The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-24 00:00:00

FATAL BOILER EXPLOSION.

On Tuesday evening, about 7 o'clock, a terrific
boiler explosion happened at the Cockshut Colliery,
near Wolverhampton, belonging to Messrs. Aston
and Shaw, and two men were killed. This is the
second fatal boiler explosion which has occurred at
the same colliery within nine days. In the first ex-
plosion, which occurred on Monday week, one man
was killed. In that case it was shown that the
boiler was exceedingly old and worn out, and the
jury, finding they were unable to make the proprie-
tors criminally responsible, censured them for using
such a boiler, and recommended that Government in-
spectors of boilers should be appointed. In this last
case, as in the previous one, the boiler was used to
work a pumping engine. Its dimensions were about
71 feet by 25 feet, with egg-shaped ends, and the
engine was a condensing one. The boiler had been
cleaned out during the day under the direction of
the managing engineer (Joseph Elwell) ; it had
either been again set to work, or preparation was
being made to set it to work, when it exploded.
Elwell was then in a hovel which was built up
against the boiler, and there was with him John
Legge, the engineman, who an hour before had
taken charge of the engine and boilers from John
Evans, the day engineman, and Evans was just
leaving the hovel, where they had all been partak-
ing of the ale usually allowed by proprietors after
boilers have been cleaned. The force with which
the boiler exploded was very great ; it shook open
the doors of some houses situated at a considerable
distance, and the noise resembled that of a loud
clap of thunder. The boiler, which is supposed to
have weighed about 5 tons, was rent into two por-
tions, one of which was about 3-4- tons. These
pieces, after being carried about 25 or 30 feet in
the air, fell in opposite directions, each about 200
yards from its original seat. It is the custom at
this colliery to cover the boilers with brickwork,
and this custom increased the devastation. The
hovel was laid in ruins, and Elwell and Legge, in
addition to being fearfully crushed in the ruins,
were for some time subjected to streams of hot water
and steam, which flowed upon them from the boiler
which stood by the side of the exploded one, and
which, with it, supplied the engine with the neces-
...7 131 al -n-ars ILunil quite dead, standing
up against the fireplace, and Legge sitting down
at the opposite end of the building. Legge was
taken to the South Staffordshire Hospital, but he
died within an hour after his admission. Evans
was severely scalded, but he will recover. That he
escaped with hit life is a matter of great surprise.
Examination of the boiler leads to the inference
that the plates had become red hot, or nearly so,
from a deficiency of water, and a close observation
reveals a hidden danger to which Mr. E. T. Wright,
C:E., of Wolverhampton, drew prominent attention
some time ago—viz., that for some time there had
been a hidden seam rend. Mr. Baker, the Govern-
ment inspector of mines, was at the colliery yester-
day, examining all the boilers and engines there,
assisted by Mr. Wright, whom he had instructed
to prepare a report upon all the boilers and engines
in this concern. The inspection showed that some
of the appliances were of a most primitive and dan-
gerous character, and the men who had the engines
in charge lamentably ignorant of the duties they
had undertaken to perform.

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