From The Connecticut River Valley in Southern Vermont and New Hampshire: Historical Sketches by Lyman S. Hayes, Tuttle Co., Marble City Press, Rutland, VT., 1929, page 300:
"OLD CADY PARKS"–CURIOUS BLASTING ACCIDENTS
During the first half of the last century a man, familiarly known as "old Cady Parks," was a well-known character of Bellows Falls. He had charge of all drilling and blasting of rocks. He knew all about the explosives of that day and did all this work for the old "Company for Rendering Connecticut River Navigable by Bellows Falls," which was the name under which the Bellows Falls Canal Company was chartered both in Vermont and New Hampshire. In addition to this work he was also the village undertaker.
In 1836, when the blasting for the old cotton mill foundation, which remained so many years unused, was being done, an immense stone was thrown high into the air and came down plump through the roof of the old Conant building on Bridge Street, crashing down through all three floors, but not injuring anyone, all the usual occupants being out watching the blasting.
A little later while some paper mills were being erected and considerable blasting was being done, a Whig convention was being held in the grove on Pine hill, then in the center of the village. It had been arranged that an extra blast should be set off by Parks at a particular point in the proceedings, as the village then had no cannon for such service, as it did in later years. When the blast was fired, a large stone smashed down through the roof of a tenement house on Westminster Street, where the Granger block now stands. That old building at that time had been used for the first school building of the village. It happened that [301] this house was at that time occupied by an extremely rabid Democrat, Hiram Graves, who was another well-known character of his day. He never thereafter could be convinced by the greatest arguments that it was not a put-up job on him and intended to strike his house because of his well-known political affiliations.
In 1850, when the railroad yard was being graded on the island, a large stone weighing about 80 pounds was thrown by a blast entirely over the Square and descended through the roof of the First Immanuel (Episcopal) church, which stood about 40 feet south of the present stone structure. It struck the cornice on the north side directly back of the organ, cutting off one or two rafters, and falling just outside the wall. The place where it was repaired always showed until the building was removed in 1867.
The most serious accident of that kind that ever occurred here was on February 18, 1928, when 250 pounds of dynamite, which was being used by the New England Power Company in its redeveloping of the water power here, was exploded. Three men who were handling it were instantly killed, pieces of their remains being distributed over a large space both sides of the river, over 1500 panes of glass in different parts of the village broken, and a number of thousand dollars damage being done.