The Portland daily press., 1892-10-12


Escaped-Great Iron Beamsl Were
Hurled Hundreds of Feet Into the
Air-The Money Loss Reaches Hun
dreds of Thousands.
BANGOR. Me-, October ia great
disaster, accompanied by the loss of hui
man life, has befallen eastern Maine.
This morning, at II minutes to o'clock,
one of the three digesters in the pulp
mill at Basin Mills, in Orono, about six
miles from this city, burst with terrific
force. Two men lost their lives, five
were badly injured, and others received
slight wounds. The accident came
without the slightest warning. The
crew of $50 men or more were at work
as usual, thinking of no danger, which
came as suddenly and unexpectedly as
would a thunderbolt froma clear sky.
How the men who are alive escaped
from the ruins without fatal injuries is a
marvel.
The pulp mill which consisted of a
machine room, blow pit room, digester,
boiler and acid rooms is about the same
as ruined. The digester room S3x30
feet, steam engine room 48x41, wet ma
chine room 131x20, are all one mass of
debris. Water was at once turned onto
the furnaces and there was no fire. The
hook and ladder truck was summoned to
the scene to help overhaul the ruins
and
Bring Out the Dead and Dying.
The acid tower is standing, but it must
be shaken so that it will be necessary to
rebuild it.
The terrific force of the explosion is
shown by the fact that a double steel
beam, which is thirty feet in length and
weighs from ton and quarter to a ton
and half, was thrown a distance of 200
feet, and some think it must also, to have
landed where it now is, been thrown over
the acid tower, which is nearly 100 feet
in height.
One piece of bronze weighing one ton
was sent high into the air, and, as it fell,
buried itself eight feet in solid earth.
The top of the digester, weighing over
one ton, was hurled quarter of a mile,
and falling upon a boom of logs, crushed
them. Another piece of bronze. said to
weigh three tons, was thrown over an
eighth of mile, while some machinery
was driven a quarter OF a mile OF more
across Penobseot River.
The scene was not unlike those in the
coal mines where explosions occur, for
while the wounded and dying were heard
people feared to approach, dreading other
explosions. After time the throng ap-
preached and the dead and injured were
taken out. 1t was found that the ma
chinery had been scattered broadcast,
and, but for the fact that the plant occu-
pied point of land projecting into the
Penobscot river, isolated from the settle
ment at Basin Mills, much other damage
would have been done.
William Eddy of Orono was among the
first found. His work was that of as
gester room at the time the explosion oc-
Cured. He was thrown some distance,
and was found near the large engine in
the engine room, which is at the left of
the digester room. Buried in the ruins
as he was, it was hard to get at him to
lend assistance, and being unconscious
and many bones broken he could not
help himself. With the assistance of
several men he was
Finally Freed From the Ruins
and taken at once in team to his home.
Medical attendants were at hand but all
to no avail and he died about ten minutes
after he reached the house. Mr.. Eddy
was young man about % years old and
unmarried.
In searching in the ruins a few min
utes after Eddy was discovered, the men
came upon the body of Richard Zine.
who was also an assistant cooker
and was in the digester room
His body was also near the engine
room, and the sight that the men were
called to look upon was sickening one.
One side of his face was completely blown
off and the remains were entirely un-
recognizable but it was decided who he
was by the clothing he had on and find
ing him where they did. 1t was evident
that he was instantly killed and must
have struck with a piece of the iron from
the digester.
The seriously wounded are:
WALTER SMITH.
EDWARD FARRELL.
WILLIAM FARRELL.
AUSTIN WHITMoRE.
WILLIAM BUCHANAN.
j. MCQUINN.
The explosion sounded, so people say,
not unlike the rumble of an earthquake,
and houses in the town many rods away
were shaken, dishes were ratified, and
doors slammed. The first impression of
many was that an earthquake had oc-
CURED. The power of the explosion
must have been great to have been felt
at such distances.
AS one looks upon the crushed build
ing, he wonders and can hardly believe
that from all this mass of brick, mortar,
iron. and heavy timbers hundred and
TWENTY-FIVE or more men escaped with
ont SO much as scratch. It was truly