The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-06-21
THE BURSTING OF A BOILER.
,HE STEAM TrG BoAT H. W. YORK
uty BLOWN 10 SPLTSTERS.

Tho boiler OF tue tug H. W. WOrknhn
,,oored for the nght at the foot OF Vestry
.,,sot expl ,ded at quarter past six
.,.look Yesterday morning, and Alexander
Raid. the fireman; Kneeland W light, the cook;
-. co,nelns Ferdou. deck hand, were killed
.n,r,sbt. wfight's body was hurled to the roof
', ,ha PENNSYLVANIA Railroad pier. nearly nfty
IA, heh, and one thousand feet away. The
wo,kman rent aDart. sank, carrying down the
,.,n,sd bodies Of Reid an Ferton In their
,unus The Julia Snepp ard, canal boat. laden
,-,n o,ts. to which the workn n was attached,
80. Injured as she might have been had
4, been tn, explosion OF gigantic tor
n.do at her side jagged fracture,
.,,andInr from deck to keeson, was made
hvao.rf OF the worKman's boiler going through
bst. forward OF the cabin. The water poured
into the hold, setting the oats ahoat, and she
.suled to the waters edge almost before her
CAPTAIN. Chester Corson, and his wife, OF Canas-
tota n Y, could get aboa d OF an adjacent
barge. Splin,ers OF the Workm IN showered
mon The water and the barges and the roof OF
the Van Tassel elevator at Pier 30. seventy-1ve
fact nigh The crown plate and four feet Of the
boiler Of the Workman, held together by inon-
thick braces, and weighing two hundred aud
fry pounds, were thrown to the roof at 80
Lalght street. ploughing deep hole therein.
Mr. and Mrs. john Campbell, the occupants,
were not injured. Tue boiler was bent and
twisted as though 1t had been putty,
and several OF the braces were doubled.
The fragment was OF old and rust-eaten
Iron and machinists pointed out to one an
other where II mad been repeatedly patched.
Another piece OF the boiler. equally heavy,
and fllng upon the tin awning at 423 Washing
ton street, crus red through It. Two small
Of ha faIl .
room OF the Isaac Bell, more than hundred
yards distant Rolls OF the smoke stack, pro-
pslled over nifty feet, ell on Pier 90. A piece OF
The boiler weighing twenty Ave pounds whizzed
the roof OF the eight.story Government ware
house at West and Vestry streets. Rashing the
pafapet ON the way. Part OF the plate around
ne base ,,, or tns s escape pipe Thrisa over me
Teeter, wherein slept the caDt ain and his large
family raked OF mucn Of the iatters wood
work, and lodged on store chest forward. A
row boat followed the same course further,
falling into the water, shattered, beside the
nary Powell, moorec at the end OF Pier 80:
ulass was tioAen In many OF the windows OF
the neighborh lud.
Ail Of yesterday great tbrone bent over the
edge OF West street qua the ofal dock at Vestry
street, gazing upon tue Only . rts OF the Work.
man visible, al portion OF the Q bin roof,
with the steam gauge anu escape pipe attached
Others Jostied around the crown plate. which
bad been brought to West ana Vestry street.
All talked earnestly Of the exDlosion. An abut-
fragments OF the worxmno, h been made
.hsk, 10y the explosion Tho thronR. attracted
II, aud had Oficer Hafnmond and several com
radss. stationed witn much foresight by Capt.
Canry, been less visiant, many might have been
drowned. Even al, CT DUSK came, scores Of NOR
bidy curious persons looked down at the tur old
wsiers, hiding fnercilully the sDastly ren Mains Of
wrighrs body lay all the forenoon on q
sIetcher In the cool basement OF tho Leonard
ltreet police station. II was wrapped In a bian-
Vat Wa Sd anti wtfh tea
water. The pody WIS tn I Of a good looking
and rom arKably sIopsd young IN an. 1t lad on
only A checked out auu me, inO unuershir
Seemingly, piece of the boiler struck Wright
on tbe left side. From the nfth rib to the hip
his side gaDed. In tue hama was a hammer.
showing, d. ss lmaoy, that hearing the ominous
nolss of the stean as capt. q Jrson did, Wright
took up tue hammer, and was ignorantly potter
Ing about the 'n-ire when the boiler exploded.
From his being semi clothed, In the way that
men Of his class ate when tnoy sleep aboard
their craft. II Nas Inferred that Wrlgnt got out
Of bis bu * on he ring til noise Of the steam,
and went to see out u with the hammer In his
b nd serge mt Of the l. onNrd street station,
however. said that he believed from inforna-
lion that he had received, at Wright was fully
dressed lnd preparing nreaki st AT the time Of
The exp . ion lot r. MS trOwsers OF and threw
DIS coat To the deck 81 n Jnilt ,hrpi ard.
