Back to my explorations of the Railway Times, now into 1838. This really does feel like a sub-optimal way of carrying gunpowder about the place….
“On Thursday se’nnight a serious accident happened on the works of the Great Western Railroad, near this city [Bristol], owing to excessive carelessness in the use of gunpowder. It appears that one of the men had just brought a fresh supply of gunpowder for blasting the rock, and had deposited a considerable quantity in his cap, which he placed near to the candle used in the blasting. One of the men in passing accidentally kicked down the candle, which communicated with the powder, an explosion took place, and five persons were more or less severely burnt. The unfortunate sufferers were conveyed to the infirmary.”
As an aside, which I think I’ve referred to before, the falling out of usage of the word “se’nnight” feels unfortunate. Meaning one week, in the same way as fortnight means two weeks, it’s a useful way of describing a period. Let’s break out Google’s Ngram that monitors word usage, I haven’t used this in a while.
It’s those pesky Victorians who forgot to use it….