New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-09-26
GUNS DISCHARGED TOO SOON
FATAL ACCIDENT AT CASTLE WILLIAM:
PREMATURE DISCHARGE OF TWO CANNON DURING
SALUTE TO THK FRENCH ADMiRAL-Tvo
snI nIERs killed ANn EnIR INIrRED-IIIE


The old stone fort Castle William. that faces the
New-Jersey shore from he west side OF Governors
Island was the scene yesterday Of accident that
resulted in the death Of two artillerymen the prob
ably fatal wounding of another, the mangling OF
fourth and the injury of two other cannoneers. IL
was caused by the premature discharge of two can
non during the firing Of salute in honor OF Adm-
raj Grevy. of the French Naval Service. On Sunday
afternoon the French fpgate Minerve. with the
Admiral board. accompanied by the ram Chas-
seur arrived in the Upper Bay The flag lieutenant
Of the MInerve sent ashore at Gov
ernOr's Island to tender the courtesy
Of an international salute of twenty-One guns
for Yesterday morning. Captain +. L. Gunther
commandant of the garrison at Governors Island.
arranged for the return of the salute and Lienten-
ant ;. +. Massey of the 5th Artillery, who was the
officer of the day on Sunday, was gwen command
of the firing party TO fire the salute before he WAS
relieved.
There are five 1j-nch Rodman guns on the
fourth tier or parapet of the fort. and twenty
32-p0under smoOth-bore guns OF an Old
fashioned pattern on the second ter The TWO
other tiers have no armament The second tier was
used in giving the return salute. Mr.. Massey was
in command of three detachments. Each one con-
sisted Of four cannOneers, gunner and chief OK
detachment No l and No. 2 men, they are
hand and the latter his left hand in sponging out
the gun after each discharge and in ramming down
the cartridge that In at the muzZle OF the gum
No. 3 stands on the right ht-hand side OF the gun and
passes up the sponging staff and the rammer
staff to No. 1. while the duty OF No.
is to hand up the ammunition to
No. 2 The gunner's duty during the loading is to
close the guns vent with his thumb, which Is pro-
tected by "A thumb-sal or cover made OF chamois-
skin. The chief OF each detachment supermtends
the loading of his gun. Two are detailed 20
the manual act of discharging the gun, under the
orders of the officer commanding the nrlng party.
This il done after The gun Is loaded 10y inserting In
the vent a tube filed with illuminate of mercury.
which is ignIted b. jerking ont of the top OF tho
tube Jagged wire that protTudes from one side OF
the tube and is clinched the other. cord, called
the lanyard Is attached TO loop at the projecting
end of the re- by which the wire is torn By jerk
through the illuminate and out of the end OF tho
friction primer All of the men retire from the
| gun before 1t is discharged.
HOW THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED
At a. H. yesterday the Minerye. which lay op-
posite Castle William, discharged twenty-One Of
| her guns an interval of ten seconds being allowed
| between each re port. The twenty guns the sec
ond tier of the fort had been loaded about o'clock
| As soon as the last report Of the Admirals salute
| had died away, gun after gun from Castle William
| doomed over the water. Lieutenant Massey had
ordered that the first three guns should be reloaded
after the discharge although only one was needed
| to complete the international salutel in order to
avoid any possible trouble occurring with one or
more Of the twenty tier-guns. These three were on
! New-York Sergeant William Dunleyy was chiet
| of the first detachment, t. reload gun No. /,
| with Private John helan OF Battery \, as No. l
man Private John A. ClunOs as No. aud Corporal
Joseph Grace, of Battery II, as gunner. 40 NO.
