Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1872-07-15
APPALLING EXPLOSION
Two Boilers at the Pet
aluma Mill Ex-
piOded!
THREE Men KILLED AND
SEVERAL OTHER PER-
SONS INJURED
III MILL r. DE-
STRoYEDI'
Terrible Effects of the Elk
plosion on All Sides!
A WRECK
NpEAr
Terrible Effects of the Elk
plosion on All Sides!
A FEARFUL WRECK
GREAT EXCITEMENT

About So o'clock this morning.
town time, a dull, heavy explosion was
heard, shaking all the houses In Gold
Hill. and rattling the doors and VIM
dows at such a fierce rate that people
at first thought it was an earthquake.
A heavy cloud of dust and steam
arising from the lower end Of town
indicated the direction of the calamity,
and directly everybody flocked thither
as fast as possible. Both Of the south
boilers of the Petaluma mill had ex-
ploded with terrible force, scattering
death and destruction to the south and
west. The mill was
a Perfect Wreck,
Being entirely destroyed, only the
shattered front and back being left
standing. People rushed to the res
cue from all sides, and the first who
arrived found Frank Edmonds, the
engineer, himself bleeding from cuts
about the head, working theoretically
TO rescue others amid the ruins. The
iremsn, kimball, 'wa3 taken out In.
sensible from among the debris, aud n
little boy also who by a miracle es-
capped almost unhurt.
Two Dead Bodies
Were then found and taken from the
ruins and active search made for 9TH
ers, yet 10 more men being missing, 1t
was supposed this was the extent OF
fatality to human life. A man wa
directly found to be killed In the Sap
phire Saloon near by, OH the opposite
side OF the street, by n section OF the
steam drum falling down through the
roof upon him while he was In bed and
asleep. 4 Piute sluaw nc the ear OF
the Nevada Hotel was subsequently
found to have been hit with II flying
brick or some other missile OIL the lett
idle OF the head. fracturing the skull
20 that she will probably die. James
Carney. al amalgamator. was consid-
erabiy cut aud bruised, yet not sert-
ouIly injured. Kimball, the fireman.
has u severe cut or coutu4ion over the
right eye and his collar Vol OH the
right side appeared to be broken, be-
sides sustaining other bad bruises
about the body. He Is seriously III
jured, yet may live.
The Names Of tho Dead
Are John II. Tucker, brother to
Joshua II. Tucker, Of tho irm of Nor
GER s. Tucker, the well-known grocers
m this town. He was blacksmith ut
the mill. and was found nearly covered
by the debris, only IL hand and hi>
face being visible. The top of his
skull was torn oil, and death must
have been instantaneous. He was
about thirty eight years Of age. unmar-
rled, q native of Massachusetts,, and
one universally esteemed by all who
knew him. The other taken dead
from the ruins was John Glannini,
familiarity known rs "Red-headcd
lack" IN amalgamator. He was
| about thirty years Of age, single, a
steady, Woodworking man, and a native
| of Switzerland. The man KILLED IN
| the Sapphire Saloon was Daniel Nc
| kenzie. He was In bed and asleep at
the time, In the second story Of the
saloon, and the ponderous mass of iron,
| being oue-half Of the steam drum,
came crashing down through the roof
| directly upon him, carrying him, bed
| and all, down through the floor and
| out through the north side Of the build
ing to the ground. The back portion
| of his skull was broken in, and he died
in a few minutes, never waking to q
consciousness of what killed him. He
was twenty-four years of age. single,
land q native Of Pictou. Nova Scotia.
The wounded.
Since writing the above we learn
that the operation Of trephining the
skull Of the Piute squaw was
successfully performed by Drs. Heath,
webber, Kirby and Hall. They also re-
moved several pieces Of bone, and she
may possibly recover. Whatever mis-
,ile struck her inflicted q deep scalp
wound four or five inches long. Kim
ball Is supposed to be hurt Internally,
and seriously so. Johnny Mullin, the
little boy found among the wood, was
badly cut about the head. and was con-
siderably bruised about the hands, feet
aud body, besides being scalded a
little, but his injuries are not serious.
kdmondS the engineer, Is only cut a
little about the scalp. Frank Silva,
employed about the mill, was slightly
cut about the head and his back was
considerably bruised and strained.
Frank Scales wa also somewhat
bruised, but not seriously hurt. His
was indeed
A MiracalSss Escape.
He was In bed and asleep at the Ne
vada Hotel. about 200 yards distant
down the street, at the time Of the ex-
plo,ion. and piece Of one of the boil
ers. about ten feet long BY five or ak
feet wi le. came whirling through the
air. smashing of the whole cOruer OF
tile house and coming Into the bed
room. which was In the second story,
It spread it.elf directly on top Of him.
Down went the frail bedstead, and
Frank doubtless thinking the end Of
the world had come. or something
worse. crawled out from amid the
debris OF the smashed p~lastering and
from under that particularly hot iron
bed cover. very lucky to escape so
easily. Another nan sleeping In
|, the same room received a goodly sup
DIV Of the falling ruins, but was not
hurt-only frightened considerably.
Little Johnny Mullins, whose father
was employed a feeder OF the mill
batteries, was picking up chips near
the wood pile. and when the fifteen
cords OF wood in that pile were lev.
eled and spread over about an acre OF
ground by the explosion, he was lev
eled with Il. between some dig STICKS
His safety lsy in his small size. Frank
Edmonds, the engineer, happened to