Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1881-08-19
gos Sugelrs Arrald.
ga CAPTAINS TRAPS.
4 Telegraph Operator who Got Hold of q
Soldering Iron.

A curious explosion occurred on
Wednesday afternoon In the kitch-
On Of the house at IL Pineapple
street, Brooklyn, which came near
causing serious injury to several
persons. Thomas Rockford, the
manager In Brooklyn for the new
Mutual Telegraph Company, re-
sides In, the house. For several
days there had been leak in a
water pipe 10 an extension at the
rear Of the house, and Mr.. Corco-
ran, Western Union telegraph
employee, volunteered In the alb
senoe Of the plumber who had prom
lsed to attend to the defect to solder
the hole up with lead. Some rosln
was pulverized and bit Of lead
was procured, so that all the anna
teur plumber needed was b solder
Ing iron. There were some old
traps up In the garnet that had
been left by q sea captain,
and Corcoran searched among them,
and felt that he was fortunate
when he picked up an iron tool
about eighteen inches long, shaped
like . soldering iron, and tipped
with triangular pointed end. He
thought there were some unneces-
sAry features about the tool for
modern soldering iron, but con.
cluded IL might be foreign tool or
some patent arrangement. There
seemed to be two sections to the
iron, the top one being about the
size Of q gas pipe and screwed into
the bottom one. Then there were
several flaps of rubber fastened on
the upper section at equal spaces.
These seemed to be useless in the
a Of plumbing, but Mr.. Corcoran
didn't care what kind OF a handle
the tool had so long as it was all
right at Its business end.
He rubbed the point in rosin
and, removing one corner of the
range, showed the iron into q bed
of hot Goals. Mrs. Aubrey, one of
the occupants of the house, drew
mp . chair to look on, and Mrs
Hunter folded her arms aud
watched the amateur's work. Mr..
Corcoran took off his coat and was
about to give Mr.. Rockford a prac-
tical lesson showing how every
man could be his own plumber,
when there was terrific explosion.
The top of the range was scattered
In small pieces about tho room, and
the old sea captains soldering iron
lifted Its rubber wings and flew out
of the side window, carrying two
papes of glass with it. The pieces
OF the range, which might have
done much injury to the occupants
of the room, took the same direc-
ton, but the iron door was blown
across the kitchen.
Mrs. Hunter, who had just turn
cd to leave the kitchen, was knock
ed down by the conclusion and
was bruised by her fall. Mrs. Au-
-hrey fell out of the chair, and Mr..
COrcoran lost q little bit of skin
from his forehead. The room was
filled with ashes and smoke. AS
the noise was heard block away
the house was soon besieged by q
number of persons who wished to
know what had happened.
The old sea captains soldering
iron was found dismembered. The
lower cylinder was blown to pieces
bat the top section was intact. phi,
was handled wife the greatest care
and when Mr.. Rockford reported
the accident to the police they re-
ceived the mysterious soldering
iron reluctantly. A policeman il
searching the garrett found nothing
more like it, but discovered an iron
hsrpoon, and this shed some light
upon the mysterious explosion,
The old sea csptain( Captain Hutch
inson) was formerly whaler, and
In his stock he had an explosive
harpoon which Mr.. Corcoran took
for . soldering iron. This harpoor
was loaded with explosives which
would put an end to u whale when
the end struck it. The rubber wings
acting like the feathers of an ar.
row, helped to guide the harpoon
A plumber called to take the di.
mansions for q new range, and Mr.
Corcoran returned to telegraphing