Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1917 — The First Matches. [ARTICLE]

The First Matches.

It was less than a century ago that one John Walker, an apothecary of Stockton-on-Tees. England, found the release of the smoker from the tinderbox or the live coal in the grate. It is said that an accidental spilling of a solution that took fire gave him the hint, and not long afterwards. In 1827, he placed on the market his boxes of matches —lucifers —containing 50 each, at one shilling. They lighted on sandpaper.