The Express.
London, England, 1858-10-25 00:00:00

(Stamped Id. AdditiceeL) [TWOPEN

THE LATE EXPLOSION AT DEPTFORD.

On Saturday afternoon Hr. W. I. Payne, the
depaty-ooracer for Lond,,n and Southwark, held ea
si Gaya Hospital ow the reepeettwe beau et Sanimelia=
karat, aged 33 William Jeffreys, aged 18; sad Thomas
Piano, aged 14, who perished la ecesegentoe sil
Works isoslyed by the not explosion st the preateesbo-
leaglag le Itssses. B. sad T. Hughes, the angineers, of
New-wasm.

--71hejury, after bele" sworn, proartied with the omen
to view the =Man sad upon thee return into nowt the kil-
lers( rider we. adduced :
Joke Grid said that be was a driller in He employment of
Masan. Hughes. Hs knew the three dear= who
wen all employed by hint. They were at week on Than-
day waning, at hearse sin, in He @agreement. The
arias we. of 10-bone power. Whams was standing about
twelve yards from the engine. Akehurst, who we. the
=glee= was in the act of patting mere scam on. He
had the command of the engine. Jeffreys and Padres were
standlag dose by the engine, which had not bra at writ
mere than a fur minutes that morning. The Ire we, lieberil
that teaming. The engine wits not • new one, as it bed bees
In nee three or four yaws. To put an more steam Alabama
we. la the act of turning round a sateJl phi, and be dm
heard sa explosion, when Akerust fell back an the ;
the door Immediately closed, and the piece became tied with
MOM. He opened the door and got Akehunt eat as well as
he could, and afterwards the other two ; and they were re-
me led to the hospital se quickly am possible. Be led since
sew a bole in the fize-box,which had contained • screw plug.
The premiere of stern, be thought, had eared tie tend eo
demo= .14sharst had the regdenon of the sterna. Me soul
them= tin pore or make it ler. At that dor he had ampler
weird of the steam-power. He had bees working on thee
railway se a MA= end knew the nature of ateau-eagines.
He had been at work at the same engine for 12 maths. He
sew Wm whin he watt to work that morning, and he was
=Vy oder. Theengine wu a high-preserre one. Tbs.
ox ems a ease of Itself, and the water sad Mali were
ore It. He thought the pressure of steam at the time wee
about gilbs. to the Inch. On Saturday week the boiler wee
examined, sad was prenternold to be correct. The plug had
bra put to date the eagle. had been erected. Tbe "sap"
being ia the way, It was lowed sectary to resew them and
put the saw in, so as to enable the men to dram ewe the
bailer. Thee was a eafety-valee to the boiler. He believed
the deg was squally se safe r the cup. He road adg
wooer for the expiation from the streagth d stem pat en.
Mr. Brown, manager to Messrs. Hughes, rid that the
mese bed beat In re for four yea= It we. Akehanffe
duty to clean the bolter out. This he did • fodedght ego.
The reason the cup wee removed was to Wird perm
theflitin for the men to clean out the boiler. The deg
which we. earthier was equally safe, and we. the same
se used la lotiontotlves on the railway. What wham
heard of the explosicet he went and examined the engine.
and found that the plug had been blown out and wee
lying in the be-box. The boiler plates, he bed no bod-
ied= is saying, were quite thick enough. He Osbert
the aspiedea we. eared from the over pressure of the
stria up= the mew plug. The man to cheep of the
=um • perfectly sober nun and never met with my
arden t. ne
Grid, upon being recalled, mid that a man named Steven_
sat err then, and he was now in the hoareztamat.
Henry Owen, foreman In the boiler mid ha
examined the boiler when it via last clean out, and be saw
no defect in It. He had since put in • new plug. He had
never known of • similar rcident, hat he had known of
"mud holes" blowing off.
The plug we. rodnoed, and the worm was found to be
almost entirely worn old, sad presented a smooth earls=
The jury, after consulting, returned • verdict of "
Aacl-
datel death " In each car, and recommended that, in order
to prevent • similar ocoarranos, greaoer are should be taken
In examining the plugs, for if •uch had been dons six moat=
ago it was quite certain that the present explosion would net
have taken plat= The prora ting. then termisated.