Stout men prodded with boat hooks ABOUT the
wreck Of the Workman yesteidly, endeavoring
TO bring tie Dodies of Reil and Ferdon to the
SUFFICE fner failure led many bystanders to
eIpress the oplnion that tnc unfo, tunate men
were blown into Uits none Of winch would ever
sneupnd ID
The orkman got back from trip 10 New
burRu lestcrday forenoon. She took in water
and tied up {" The on Il pier until the HarbOr
Master had gone round. inen she tied her
lines to my boat and the Earle Zee er. About
one o'clock tDis mor,hng was ,us d by hear.
ine some one on tn, oral pier calling to the
three men on The VI orkman. Inc Workmsn's
ens ne WAS sizzIR 10 dly Sc was t. tow some
o. The oral scows to h dumping ground about
d.yight. md steam bad been ks I up all night.
The men came out OF the caoin OF the Work.
% ItaO
went back into the cALin. | wen, to bed act a.
aud ftll asleep. | woke up about ten minutes
past o'clock, anu he I'd the Workm ans engine
tLLinG louder than ever. Then, like n clay OF
thuhutr came The EXPLOSION. | Jumped out Of
bed, aud ~ touched thr floor u liece OF iron
oul Tue SIDE OF the cHoin, mex To the Workman,
passed through tLe cabin. NOT more than SIX
inches from, and out VI H. opposite window.
Hstruck q got OF cold Tea that my wife always
10 YES ON the table at night, and the pot hit
me sqlars IN the middle Of NY uaok. Itnougnt
si'er that would be letter n IN bed. As soon
y lne shower 4 splinter from the Workman
gao 81 ppsd fslline, everything was over In
40 ut minute ran ny tue caoin At irs. and
saw that my barge wos II King. MY wife aud |
tben got atoart g. I the h .rle leetsr."
MI LOUIS II, Andersen, an engineer, OF 40
leonard street. said
-. Auolt twenN minutes TO s passed Laight
stesl, where tho tug0odt Workman was then
mooied, ond heard the stein Jet, which Is
plced IN the suoAe stack to IA idly increase
~, tte scam About an uuur ana ten minutes
Mer ! passed the Workman, the steam Jet
r.l az oehs In operation, md thinking the
nsh'ins the nIe and alter putting tbs
ye' IN tue stack as II requires only ten
W ulleeh mluut :, or half an hour at the
n,e't' 1" gel ui ste an, esbecalli wnen a vessel
nlh& al her pief, concluded to 20 aboard and
.uu "u'' Just a. Nos al III to board her she
eam ufd' lhr wins the debris In oil directions,
v"s piece oi iron striking the post at which 1
Ws hdl uiny, ran, but soon as rea he'd
nest srptt turned auu saw the tug sink as
@ .ne hAu broken into two pieces In the centre,
suu u! sooner had tue remnants reached the
ast .lah tue canal boat Ju ia Sheppard, lying
e'..e sde, "hs seen 10 be NH x rapidly"
pier, said ~ ~
NJ berd deafening crash. and was blown
''t act3ss The yier. My clothes were torn In
tbint ~ ces. Sulinters Rr zed my neck and
sp. nns. 1"e standing under the pier wastds-
s''I ~ ant ui Its he.d by The force Of the
"tioslnn, and dled IN a fe n minutes"
IT, ger heid was native OF Buttermilk
W. y I yea ~. aud unmarried; Knesl nd
n~"s - oauSerlies, y. Y, a2ed 3S. ana mar
H., purhellus Fvrdon Of PouRhkeepsie, aged
l" and m ,ried.
,h hsr, Aonlj II. Chapman. OF Il5 West street,
ian '~net ot the Workman, saiu that the Cap
Mo NnaIlesF Drake. Ueing married spent the
nsn al nome, anu " as On the way To the W ork-
Ans,n WIN the engineer, Jau,b Finch. wben the
b. bs purst AlexindeI Reid, the fireman, who
eit,ou on sew | other gDOats In the same
lnre.'l' uld charge Ol the work man. She lay
IA ~ se. Usual berth. The men ABOARD hAduyood
Wsrs Wn W be careful ~ tho Workman, as they
Wiz" h"pn,kng i1r percentage OF her earnings,
fMaa lale nave been large. She cost about
Nnt,I n"o'e We r. ago, but was prob bly, not
bIoltn more than $500 at the time VI the ex-
TgvJ,l"a, lie b lleyes that she was insured. The
eean, Hhspbard was owned by MIR. A j. Ser
tiaann, " 81 Pearl street, and WAS valued at