The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-09-28
The Explosion at pi,l.bnrg,

The Explosion at Pttishnrs'
rhee1plosion of the steam boiler in the mar.
Ma factory Of Wallace & o., ,stPittshurg, Pa,
.ss terrible instance of the power OF steam.
IN. body OF the boiler passed through two
* huudipgs ard tore of the corner of
,no,her one Io0 feet from its place of starting
The Pituburg Di.patch says
Torn from It. be,i by the force of the explo-
-, u vgas prol ted through one OF the broad
s.sAnwsin front crossed the street in "A di-
.rt n.e, passed through the clothing store
.p,hert Rarker, in the obtuse-augled build
,.on the corner of Plum alley, through beer
hsII adjoining on the alley, and tore one corner
r,pleieIy out Of snail building located a
mr.. distance back from the alley. In cross
,~o the shop II passed over and through col
iI'ton Of tom hS tones and other pieces of mar
HE work aud made clear exit through the
hrnsd window in entering the clothing store
,r tbp opposite side Of the street. one OF the
,-rusr;Iug posts OF the first story, separating
% doors, wa. torn away, together with a
large piece OF the stone Stlti above IL. This
r.nsed a slight divergence in the course of the
h,,ler. which Gu, clean through The opposite
uall and through the wall of the beer hall the
,ro buildlngs being separated by a narrow al
lev Us fIght through the beer hall grazed the
reiljug So closely that 1t carried a large portion
ol the gas pipe through the opposite wall with
il detecting its course again sufficiently 10
.Irtke the corner of the small brick house ad-
i,iuirg. aud carry away the entire corner, in
C.uatng the door.
~ course through the shop, one of the
,,rxneu William Agne n, was struck on the
hssd maugling 1t terribly; another of the
u.orkmeu vas crushed by fragment falling
nn M. pe,yt. while third, James McCIaren,
Lsd bisskuIl fractured in several places, aud
H. side Of has face terribly disfiguTed. Ag-
~, was instantly killed, and sank down n a
.,,fjnc posture; the others were sull living
uhen carried 10 the opposite side of the street.
Mr. Barker was standing IN his store. near he
.,untsr aud was struck on the left tenn ple,
either bv the boiler OF traguen carried Ith
II frac!uriug his skull and killing him in
stantly. In the beer hall, occupied by q.
Sehwsrtz, were three persons besides the bar
keeper, one u gentleman named Boyd, from
Harrisourg The her two, Germans, were
seated al 4 table. One of them was struck On
lhr head by some missile carried with lie
boiler aud seriously injured. The other was
about raising his glass when il was broken
ont OF his hand, and his hand and arm
yrreIy injured.
Ths bsrkeeper, who was stopping down, in
the act Of drawing glass beer was buried
in the rubbish torn from the wall by the pas
sage Of the boiler above HIM, but was only
!,EhtlY Injured. Mr. Boyd was crossing the
nJJr and he boiler must have passed within
few inches of his head. IL the small house
adjoining, which was occupied by Boyc,.
sexton OF the FIRST Reformed Presbyterian
Church. no one was injured. tn ugh little
daughter OF Mr. 3 was covered with the frag-
lnents OF brick and plaster. The force of the
terrible missile was now spent, and 1t lay Il
TIL less mass OF iron at lHe rGlned corner
aud Ia The graveyard belonging to the church.
covered with the mass of ru bbIsh carried with
II. Three large pieces OF marble were thrown,
by the force with which the boiler struck one
Of the pieces in the shop, clear across the
street, one en- teriug a clothisg store, and the
hers passing through the window of Sre-
Nenson's store and breaking clock on the
wall
La the rear of the building, fronting on
Spring alley, the scene was frightful. The en-
tira end was blown out and the four floors
crushed into a mass Of ruins. The building
adjoining on the east side 4 large brick, was
shattered from roof TO foundation; the lower
story was broken through on both sides aAd
the windows riddled. a space on the centre
of The roof about ten feet wide, and fifteen or
twenty feet wide on each side Of the comb,
wasCoVeTed " tn skTiights, which were bio WE
on and rlddled CON- qletely.
The news OF the disaster spread rapidly al
fret As All alarm OF fire, which brought he a.
lire department to the ground in a few mIA-
u-es The damage extensive that no one
could realize Its horrors at the first glance.
The men injured in the front part OF the
building were carried into Stevenson's jewell
~ store, and physicians summoned, while
half hundred strong arms were at work
clearing away the wreck III the rear to release
the unf1rtunates killed or manned by the
crush of timb bers. Two or three of The work
men engaged in the upper stories went down
in he wreck, but strange as II may seem. re-
ceived no further injury than 4 few trifling
scratches. Those III the lower stories met a
worse fate. Crushed by the weight of falling
timbers aud heavy machinery, many Of them
were st.ll further injured by the scalding
steam, internally aud externally. Oae poor
fellow, whose external injuries seemed to be
no 10 ore than crushed shoulder aud Il slight
scald, talked cheerfully while he was being
carried Ia 10 II house on Penn street, and died
III he hands of his bearers, from the effects of
iuhaled steam. An opening was soon cleared
into the wreck, through which the injured
men we're drawn, but many were SO crushed
down by The heavy machinery that they could
not BE- released until Jack-screws we've pro-
cured, and used in raising the weight from
them. Those who were able 10 speak called
Tor water as soon as they were reached and as
the VI ord passed from mouth to mouth, the
immense crowd in the vicinity grew almost
fTauuc. Every step towards the release of the
victims was attended with the most imminent
risk TO those engaged in the work, yet dozens
were actively employed during the entire al
terHUOn.