The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1891-02-12
SHAKENED UP.
AN ENGINE EXPLODES AT THE DE-
POT.

Our town was shaken as by an
earthquake on Friday night about
9:15 O'Clock. The trembling of
buildings was accompanied by a loud
noise. Conjecture as to the cause
was prevalent. However, it was
soon ascertained that locomotive
No. 80, named ''Kennesaw," on the
W. & A. R. R., had exploded at the
depot, at the railroad crossing, near
the Kennesaw Hotel.
The engine had just arrived, south
bound, drawing freight cars. The
engineer, Mr.. Woolbright, and the
conductor, had gone into the tele-
graph Office to get orders, while the
fireman, w. J. Collum, remained on
the engine and was putting coal in
to the furnace, when the explosion
took place.
The fireman was blown out of
the cab, across the railroad track,
about fifteen yards. He was picked
up and carried to the hotel, being
considerably stunned, but otherwise
uninjured, and he soon returned to
the engine, The telegraph operator
was knocked from his seat and made
to feel unpleasant, The engine was
complete wreck-pieces were bent,
torn and blown away. A piece of
boiler struck the ceiling of the pro-
truding depot roof, knocking guam
tity of it of. Nearly all the glass
in the wooden buildings adjoining
Mr.. Chuck Anderson's livery stable
we've broken out. Frank Rogers
barber shop Jared badly. The win
dows were blown out and his barber
shop furniture and mirrors were
demolished. Glass in the windows
of Mr.. Chuck Anderson's livery
stable building were shattered.
Pieces of boiler struck the Kenne-
saw Hotel and the front doors were
blown down. All the glass in the
windows of the hotel, fronting the
railroad, were broken and shatter-
ed. The building presented a bad
ly disfgured condition. Mr.. Walter
Thornton and family occupied a
corner room in the hotel and were
badly frightened. A piece of the
brass guard railing, about 20 feet
long, was blown over the Kennesaw
House to Dallas street and cut the
telephone wires and lodged in a
tree. The force Of the explosion
went down and up which tended to
lessen the damaging results.
The cause of the explosion is not
fully known. The engine was an
old one and weakened by long use.
The engineer says when he left the
engine to go into the telegraph office,
there were 100 pounds of steam and
four cages of water shown. An old
expert who viewed the wreck said it
appeared as if there was too much
water. The engineer is a young man
and has been but recently promoted,
this being his third run since his
promotion.
The conclusion was terrific and
alarmed our people no little. Mr..
B. A. Orsborn, who lives three miles
east of Marietta, said he heard the
explosion distinctly.
If the accident had happened in
the day time, the damage to life
might have been very destructive !;
as it was, the rain was falling and at
915 our people were all off the
streets. Mayor Glover had just
passed across the track ahead of the
engine and reached the electric light
plant, when the explosion occurred.
The damage to property in the i'm
mediate vicinity is not great, but
sufficient to make an ngly appear
ance,
The new lessees seem to be hav-
ing hard luck. Collisions and wrecks
have frequently occurred.
Merit Wins.