Bogan Brooks, 15, Dies When He Drops Pliers into Bucket with Dynamite, April 20, 1926

Boy of 15 Killed by Dynamite Blast. . . Drops Pair of Pliers into Bucket Containing Five Sticks of Explosive Boy of 15 Killed by Dynamite Blast. . . Drops Pair of Pliers into Bucket Containing Five Sticks of Explosive

Monroe, April 20—Bogan Brooks, 15-year-old son of Zeb Brooks, a prosperous farmer of Marshville township, was blown into fragments at 2 o’clock this afternoon when five sticks of dynamite, which he was carrying in a bucket, exploded. The lad was assisting his father in blowing stumps on the farm. He set the bucket down some distance form his father and dropped a pair of wire pliers into it. The impact of the pliers caused the discharge.

From the front page of The Concord Daily Tribune,Wednesday, April 21, 1926

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-04-21/ed-1/seq-1/

Dynamite used 100 years ago was far more unstable than dynamite used more recently, which is set off with blasting caps.