Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-07-16
FIRST ACCIDENT.
Four Men Hurt at the Gracey-
Woodward Furnace.
The Roof to the Pig Pen Comes Down
With a Crash, Carrying Car
penters With 1t.

building OF this furnace had been
attended with better luck than any
one he had ever superintendent. Up
to four o'clock yesterday evening
there had not been a single accident,
which fact was being commented on
by all connected with the big enter
prise.
About four o'clock last evening,
however, the first accident came.
Carpenters were putting the roof on
the pig pen. This is room 50x150
feet and is enclosed by brick walls
about twenty feet high. The design
is to cover the room with sheet-iron
roof, and the frame work for this
roof had nearly been put up. The
frame consists of iron girders, and
rafters of the same material. The
girders reach from one side of the
wall to the other, resting on the top
Of the same. The rafters are rivett d
to the Orders at each end and ex-
tending upward from the desired an
gle for the slope of the roof. There
are eight sets of rafters and all had
gone up with the exception OF the
one next the furnace proper, which
could not be put up until the pig-pen
was connected with the furnace.
Four men were engaged when the
accident happened, boiling wooden
streamers, on the iron rafters, to
which the roof was 10 be nailed.
The streamers run the full length of
the pen and they had been nearly all
bOlted down, the roof frame conse-
quently resembling net work of
wood and iron. From some cause,
seemingly unknown to the workmen,
the structure fell, coming down in
side the walls and tearing away
many bricks from the top of same.
There were two men on top of the
roof when the crash came and two
beneath it. Those on top were j. ID.
Drake, white carpenter who lives
on Greenwood avenue, and Eve
Nolen, colored. Those below ere
Watson Payne ane Jack Murphey,
both cOlored. Nolen was caught I'M
der the debris and was pinned to the
ground, it taking the crowd that soon
collected some time to extricate him.
He was injured internally; had an
arm mashed and sustained numerous
bruises about the body. j. ID. Page
escaped with slight bruises. Wat,
son Payne was hurt in the side,
possibly rib or two broken, and
one of his feet was so severely
crushed that it became nee
essary to amputate two of his
toes. Jack Murphey sustained
bad cut on bis forehead, had an
arm twisted and was internally in
jured.
An impr0vised bed was made of
whatever material could be secured
and the wounded men were borne TO
it, under the car shed, and were at
tended by Drs. G. w. Beaumont and
f. G. Runyon.
The men all live in the city, and
after physicians had bandaged them
up they were put in wagons and
conveyed to their homes.
The injured men are all getting
along well to-day and will all recov-
er. Jack Murphey and Eve Nolen
are hurt worse than the othes, but
the physicians do mot apprehend any
thing serious with either.
1t lisa miracle that some one was
not killed. Only a few minutes be-
fore the roof fell there were some
eight or ten men at work in the pen,
and had the collapse come at that
time some of them would have I'M
doubtedly met death.
The loss to the Furnace Company
by the accident will not be over
$500, if that much, and the proprie-
tors are thankful that it was no
worse. Accidents are usually COM
mon where heavy work of this kind
is being carried on and man or two
is usually killed in some of them.
The Gracey-W Woodward Co. has been
fortunate so far IN preventing acct
dents this furnace is nearly compile
ted and this is the first one.