gun First Sergeant Joseph Hefer OF Battery 4, was
| chief of detachment, with Private JOnn Saisy, OF
| Battery II. as No. man; Private ChauncrY y. SD
ner as No. > aud Corporal George IRWIN a. gunner
sergeant Heifer was chief of detachment al he sec
! onn gun but some trouble with the duJ ard Oi the
gun prevented It's TelOa lns when the "a ana tiEd
guns were leing reeharged. Nlth ne hfst tearing
away of the smoke from the tirst discharge, guns
| Nos [ and were back about two leet from
| their enb.asur,s III The stone easement They were
| put mo each one. Each cartridge -ohslslcu 81
| eight pounds of broken mOnaT-powder
inclosed in a woOllen bag. The powder was m lrreg-
ular grains slightly larger than Il1e powder; W ne
| Ian aud ClunOs al gun No. !, ana Maiey ana Sldner
at gun No. g. then inserted tneIr raInmerstais ana
began 10 ram down the cartridges. These hal been
driven in little more than d foot when both ex-
| ploded with a terrific noise. lie ramner- we're
| hurled out of the embrasurcs and the four men 40
the muzZlrs OF the guns were hung 10 the moor. IN
passing If the EN- treasures the iron Tari' al INC
ends OF tie rImmer stats probably struck IN arms
| and shoulders of the men. adding 10 the INJURIES
! caused by the discharge. Whean's right aTui Was
| torn OF Just below the elbow ana hurried O9t
| through the embrasure and his lace, rlEht sloe
| and right leg were terribly burned ana snat-
| tered CunOs lost his lett arm from just above tne
| elbow aud received severe confusion OF the leIb
| leg Private Maley's eyes were burnei out, MS
| face was mutt ateI beyond recognition and hs
body was broken and maDgled III every part. sldnsr
| had MS left hand blown OF ana also received Ia
ternal injuries COrpOrals Grace and lr"ln VINO
were standing With their thumbs over the yrhts Oh
their guns had those members torn on Dy the Iorco
| of the fire through the vents. . -,
StIetcuers were instantly got from llf pV'"itot
| Island Hospital which lies along tnt edse ol no
island, wlthIn 200 yards II the ioft lho
injured men were carried TO the h"sPitsl,
| private Maey DIVING on his arrival there.
| The screams and grOans Ot the men VINO
| were conscious were pItltul as they we're 'sAeu
| along. Private Mhelan fingered until al M p.
| m when he died. The Injuries OF private oidner
! will probably prove fatal. dis condition was too
SERIOUS 10 permit any aalputatlon oil hs ie.t arm.
Clunos. II was sald, might recover ana 'ne t"' ~,
iured corpOrals dong well late yesterday All
! OF the men we're Unmarried. lhe return 'tute was nas
finished. ana as one OF the premature hs,hdis ises
occurred simultaneously with one Of the proper dls-
| charges the other explosion which occdrled mo.
| ment atteTWard rendered further re-iOa4nB Oh
| the guns cessaTy for the twenty-nrst sIi"te.
THE CAUSE Oh THE EXPLOSIONS.
The cause of the premature discharge oi tie guns
| is unknown. Two theories are advanced D. the
Officers at Governors Island 70 account Tor q One
is that the bores OF The guus have been worn Jagged
by aye. and that into some OF the places that the
sponge dld no reach sparks or smoulderng pieces
OF waddiug were carried by the wind from some oi
the other guus that were nred lbr VIA was OiO"-
ing strong and almost directly into the chSehiAte.
The other theory ignores the Internal condition OK
the guns but suppC-cs that the sFOuging OF guns
} Nos | and did not eXtlngulsh spdIAs that tho
wind may have blown into the muzzles. LIeutenaht
MASSEY l. exoueiated by his fellOw-ofhcers IRON all
| hI.m. IN line matter In fact II Is asserted that
every ordinary aution was taken IN the reload
ing of the two guns The fact that the TWO gnnhefs
| iost their thumbs u evidence that the Nenth0ies
| weIe properly covered when the guns were oeing
| loaded. General Hancock, as Department COM
mander, will appoint 0oard Oh om'ets iu @ Nv
| dnvs 10 investigate the circumstances oi the aeci-
dent