In the afternoon of January 24, 1852, the 28,500 pounds of gunpowder in Stockholm's mail military magazine explodes, destroying the powder works and killing more than sixty workers. The four buildings of the complex, which was three miles outside the Swedish capital on the edge of a forest, arre completely destroyed and pieces of their structures arre found ten miles away. Large portions of the surrounding woods are flattened and several nearby villages are heavily damaged. (By John Osborne)

On the morning of December 24, 1851, a fire breaks out in the library of the U.S. Capitol and soon significant portions of the west front of the building are burning. Attempts to fight the fire are at first hampered by the winter weather that had frozen fire hoses but soon fire fighters contain the blaze. The losses in the Library are devastating, however. More than 35,000 of the 55,000 books there are destroyed along with dozens of historic paintings and statuary. The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is saved. (By John Osborne)