The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-09 00:00:00

FOUR PERSONS KILLED Br THE EXPLOSION

OF A LOCOMOTIVE BOILER.

A frightful accident occurred on the premises of the
London and North-Western Company at Longsight,
near Manchester, on Tuesday morning, whereby four
men lost their lives, and at least a dozen men received
serious injuries, seven being conveyed to the Manchester
Royal Infirmary for medical aid there. It seems that
the engine, No. 1, an old four-wheeled engine, made by
Sharp, Roberts, and Co., some fourteen years ago, and
one of the first put upon the line, if not the very first,
having undergone "a thorough repair," was in the
Polygon shed at Longsight, 'ready to start to act as
pilot engine at the Standedge tunnel, on the Hudders-
field and Manchester line. Between half-past eight and
nine o'clock a large number of men, variously estimated
from fifty to eighty, were in the Polygon, breakfasting,
and the engine No. 1 was in steam, standing upon one
of the long ash-pits, while Hefron, the driver, was
oiling it, assisted by three or four men. This would
be between ten minutes to nine and nine o'clock,
and in a few minutes more the driver would have
taken the engine forward upon the turn-table, in the
centre of the building, in order that its head might have
been reversed, as it stood towards Manchester in-
stead of towards Huddersfield, when suddenly the men
inside were alarmed by a tremendous report and con-
cussion of air. The place was immediately filled with
steam and smoke, and a portion of the building came
rattling down, overwhelming a very large number of
them. As soon as the smoke and steam had cleared
away, the persons who found themselves uninjured,
hastened into the place and found the tender standing
where it had been before the occurrence, with the back
wheels of the engine, and the plate over them, on which
the driver stands, still adhering to the tender. The en-
gine itself was some thirty paces off, beneath the centre
of the building, and it was from that the fire-box had
exploded. On looking for the persons injured they dis-
covered four men dead in the ash-pit next to that upon
which the engine had been standing ; and as there was
a large piece of the left side of the fire-box, and a portion
of the frame of the engine near them, it was clear that
they had been killed by it. Their names were James
Moore, James Snowden, William Black, all assistant
boiler makers, and Thomas Gresty, a fitter. Gresty's
skull had been struck about the centre of the forehead,
and nearly carried away ; another man had both his
legs broken, and the other two were dreadfully mangled.
The explosion brought down about a third of the roof
of the building, which is a lofty shed of many sides,
as its name implies, covered by slates, with a wood
casing internally. The following seven persons were
got from beneath the debris, and having been placed
in a waggon, were taken down the line to the
Manchester Royal Infirmary :—William Cowsell, of
Manchester, laceration of, the scalp and fractured
knee, a bad case ; Ralph Brundrett Gordon Brook, lace-
ration of the thigh ; Edward Hefron, compound fracture
of the thigh and scalds ; Charles Clyde, fractured arm
and leg ; Joseph Ainsworth, laceration of the scalp ;
William Cheetham, of Longsight, severe lacerations ;
Robert Tabley, severe scalds. Numerous others were
injured, but they were taken to their own homes in the
immediate neighbourhood, their injuries being less se-
vere ; but some received frightful wounds.
Th cause of the explosion, as far as can be at present
ascertained, is clearly over-pressure of steam. There
were appearances about the engine which caused some
of the men to leave theished for fear, and it is said that
one of them remarked to Hefron how heavily his steam
was blowing off, to which he merely replied, " Yes, it
was." This was but a minute before the explosion ; two
of the men referred to had only got out if the shed when
the explosion occurred. The engine it seems was worn
out. Some of the tubes at the side were quite filled up,
and some of the long stays were corroded very much ;
facts which seem to prove a want of supervision.
The force of the, concussion was so great that it blew
away every window in the shed, although the frames
were of cast iron ; and it lifted up the floor of the read-
irg-room, and threw the men from their seats. Three
cast-iron pillars, twenty-seven feet long, and about
twelve inches and a half in diameter, were thrown down
with the roof.

A coroner's inquest will be held to-day at the Waggon
and Horses, Longsight, by Mr. Rutter, on view of the
bodies, and no doubt a strict inquiry will be made into
the efficiency of the engine. At present there appears
to be blame attached to those who had to look over the
engine, in exposing an old piece of machinery to a strain
it could not stand.