An Angel Statue Was Erected In This Mississippi City After 5 Young Women Perished In A Gas Leak-Caused Explosion, But The Monument Is Now Believed To Turn And Look At Visitors Who Pass By 

In 1908, the Natchez Drug Company, located in Natchez, Mississippi, stood on the corner of Main and South Union Street.

On March 14 of that year, though, the five-story building and several of its employees suffered a tragic fate.

That Saturday morning, a few employees complained after smelling gas in the building. And recently, the Natchez Drug Company– owned by John H. Chambliss– had installed a new gas-fired stove in a laboratory on the fourth floor.

So, one of the workers who installed the stove, 21-year-old Sam Burns, was called to search for the gas leak. And during that era in history, the accepted way to search for a leak was to walk with a lit candle.

Sam ultimately lit a candle on the fourth floor, assuming that the leak would be where the stove had been installed.

After failing to locate it, though, he headed down to the basement. And once below the building, catastrophe struck.

The gas met his lit candle and caused a devastating explosion to tear through the entire building. Walls were blown out, bricks crumbled, and shards of glass and wood flew in every direction.

The loss of the building’s structure was far from the most tragic detail, though. Instead, numerous company of employees became trapped inside the burning building.

Among the employees were five young women ranging in age from just 12 to 22 years old, including Mary “Lizzie” Worthy, Luella Booth, Inez Netterville, Carrie O. Murray, and Ada White. All of the women ultimately perished in the explosion.

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