Disaster at Okte Manor

As evening set in on a frigid day in mid-December, with the winter sun already hidden away, a small group of farm workers were monitoring a dangerous and complex boiler system that was boiling potatoes to distil into alcohol. The winter was turning out to be especially cold and small-scale operations like this one were working round the clock to process the autumn potato crop before the deep freeze made work impossible.

This particular distillery was located at Okte Manor, near the town of Talsi in north-western Latvia. It was owned by the very wealthy and influential von Fircks family, known for their progressive agricultural methods. The family had recently updated their operation to include a new steam-pressurized system which was making production easier and more efficient.

Standing close to the boiler must have been very attractive to the farm hands on these freezing cold nights. I can imagine them warming their hands next to the hot bricks and chatting about what their wives were preparing for dinner. We will never know who it was that turned the steam valve too tightly on that night, but all of a sudden the whole building exploded.

Bricks and metal from the boiler itself were launched into the air and crashed through the roof of the building. One of the stone walls exploded outwards with the force of the impact. Ernst Berzins, 40, Jakob Ozolnieks, 35, and Jannis Kristapsons (alias Blezurs), 25 were seriously injured. I am sure it would have been virtually impossible to get prompt medical care during those harsh winter conditions. By 7 pm all three men had died.

Three weeks later a touching story appeared in the German newspaper “Zeitung für Stadt und Land”. An eyewitness reported seeing the aftermath of the explosion two days later and described it as ‘…a scene of total destruction and devastation.’ The report mentioned that the ‘philanthropic’ owner, a member of the von Fircks family, ‘shed tears of compassion’ for his lost employees. The severity of this disaster must have been slightly unusual to have been reported in the newspaper three weeks later.

Jannis Kristapsons/Blezurs had been married less than two years to Angrieta Latīnis. The couple had welcomed a son into the world a year before in December 1887 named Andrejs. We don’t know why Jannis, who was born with the surname ‘Kristapsons’ decided to change his name to ‘Blezurs’, but both Jannis and his brother, Kriss, took the name Blezurs, as did Jannis’s son and young wife.

This tragedy must have been devastating for Angrieta, who now found herself a young widow with a son to care for. She and her son Andrejs, were taken in by Angrieta’s siblings, such as her sister, Magreete Zekants. Angrieta would never remarry or have any other children. She lived with her siblings and their families until her death sometime after 1945.

Although the lives of Latvian peasants had improved in many ways by the end of the 19th century, this story illustrates that life was still harsh and dangerous for rural farm workers and their families. The ruined farm buildings at Okte Manor were rebuilt and the farm continued to be productive until the widespread devastation left in the aftermath of WWI. After the war, the Manor became famous as a horse stud farm. Today the farm and its buildings lie in ruins, with only the memories left.