The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-04-01

ton at the Pavilion, and, remarking that
they had come to return some of his civili-
ties and look after him for an evening, they
went to Mr.. Atherton's room. On lighting
the gas the sheriff discovered, in the pres
ence of an easy chair of tempting appear
ance to tired man, the true inwardness of
the call, and for an instant, we imagine, was
more at loss as to what to do than he
would have been in some crisis OF his duty
as sheriff or fish warden. To the chair was
attached note conveying the compliments
of the jurymen, and which was signed by
each member of the panel. Besides those
mentioned above, these were j. l.. Coburn,
d. d. Nelson, f. e. Templeton, d. w. c.
Ormsbee, G. w. Chase, Erastus Keith, Sol
omon Williams, G. A. Richardson and
G.. w. Grover. Mr.. Atherton expresses,
through The WATcHMAN, his thanks to
these gentlemen and his appreciation of
the kindly spirit that prompted the gift
The interest in the trial was very great.
The courtroom was constantly packed, and
there was always great pressure to get in
after all available space had been occupied
For his efficiency in managing the crowds
and securing constant order and quiet in
the courtroom, Sheriff Atherton was COM
plimented by Judge Powers.
A LITTLE past six o'clock last Thursday
afternoon boiler in the lumber mill of j.
| S. Potter at Groton Pond exploded with
terrific force, instantly killing one man and
seriously injuring another. AT the time Of
the Groton Pond fire, May 10th, 1888, Messrs.
A. & e. 7. Baldwin had three boilers in
use, on which they were unable to secure
any insurance, as the companies claimed
that they were not damaged enough to war
rant any allowance. These boilers were
afterward put in complete repair and tested,
and have since been used by Mr.. Potter,
who succeeded the Messrs. Baldwin in the
business. The mill shut down as usual
Thursday afternoon at six o'clock, and the
engineer had just gone from the engine
room, leaving things in charge of the night
watchman, John Mcleod, when the catas.
trophe occurred, the middle boiler being the
one which exploded. One of the other
boilers was lifted from it's bed and thrown
upon the wall of the engine house, and the
other was thrown over upon the engine
Both were badly damaged. The middle
boiler was carried lengthwise through the
side of the building and was imbedded
nearly half its length in the frozen ground
having demolished the chimney in it's path
Mr.. Mcleod was found to be badly mu
tilated, the back part of his head having
been cut completely off. Death must hav,
been instantaneous. He was an unmarried
man, about forty years of age, native o
tnIr q,
Quebec for interment. William Fowler wal
outside the building but was seriously in
jured, having one shoulder broken and re
ceiving some severe bruises about the head
DR.. W. ID. Reid of Montpelier was sum
moned by telegraph, and was taken to TIN
scene of the accident by special train owe
the Montpelier & Wells River railroad. III
did all that could be done for Mr. Fowler
and at the time did not regard his case a
critical, but some unfavorable symptom
appeared later, which rendered his recover,
at one time somewhat doubtful. The los
is estimated at from So 900 to $4,000 beside
the necessary delay in getting ready to star
up again. There have been some reports t.
the effect that the boiler was not sound ant
that an explosion had been predicted, bu
Mr. Potter claims that they are incorrect
His theory is that the water glass did no
! correctly indicate the amount of water i
the boiler, that from unusual pressur
the water had been forced into the othe
boilers and that when cold water was bein
introduced, as was being done at the tim
t of the accident, the rapid generation of
large quantity of steam caused the e>
} plosion.