The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-15 00:00:00

/// EVENING SUN.

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•
DREADFUL EXPLOSION--SEVEN
PERSONSnunsDAy KILLED. .‘.
T MANCHESTER, MORNING.—A most mela.4-4
eholraccident occurred in this town yesterday morning,
at a very early hour, occasioned by the bursting of the
boiler of a steam-engine, by which no less- than seven
workmen were instantaneously killed, and many others
so severely wounded and injured that but little hopes, if
any, are entertained if their recovery indeed, at the
moment we write; it is very doubtful whether many have.
not expired, such was the lamentable extent of the
injuries they hare received. From' a personal ex-
amination of the ptemises in which the unfortunate
occurrence took place, and a view of the un-
happy beings who have been thus prematurely
hurried into eternity, we are enabled to lay a few
of the particulars before the public. It appears that
the workmen employed by Messrs. John Elce And-Co.,
machine and tool-makers, of Jersey-street, .Anconts,
Manchester, repairedas usual to.their labour at an early
hour, six o'clock, yesterday (Wednesday) morning, and,
as they were waiting for the arrival of the remainder of
the men, they assembled in the' engine-room. Which, of
course, is much warmer than any other part of the build-
ing.. The firm usually employ from 50 to 60 inen, but
on the morning of the accident not more than half that
number had arrived when the occurrence took place. The
building in which the works of Messrs. Elce and Go. are
carried on is situate on the banks of the Rochdale Cal2al,
and extends in length about 27 feet by 13, being three
stories high, and containing upwards'of SO windows. Thd
engine employed is of six horse power, and the boiler
attached is equal to ten horse power. It is fixed at the
north-east end of the factory, close to the, edge of the
canal, the opposite side of the water being wharfage,.
on which coal, timber, or other similar articles are landed.
The engineer arrived a few minutes before six o'clock,
and is supposed to have lighted the fire as usual, and
supplied the boiler with the usual -quantity of water,
and was conversing with the mechanics, who had ar-
rived before he fully set the engine to work. Suddenly
a crash was heard, and was instantly folluxed by an ex-
plosion, which stretched twelve of the men on the floor,
knocked several of the others down, destroyed the
whole of the machinery, and completely blew away
every
one end of the building,' besides shattertu`g•
window frame to atoms and displacing tlif whole
of the roof of the building. The effect of th‘ Px-
plosiOn was severely felt by the densely popbe
kited neighbourhood, and created a shock almost'

equal to an earthquake. Many of the workmen had
just entered the premises, and perceiving something
wrong, at once hid themselves under the stairs, or
the first place of security which presented itself, whilst
others unhappily proceeded forwards and met with almost
instantaneous death. As soon as the effect of the shock.
could he recovered, those of the men who were unin-
jured, moved forward to the scene of destruction, and
here a most horrible and heartrending spectacle was to
be seen. The engineer was found with his head severed
from his body, the workmen were dashed in every direc-
tion, and scarcely the features of one near the engine
could be recognised. The alarm was soon spread, and the
police arriving, two of the sufferers were conveyed to the
infirmary, in a lifeless state, covered with blood and
gore ; three others were afterwards conveyed to the
same place, under the most agonising tortures, their
frames being completely paralysed, and rendered incapa-
ble of speech, but at the same time uttering the most pit' -
able groans. On a further search the engineerand four
others were found in a most mutilated state, quite dead,
some of -them with their heads literally blown into a
mash, others without limbs, and many with the lower
extremities of the body completely laid open, so that it
would seem the various parts of the engine had struck
them either in a sitting posture, or in the act of rising to
effect their escape. These five were carried into a room
of thc,public-house, the Cross Keys adjoining, and are
there lying to await the result of the Coroner's inquest:
The boiler appears to have burst in the centre, fur whilst
one-half remained within the building, the other tookan
opposite direction, and in its course drove a heap of coals
a considerable distance, then ploughed up the earth in
the yard to a great depth, and taking a slanting cbrec-
tiOn, threw down a strong brick wall, and fell into :the
canal, from which it has not yet been recovered. There
was a waste-steam pipe attached to the boiler, of great
weight and about three yards in length ; this was pro-
jected by the force of the explosion a distance of 53 yards,
and entered six inches into a dead wall separating the
road from the premises. The bricks were hurled to a
considerable distance, and many struck the windows and
houses of the inhabitants on the opposite side of the road
with considerable violence. The cause of this dreadful
accident has not at present been discovered, and will
probably ever remain a mystery, as the engineer and
those immediately near him, with the exception of a Evan
and a boy, were killed on the spot. The two latter mot
with a most fortunate and providential escape ; the one'
threw himself down under the covering of a furnace, and
escaped with some slight bruises, whilst the other con-
cealed himself under the wall, and a plank from the
second story falling over him, rested one end on the fur-
nace, and secured him from injury from the falling of the
bricks and machinery. The names of the unfortunate
men killed are James Brown, Edward Ashworth, Wm.
Slack, John Lawley; Leonard Tatterley, Andrew Brown,
the engineer, and Thomas Townsend. The three men
taken to the infirmary, and whose injuries are such as
to prevent the possibility of administering any relief, are
'named Thomas Owen, thorge Fox, and William Galtuu.
Of those who have thus met with so horrible a death,
three are married, but the whole of them are young men
in the prime of life, and two have families ; the other
was recently married, and the eff:!et produced upon his
wife is such as to excite every apprehension jhat she will
never recover from the shock.
The amount of property destroyed cannot at present
be estimated. Messrs. flee and Co. must, however, be
considerable losers, as they had a large quantity of work
on hand, and not only is the machinery destroyed, but
workmen are now busily engaged in pulling down the
building, as it is so shattered as to render it quite unsafe.
The inquest will be held on the bodies of the suff.trers
this day before Mr. Rutter and Mr. Chapman, both gen-
tlemen claiming the right so to .do until the validity of
the Manchester Charter of Incorporation has been de-
cided by the House of Lords. This deplorable accident
has caused more excitement in the town of Manchester
than anything that has taken place for many years.
Various opinions are given upon the subject, and blame
is attributed' to seine parties, but, until the evidence has
been adduced, it would not be just to mention the reports
that are current. The result .f the investigation, how-
ever, shall be communicated by to-morrow's post.