The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-02-04
EXPLOSION OF FOUR BOILERS.
Iron Work Containing 1900 rfen
Shattered.

PITTsRURG, Feb. 3-Four boilers in the
American Iron Works of Jones g. Laughlin in
Brownston. oath ward, exploded about IL o'clock
this morning. The explosion was so tremen-
dous that three sections of the building,of some
fifteen feet each, were completely shattered,
the roof being carried entirely away and scat
tered in all directions. There were about 5000
laborers employed in the mill when the explo-
sion occurred and for q time it seemed as
though very large number were killed or
wounded by sshe steam or fragments or me
boilers. The greatest excitement prevailed and
the most extravagant rumors were ahoat. I'M
mediate steps were taken to remove the lrJur-
Gu anu recover the dead. Up to the present time
.he ioilowlng dead have been extricated from
me- tne debris T Pat Hawley, Mike Reynolds, Chas.
U 3ntcn nn9S Mccarthy. Barney McAuley and
antony Bicker. Some thirty were wounded,
but a few OF the number seriously.
Later-The accident at the Amer;o.r IRON
Works this morning, surpassed in fatality anr.
thing that has occurred here for some t;me
AT 10 o'clock battery of four boilers, Situated
at the upper or south side of the new mill Of
the American Iron Works, exploded The OK.
plosion resulted in the death of several men and
great destruction of property. The boilers.
which had been in the. place where they explod,
ed for about year. although they had been
SONY five years in use, were located about mid
way between the ends of the new mill, and
were placed between the spike and nail facto-
ries, about 800 feet from the river. They lay
falling south, and this seemed to be the direc-
ton in which the force of the exDlo-
sion expended itself, although the boilers were
completely annihilated, and the destruction
was complete at the rear and all sides as well as
in front. The ems of the spike and nail fac
tories were blown down to the extent of TWEEN
ty-five feet and the wall and roof of the new
mill were blown down. Portions of the boilers,
bricks aud timbers from the ruined buildings
were thrown in all directions and to great dis
tances.
The cause of the explosion Is still mystery
The engineer tried the boiler gaugers only few
moments before the explosion and found the
water satisfactory Great crowds gathered at
the scene of the disaster and set to work to re-
move the debris and recover the bodies of the
extracted from the ruins all of them more or
less mutilated, and some frightfuly so.
The bodies were also blackened as though
burned. Two of the killed were found many
feet away in an adjoining MILL They have
been employed there and were struck by the
flying missils.
One man was bringing load of coal to the
furnace on an elevated railway which led over
the boilers. He was blown upwards consid-
cradle distance. The lower jaw of one of
one OF the workmen was found lying some dis
tance from the body. Five bodies were par
TALLY buried under the ruins and removed
with hard labor. The killed were borne away
on stretcher as fast as the bodies were recov-
cred, and the scenes which followed the re-
cognition by friends were painful in the ex-
treme. John Shehan was among the killed.
The mail feeders were out on strike. Had
they been at work The loss of life would have
been very great.
Still Another Boiler Explosion.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. ga boiler exploded
at Woods foundry at Coushohocken this aft, r
noon: 1t is reported that eight bodies are I'M
der the ruins.