge and had been a member of the Lewiston-Auburn Lions Club.

Survivors, besides his widow, include a brother, Carroll Maguire, Portland and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

  Events

• He appeared on the census in 1910 in Leeds, Androscoggin County, Maine. He lived in the household of his parents.

Percy married Hazel F. Parks, daughter of Henry H. Parks and Carrie B. Staples, 18 August 1928 in Maine ⁴²⁶.^,3320 (Hazel F. Parks was born 10 February 1905 in Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine,³³²² died 5 October 1965 in Harpswell, Cumberland County, Maine ^3322,3323 and was buried after 5 October 1965 in Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine at Mount Auburn Cemetery ³³²².)