On July 8, 1907 one of the most shocking and brazen crimes in history was discovered. The Manchester Evening news reported, incredulously: "On the eve of the departure of the King and Queen on a state visit to Ireland comes the startling news that the Jewels of the Order of St Patrick, valued at 50,000 pounds, have been stolen.”
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.