#lighted cigarettes

[livelymorgue]

Dec. 4, 1957: “I saw a lighted cigarette,” reported one witness to The Times. “It was on the street rolling toward the trench. I yelled: ‘Watch it. Get out of there!’ ” A corroded gas main was being repaired when the cigarette ignited and flames shot four stories high in Manhattan for a relatively short while before the the gas was shut off. Only three were injured. Photo: Neal Boenzi/The New York Times