Ferrell Struck Match to See Gas Gauge and Gasoline Caught Fire, September 1920

While filling the tank of his new Paige automobile with gasoline at Walston & Stanley's oil tank at Weeksville last Saturday night, Edward R. Ferrell struck a match to look at his oil gauge so that he could tell how much more gas to put it, when suddenly the gas at the mouth of the tank caught fire. C.L. Pendleton, the clerk who was pumping the oil into the tank, snatched out the tube, which immediately spread fire in every direction, burning E.R. Ferrell about the legs. Wilson Ferrell, driving the car, ran it down to Newbegun church and back again, and thus put the fire out. While the accident was without serious consequences, it is a warning that the greatest care should be exercised in striking matches around uncovered containers holding gasoline or other highly inflammable and volatile oils. (From The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., September 24, 1920.)