MOLINE, ILLINOIS DAILY DISPATCH    MARCH 15, 1948

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       Submitted by: <bnr2ks@earthlink.net> Richard Krayenhagen 
 
This article is found in the DAILY DISPATCH, MOLINE, ILLINOIS:  MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 1948
                                                  
              Moline House Is Damaged by Sewer Gas Blast 
 
        The force of a sewer gas blast at the  R.L.  Cotton  residence,  241  Fifty-second
        street, Moline, late Saturday night, which  burned  Mr.  Cotton  and  damaged  the
        place, is graphically illustrated in the picture of an upstairs room at the house,
        shown at the left. The explosion forced out the walls 3 to 4 inches and raised the
        roof in several places.

        Inset is a picture of Mr. Cotton as he appeared when he was a Democratic candidate
        for alderman in 1943.

        At the right, Fire Chief John H. Polchow holds a child`s rubber ball, which, in  a
        manner still unexplained, became lodged in the roof vent, forcing sewer  gas  back
        into the house through a split nipple in the bathroom`s sewer  exhaust  system,  (
        Dispatch photos by John A. Mills.)