Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-10-27
EARFUL EXPLOSION.
4 BloWl y Mt the AlstoN ManufAc tur-
Ing Cs,pany's Boiling Room. Two
Men hurled into Eternity. The !r-
uai Mstery Attends the Affair.

looe VI NO Huulau iNts, occurred AT
about | o'clock yesterday morning at
the coaer of Wade and Crittenden
streets, in one-story brick building
used byhe Aston Manufacturing Conn
pany, callers in paints and painters
materis, as a boiling rooms room
where inseed oil is prepared for "dry-
ing proposes. One of the men, Mr..
Frank :. Callahan, partner III the
company, who served rs superinten-
dent OF he paint mill and general chem
ist, wasinside the structure when the
explosin took place. The other de-
ceased, Ole Borgesen, a laborer, was
standip just in front of the only door
leadingnto the room, The report was
followe. by flash. Streams of fire
pouredout of the door and every open
ing. brgesen was seen, wrapped in
fame, lying across the street, where
he and the wheelbarrow which he had
been uing struck violently against
close bard fence. As he lay upon the
ground dead, the flames from his oil
soaked clothing rose to the height of
six feet in the air. He was fearfully
burned and they who gazed at his al
hiost uicCoSliHapiS TcHialio tuIileu
away SEX at the spectacle. Mr.. Gala
han VS. found lying near the door
His eys had been blown completely
out of lis head, and the flesh of his face
and mex torn to shreds, and blackened
and ch.rred in horrible manner. His
body, to, was almost literally roasted
The men who, at their own peril and
physicd suffering, drew his body from
the BLAZING doorway-D. J. Barlow and
o. st. .hhn--found him still alive, and
as speedily rs possible had him remov-
ed to he County Hospital. where I've
died within an hour from the time of
the occurrence. An alarm of fire was
sent inthrough Box 4l3 rs soon as the
accident took place The fire was east
ly exti1guished, ard the loss, it is said,
will no exceed 800
The ,ause of the explosion is some
thing which no one has as yet been able
, to determine. For some time past the
company, represented by Mr.. Callahan
himself, has been experimenting in the
process of boiling oil, and the building
wherein yesterdays calamity took place
has been the scene Of these expert
, ments. The structure was evidently
built br the express purpose. 1t is a
one-stuy brick affair, 24x16 feet in di-
mensims, and stands about seventy five
feet TO the north of, and entirely de-
tached from, the mill. The only con,
tents of the room were the apparatus
used III the process of boiling, which
consisted principally of brick. enclosed
| cylinder, eight feet long, two feet in di
am eter, and made of cast-iron one anC
one-haf inches thick. The brick work
I was SO constructed that almost tn,
: whole of the exterior surface Of thu
"boiler," or cylinder, was exposed t,
. the blaze of the fire in the furnace be
I meath. An escape-pipe led from thu
I boiler to tank outside, and served t
/ conduct away the gases generated b,
I the heat. Another pipe, leading to an
f other tank, also outside the building
. and connected by a pipe with the first
y mentioned tank, served to draw off tn
overflow produced by the heating of tn
I oil. By this arrangement there APP
! peared to be no danger of explosion
r especially when the -innammabl,
! nature of the oil is considered. Mr.
Barlow, who is foreman about the es
/ Enlistment, and who escaped only b,
/ the merest chance, he being Temporal
rily in the mill, stated last night to
reporter who called on him at his resi-
dence, No. 217 Fifth avenue, that h
had no idea whatever as to the caus
of the explosion. 1t had been suggest
!, ed to him that the escape pipes leadin
from the Cylinder might have becom
clogged. and the explosion caused b.
the accumulated gases but the ro'sibiI
ity of that occurrence had. he thought
: been amply provided for. The boile
: was provided with gage, which was @
service in registering heat only to tina
: point to which it was desired L
: bring the ola point at which LEAF
. rlelts - but the idea of accident ha,
1 always been so foreign to tn
minds of those in charge that the as
5 of even SO crude an arrangement as tina
: attached had never been deemed neces
sary. There had been but two boiling
; made in the new apparatus prior t.
! yesterday, and both of those boiling
: had been unsatisfactory, because o
: the absence of sufficient heat. tn,
i machine was overhauled last week, an,
!, the changes therein completed onl,
! last Saturday night Yesterday wa
! the first day the apparatus was usec
since being repaired, and the draft
the cause of dissatisfaction heretofore
: seemed to be all right. The tank o
3 cylinder, Mr. Barlow stated, containe,
: when full about four barrels, or 20'
l gallons. 1t was heavy and substa.n
( tial arrangement, and had detachahl,
E head, which Mr.. Barlow himself hat
: removed and put safely back only /
short time before the accident. Thu
i fact that the head of the cylinder wa
!, blown off, while the rest Of the boile
. was unhurt, would indicate that tn,
: bead was defective, for Mr.. Barlow wa,
, sure that it had been made as tight a!
possible.
Mr.. Callahan, the unfortunate part
, ner, was very highly esteemed by his
2 associates in business, and his shocking
9 death is deeply felt by them. Nine
9 years ago he connected himself, in the
capacity of chemist, with the concern
which is now the Aston manufacturing