The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-08 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE.

TWO MEN POISONED BY NITROUS ACID GAS,
(From the Plymouth Journal.)

It rarely happens that we have to record an oc-
currence of so fatal a character, in connection with
the manufactures of the South-west, as that which
occurred at Torpoint Sulphuric Acid Manure Works,
on Monday, and by which two men lost their lives,
and two others continue in a most precarious con-
dition. One of the deceased, named Winnicott, re-
sided in Stonehouse ; he was a strong, muscular
man, aged about 50, and leaves a wife and eight
children to deplore his loss. The other, named
Bellamy, was in his 32d year, and leaves a sorrow-
ing family consisting of a wife and two children.
The two deceased were in the employment of the
Torpoint Manure Works Company, Limited, and
received directions on Saturday to empty one of
the sulphuric acid chambers, in which there was a
leak. They, with others, set about the work on
the Monday morning, two entering the chamber,
and working spells of 10 minutes, baling the fluid
into the chambers adjoining. About two o'clock
two of them, named Bellamy and Pomeroy, felt ill
and left the work. The foreman, John Oskyn, who
has had 16 years' experience in the manufacture,
communicated with the manager, Mr. Joseph Shep
heard, who immediately gave orders that the men
should desist till Wednesday; but, on the orders
being conveyed to Winnicott and his companion,
King, the former expressed a desire to get on with
the work, and told the foreman if he provided
two other men, they should get through the job
that evening. Two men, named Fursden and Collins,
consented to take their turn in the chamber, and
entered it, and baled out the liquid for some
minutes, when they were hailed from the outside
by Winnicott and King, and came out. The others
entered, but Winnicott coughed very much, and, in
a few minutes, was seen creeping through the aper-
ture by which entrance and exit are effected. He
was so disabled that his head and the upper part
of his body bent down, and he was unable to get
through till raised up by the foreman and Fursden,
who stood near. Winnicott coughed fearfully, and
threw up large quantities of watery fluid, mixed
with blood ; but the poor fellow kept saying he
was " all right," and seemed to think it would pass
off and he might be able to resume work. He was
ultimately induced to enter the room allotted to
the men for changing their clothes, where he grew
worse, and he then was directed to go to the mana-
ger's office, where he was seen by Surgeon Budd,
and treated as his case required, but he expired at
six o'clock. Bellamy was in the mean time suffer-
ing in precisely the same way at his own house.
Surgeon Budd also visited him, but though the
ill-fated man revived for a brief interval he subse-
quently sank, and at six o'clock on Tuesday morn-
ing he was a corpse. Pomeroy and King were less
affected, but whether it is to be attributed to the
shock of hearing of the deaths of their fellow work-
men, or to the influence of the poisonous gases they
had inhaled, their cases assumed a most serious
aspect on Tuesday, and it was only yesterday Sur-
geon Budd expressed hopes of the ultimate reco-
very of one of them.
An inquest was held yesterday at the New Inn,
Torpoint, before Dr. Jagoe, when a respectable jury
was empanneled, of which Mr. R. H. Down was
foreman. The jury went from the inn to view the
manure works and the body of poor Winnicott,
which still remained in the manager's office, and
returned at eleven o'clock, when the coroner pro-
ceeded to examine witnesses.
Mr. John William Chubb, member of the Royal
College of Surgeons, stated that he had seen the
deceased on Monday evening, and he was bent
nearly double. His breathing was very much
oppressed, and he was almost in a state of asphyxia.
He had great difficulty in clearing off water stained
with blood from the stomoch, bronchial tubes, and
lungs ; he was generally in a state of prostration,
his pulse quickened slightly, and remarkably
bounding. Made inquiries, and from what ho
heard and the man's condition, feels satisfied that
death was caused by the inhaling of nitrous acid
gas. He prescribed a mustard poultice to his chest,
and had him placed near the fire. Visited him an
hour afterwards, when his heart was merely stir-
ring, and the man was dead. The fumes of nitrous
acid taken into the body produces great stimula-
tion of action in the mucous surfaces, the bronchia,
and stomach, and ultimately brings on asphyxia
and death. Saw Bellamy immediately after Win-
nicott's death. He was labouring under the same
symptoms as the other, but more aggravated, and
he threw up much larger quantities of blood mixed
with water. Both men were perfectly collected,
and neither appeared to labour under the effects of
having taken drink. Two other men were at pre-
sent under his charge suffering from indisposition,
brought on by the same causes.
Mr. Joseph Shepheard, manager of the works,
stated that, at one'clock, when he heard the men
were ill, he issued orders that the work should be
discontinued. He detailed the other circumstances
already stated, and added that, at his instance or
" order," Winnicott walked first from some bags
against which he was leaning, to the house for the
men, where he sat down ; and that being close,
with a fire in it, he then directed him to go to his
(the manager's) office, whither he walked. The
surgeon saw him there. Mr. Shepheard stated, in
the course of his evidence, that the kilns had been
let out on Thursday last, and the caps had been
taken off, and everything openable opened. The
men were to bale the acid out with scoops, having
long handles attached. On a former occasion they
entered the acid with hare feet, but on this occa-
sion they erected a platform over it.
Mr. R. Oxland here said that the agitation of
the liquid on this occasion must have been less than
previously.
Mr. Shepheard further added, in reply to the
Coroner, that the strength of the acid on the former
occasion was over 99 degs., and on this occasion
about 110 degs. The commercial strength was 175
degs.
Mr. Oxland, at the request of the Coroner, stated
that he believed ozone was present in the chamber.
Mr. Shepheard said he had ordered the men to
get a quart of rum.
Surgeon Chubb did not think that the drinking
of the spirits would have caused or aggravated the
symptoms, and in this opinion Mr. Oxland con-
curred, stating that men, on similar occasions, took
spirits, and found it work well.
The other witnesses examined were John Osky„,
the foreman, and Wm. Fursden, one of the two men
who undertook the task after the first two menliad
given up. The foreman exhibited a little irritabi-
lity at the questions of one of the jurors; but
neither his, nor the evidence of Fursden, added any
material facts to those already stated.
The Coroner charged the jury, who returned a
verdict that the deceased came to their death acci-
dentally, from inhaling the fumes arising from a
quantity of sulphuric acid, and there appeared to be
no want of care on the part of the manager of the
MIA ft