C&S 70 Boiler Explosion

Thanks to Dave R. for sending me a copy of the Jan. 16 1936 Golden newspaper article concerning this incident.
Now I have the the names of the enginemen and some additional information, albeit typical of newspaper reporting.
What I chuckled about however, were the 'nicknames' written in the article.
The 70 being referred to by the enginemen as "Old Blister" and the fireman as John "Big Boy" Peterson. As for the Engineer Abe Golightly, I suspect he suffered enough through the years with that last name that no one gave him a "nickname".
Not as common as they once were, nicknames sometimes were at times very interesting, but not always flattering.
So, was the "Old Blister" nickname from having hot surfaces due to being an oil burner or did part of the crown sheet suffer from a previous 'burn'?
That's a question I do not expect an answer for,
but it is interesting to think about.
Chris