A crowd of about 500,000 applauded delightedly one night last week when a bargeful of fireworks exploded in Manhattan's Hudson River, killing two of the crew and injuring four others. The witnesses assumed, of course, that the gigantic bang was part of the annual pre-Fourth of July show being put on by Macy's department store. And the youngsters among them were especially surprised when they learned of the tragedy caused by a faulty rocket that fell back on the barge. So thoroughly institutional have fireworks become these days that the postwar generations...
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