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Terrible Boiler Explosion.3 TWO MBS KILLED—OTHBIiS f AT ALLY3 INJURED THE MILL A COM-n. ETE WRECK.1 About 8 o’clock on Wednesday, Nov.. 28th, the boiler in the lumber and shingle , mill of Mickle Jt Morris, situated oil . Hen’s Hill, 5 miles west of Garland, ex* ploded, instantly killing the ttieman,1 Harry White, and fatally injuring two- or three others, one of whom, Geo. Lob- dell, died during tho following night. George Pi ice, the sawyer, has his right arm broken between the writtand elbow, is badly scalded across the abdomen,■ and has several wounds about the face, i His reeoveiy at this time (Thursday , noon.) is doubtful. Another hand, Beu-■ nie White, is badly bruised^ and has sev-1 eral severe cuts about his face, one ex* , ; tending from the middle of the forehead i , horizontally to tiie left more than half ] I way around the head, and it is said that i the skull is badly fractured. The ptiy- i sicians attending, Hoover, Bixby and j■ Barton, say his case is hopeless. Dei.es* | . lie Woodard, the shingle packer, was the * ! only one who escaped without injury, and *1 that lie did escape unhurt is little less . than a miracle.I Prom what could be learned from the lt;5 owners, and the workmen otifand about 5 the mill, and from a personal exumina* i ; tion alter tho explosion, we found that j 1 at the time of the explosion the boiler s t was carrying 120 pounds of stoam, and s . the engine was standing for a moment to ; put Oil a belt. Mr. White, the fireman, was standing upon the arch and iimnedi-1 ately over the boiler, turning the steam , on slowly, while tivo oi three of the men were trying to inn the belt upon the pulley. Home chum that the watei was very 1 low, and that m starting the engine with 1 1 the pump working, the cold water poured j I jiito'the overheated boiler, generated gas i , and steam so quickly that the boiler was 1 toiced to yield to the immense piessnre. j Otlieis say that the engine had not start lt;’ ed, audtheretoie no cold water had been ’ I foicrd in; be this asit may, allagree that I 'the water was veiy low, and the press-uie of steam veiy great, even before the engine was stopped. The boiler split 1 ueaily its entire length on the top, aud- it is supposed the fireman was thrown up-■ ward through the roof and Into the air, as lie was found some distance away, his' clothing torn, badly scalded, his bones* broken, cut in . many, places, the entire ) top of his head gone, his skull nearlybrainless—dead. Bennie White, George Lobdell—since dead—and George Price, weieburied and pinned down with timber, 1 ; pulleys, shafts, cl, and were unable to■ move when found. Deleslie Woodard., who escaped, was packing shingles on theground floor, in one corner; near him, on i the outside of the mill, had been tlnown ■ ' wasted timber from the shingle mill . above, until the pile was ten teet or more I in height. This pile of debris caught the i failing timbeis and held them from crushing him. But even escaping this, , 1 it is marvelous that he was not killed, or ) wounded, by some of tile Hying iron or timber, tor scattered in all directions, and for many rods around, may be seen* pieces of the boiler, a piece ot shafting, , 1 or wheel or timber of the wreck, while- the brick from the arcli is found broken and scattered everywhere. The boiler was 22 feet long, 60 inches over, and con- :1 tained IS six-inch flues. About one-halt ,* of the boiler was left in one piece, al*■ though badly warped and thrown some ( distance to one side; the other half wastorn in pieces and scattered everywhere. . ” Part of it lias not been found, nor has the i front part of the arch. The flues were i warped, twisted, and torn in ail shapes, r and one of them thrown full thirty rods into the woods, passing over a barn and 1 striking on its end, stands in the ground.- All the machinery is more or less injured, and the mill—about 100 feet long—is left [ without one standing timber. By someit is said that the boiler was unsafe, al-! though they frequently, and no longer 1 ago than Monday last, canied 120 pounds [ ot steam with plenty of water. !, It appears that the sawyer, George Price, had a presentiment that some ■* great evil was going to happen to linn, i and only the day before had spoken of it 1 to Mrs.Henry, and dming her remarks r concerning the destitute condition of hisfamily should he be taken away, he burst ’ out crying, and on the morning of the ac-i cideut hesitated somewhat before going I to his woik.. The two men dead are single, and have no one depending upon them for support.’ One of the men hurt is also single; but 1 take it in its mildest form, it is a terrible j accident, and without comment from us, will teach mill owners and their employees important lessouB.—Brokenstraw iVeins.Our Garland correspondent sends us a few corrections of the above. Therefore, the two accounts embrace about all the I facts in the case.I GARLAND, Dec. 8, 1877.f Mr. Morris:—By the request of thet head sawyer, George Price, I make a tew i corrections about the terrible boiler ex-s plosion on Bay’s Hill, five miles from- this place, on Wednesday, the 28th of J November. The flreman’s name is Har-8 vey White, instead of Harry, us in Bro-- kenstraw Arews. Price says the boiler J had not over 8(1 pounds of steam at the ■- time ot the accident, but not much water.- The boiler had can led 120 pounds of t steam at various other times, with plen-a ty of water. The fireman was up stabs 1- holding the belt on the pulleys on the s main shaft, instead of standing on the 1- arch, as reported. -Geoige Price was not d pinned down; he got out and walked part r way to the house alone, and did not if know what the trouble was at the time, u Heasked what was the matter, when he i, came to and began to realize what had y happened. Bennie White died yesterday d at about 10i o’clock. Up to last night ,r at 4 o’clock, some of the boiler had not d been found. There were brick of the I: arch found some 80 rods away. X
Newspaper Details
Warren Ledger
Warren, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Dec 06, 1877
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Diane R.
USA 09 May 2025
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