The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-08-15
From the Troy (N w. Times, august IL.
Terrible Accident at West Troy.

A terrible calamity occurred about 7. o'clock
this morning ut the West Troy foundry-Messrs
Chollar, Sage & Durham, proprietors-situate on
the bank Of the canal in that portion of West
over the canal ON the Troy and Albany road.
There being some difficulty with the blower,
the engine was stopped to remedy it., and tho
engineer, Henry Paul, and his brother David
Paul, = machinist, were engaged in this work,
some fifteen feet in the rear of the boiler, and
some twelve feet above ground, when the large
hue of the boiler collapsed, tearing every thing
before it at each end-east and west-forcing the
two brothers Paul from their position on the plat
form above, and carrying one of them some thirty
feet into vat, while the other one, David, was
thrown some fifteen feet against ladle Of liquid
hot iron. tt
These men were awfully scalded and cannot re-
cover They were both in q dying condition
when we left the place at IL o'clock. They were
industrious young men and good mechanics, sons
of widow Paul, Of Cohoes. The mother was
present with them, and manifesting the greatest
anguish over the sad affection. Her husband met
his death by an accident a few years ago-a stone
falling upon him and killing him almost instantly.
The bows were her sole dependence for support.
The persons injured by the accident mostly
from bricks and wood thrown upon them) are:
Hector johnson, of Williamsburgh, who had only
commenced work this morning, considera bly,
bruised and scalded, but not dangerously; Patrick
Monks, Matthew Lawler, and John Bradley, who
were more or less cut and bruised, but will re-
cover.
The persons at work within a few feet of the
side of the boiler escaped serious injury, and only
the brothers Paul were within range OF the
steam that escaped from the end of the boiler.
Had the explosion occurred ut the side, some six
teen or twenty men would probably have been
killed.
The foreman OF the works, Mr.. George Pea
in of he hill
err, on the north side, when the fue collapsed, and
was not injured at all. A laborer named Patrick
Gill was near him, wheeling barrow. The
barrow was completely demolished by the bricks,
but Patrick was not injured in the least. The es-
cape was almost miraculous. nF a
The engine was broken to pieces, and every
thing within fifteen feet Of either end of the boiler
was demolished, including the large tank, eleva-
ted some twelve or fourteen feet above ground,
that supplied the establishment with water.
Messrs. Chollar, Sage & Durham had taken
every precaution to secure safety. The boiler
was new one, and had been in use only some
three or four weeks. 1t was provided with Ash
croffs eam-gauge, which marked elghty-nve
mounds at the time of the occurrence. The water
gauge indicated a full supply of water in the
boiler 1t is the opinion of the foreman and Others
that the engineer had too much steam on, though
| he declared he had repeatedly had on FIVE pounds
more-ninety pounds. He had, however, beef
repeatedly cautioned not to 60 above eighty:
this was not the cause Of the explosion, thor
must have been some defect in the steam-gaug,
| or boiler not yet ascertained.
Considering that there are some two hundred
men employed in these extensive works, it is for
tunate that moro fatal results did not take place.
The proprietors are doing all for the injured
men that medical assistance and the kindest care
can do for them.
Messrs Chollar, Sage & Durham will sustain a
loss from the breaking of machinery, Sc, of be-
tween $4,000 and $1,000, and some thousands
more from the interruption of business.
P. S.-The Paul brothers are dead. They both
died about the same time-one o CLOCK.