It is a moment that John S. Lewis remembers well, nearly 60 years ago, when a “powerful blast wave” rocked his Melrose neighborhood.
“Two tremendous explosions that seemed to come from everywhere turned this city of 27,000 into a madhouse at 5:47 tonight,” the Globe reported on Aug. 30, 1954.

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“Virtually every main thoroughfare in Melrose was jammed with autoists either trying to leave the town or to get into the area and see the reported plane crash,” the Globe reported.
What in the name of a power dive is an "autoist", dozens of whom tied up Melrose traffic? Is this a word that has been lost in the mists of journalistic overreach?
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