Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-10-26
THE PITTSBURGH HORROR.
Terrific Boiler ExpIosion-SeveraJ
WOrkmen Killed and Many Others
Seriously Injured.

Terrific Boiler ExpIosion-severJ
WOrkmen Killed and Many Others
Seriously Injured.
PITTSBURGH, Pa, Oct. 12.
The city was startled Yesterday morn
ing by the report which spread like wild
fire that an explosion, attended with fright
full loss of life and destruction of proper
ty, had taken place at one of our great
mills. The story of the horrible and dis
tresslng occurrence was indeed a true
one. A battery of boilers at Zug's mill.
in the Ninth Ward, from cause not vet
satisfactorily explained, had exploded,
laying in ruins a vast portion of the build
ing, and leaving PROSTATE in the ruins
fully sixty human beings, many, of them
dead, others in the last mortal agonies,
and still more suffering from injuries to
greater or less extent. The most intense
excitement was created in every part Of
the city by the news. There were scores
OF people in every locality who had rela-
tons or friends among the 3O0-odd en-
ployes in the mills of Tug 81 Co, and
these were soon hurrying frantically in
the direction of the scene of the dread
disaster .srs .=sGgfa-N
Directly after the explosion occurred
people began to crowd about the place,
and IN less than half an hour not less than
5000 people had congregated 1t lacked
Just about five minutes of nine O'Clock
when the explosion took place, with a
shock distinctly heard at point two miles
distant from the scene. The battery of
three large boilers, in the nail mill Of the
firm, which is located on the upper side of
Etna street, burst, the terrible force of the
| conclusion lifting the roof and frame of
almost that entire building many feet into
the air, and dropping It, where it was
crushed and broken, upon the machinery
below, until the whole was converted into
pieces the majority of which were small
enough for the purpose of kindling wood.
The force OF the exploding power was
| so great, and seems to have been 50 evenly
| distributed upon all parts of the boilers,
that they were broken into hundreds of
pieces. One of them was carried across
the river to Allegheny, and landed at
| Beymer d Banman's lead works, on the
| River avenue. Another large piece, going
| in the same direction, dashed through the
| roof of the muck mill ON the opposite side
of the street, tearing down two of the
| furnaces, swapping giant timbers like
| splinters, and breaking down the huge
| crane which is used to lift tons of iron and
metal. The falling furnaces ignited the
| mill, and it was partly consumed before
the flames could be checked.
| The largest piece that was found Of the
| bursted boilers entered through the side
of a house and was deposited in cham
|. Der by the bedside of a sick woman, who
| escaped unframed. Other pieces were
| blown high, landing in the streets close by.
| Bricks and sticks and pieces of the iron
| roof, and all sorts of rubbish were blown
| through walls and windows 1t is be-
hat tha of +ho hi
lifted at least fifty feet high, and the
work of destruction of human life was ac-
| complished more by the crushing weight
| of this falling mass than by the scattering
| pieces of the bursted boilers. The fifty
five nail-machines saved many life yes
| terday. Had the mill been as open as an
ordinary rolling mill it does not seem pos
| sible that a single one of the inmates
would have escaped with his life.
| There were employed in the entire
mills of Tug 81 Co., at the time of the ac-
cident, about 800 persons. Of these $50
| worked in the nail department., where the
explosion took place. Not less than eight
persons were killed outright and fifty in
| jured. Of the wounded some six or more
have already died, and it is believed that
| the injuries received by others are fatal
| The bodies, mutilated and CHASTITY, grimy
with the showering dirt, and CORY with
the life blood, as they lay amid the debris
OF the fearful wreck, presented sight to
| make the stanchest heart quail. Here
were headleSS trunks of men who few
moments before moved and acted in the
| full enjoyment of vigorous life. Here was
corpse with no blood stain upon it,
but pallid in death, which had come in
| the twinkling of an eye in great blow
| administered by giant forces upon some
vital spot. The row of dead, and the
| bleeding, moaning, agonized group
| of dying or seriously hurt upon
| the floor of the office hospital, pre-
sented a sickening spectacle, and one
from which the sternest had to turn aside
to repress the too eager tear. In the two
drug stores at the corner of Pennsylvania
and Thirteenth streets, the same scenes
were being enacted with other sufferers,
and in several houses in the vicinity all
| that could be done was being done 10 allie
| viate the sufferngs of the dying men As
| soon as possible the dead and wounded
were taken to their homes when practical
| BILE, or to the West Pennsylvania Hospital,
| carriages for this purpose being furnished
| by the proprietors of the mills.
1t is impossible to estimate at this time
how many more of the wounded will die
Ten died after being taken from the ruins,
and score of others are so frightfully in
jured that no hope is entertained of their
recovery.
in finishing twenty-five years Of
official service Bishop Williams prot
estant EpiscopaD Of Connecticut says