Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-03-19
CINCINNATI.
Terrific Explosion of a Soap Boiler

bADAOSluu VI 81 COhp
Three Children Killed Half a Mile
Distant
CINCINNATI, March 1S.-The boiler of
Jones & Carnahan's soap and candle fac
tory, on Central avenue, exploded at half
past 2 O'Clock. Two men, Jacob Asthref
and Geo. Hirlinger, were killed. A piece
of the boiler, Is feet long and weighing 5000
pounds, was blown a distance of nearly half
a mile and killed three children named Cora
Cole, Alice Thornton and Ella Forbes. The
cause of the explosion is unknown.
Later DetaiIs-A Ton of Metal Sailing
through the Air.
At half past 2 this afternoon the fire bells
rang from Liberty street and Central ave-
nue.. The signal ''no fire" soon followed.
II was not long till the whole city was
shocked by intelligence of lOne Of the
most terrific explosions ever experienced
here, perhaps in some respects the most re-
markable as well as the most singular in
the history of casualties. A battery of
two steam boilers in the soap and candle
factory of Woods & Canahan, occupying
a large front at 69S Central avenue, had
exploded with unheard of violence. In
the factory were about 80 persons. Two
of these were horribly mangled and instant
" killed; two slightly wounded; all the
others escaped.
On Baymiller street, over half a mile
distant by map measurement, in a bee line,
three little girls in front yard were jump
ING a rope. Sixteen feet of this boiler was
| hurled all that distance over the house tops
upon their heads. Two of them were
| killed instantly, and the third mOrtally
| wounded, but is not yet dead. This piece
| of the boiler is a perfect cylinder, 10 feet
| inches long, "a inches in diameter, and
| weighs about ton. Persons who saw 1t
say it looked like stOvepipe sailing IN the
air, Just above the roofs.
A party of ladies on York street, more
| than half a mile from where it alighted,
| saw it going and say it resembled board
sailing in the air. The front yard in which
it alighted is not more than eight feet deep
and is inclOsed by an iron railing fence.
! The boiler landed in the yard parallel with
the fence injuring the railings but slightly,
but tearing up the stone steps to the doors.
| Further down the street was about four feet
| more of the boiler with the head of the
same. This portion was much torn.
Casualties at the Factory.
The casualties at the factory where the
EXPLOSION occurred were engineer Barney
Osthoffer, who had been acting in that ca
pacity for more than thirteen years. He
was standing about twenty feet from the
boilers putting in coal in the furnace of an
other battery. He was mangled horribly
He leaves a wife and five children. Hewa:
German about fifty years old. Jas. I'm
crisch, German, who attended the tank wa:
torn to pieces; he leaves wife and five
children. George llerringer, al
emplovee in the works wa
severely but not dangerously bruised. Liz
zie Hoffman, also. an emplOye, was struck
on the arm and slightly wounded by piece
of the boiler. Michael Spilman, masol
working at the factory, was struck by
fragment of the boiler and injured slightly
q. Hawley was covered with debris an
SLIGHTLY bruised. This was all the injurie
:, at the factory.
\ Run over and Killed.
r A boy named Rowe, nine years of ag'
rot ON behind an omnibus in COvingtoI
The driver drove him off. The boy fe
t down and baggage wagon ran over hin
The boy was killed.