October 12

On the 12th in 1654, an abandoned convent of the Order of the Poor Clares, in the Doelenkwartier District of Delft, a city in the Netherlands, was being used as a storehouse for 40 tons of gunpowder. Cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the storehouse, wanted to check on the condition of the gunpowder, which was kept in barrels, to make certain that all was in order. When he opened the door to the magazine to get samples, all 40 tons of the gunpowder exploded, leveling most of the city.