The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-19
A FIREMAN SCALDED.
Explosion on the Monticello
May Cause Death.
THE MANS TERRIBLE AGONY.
Immersed In Boiling water and steam,
He Grepes His Way Out-Two
other Men Injured.

A pipe in the boiler of the steamer Mon
ticello blew out yesterday morning. Ed
ward Fallihee, q fireman, was terribly
scalded and is now at Providence hospital
suffering intense pain and lowering be-
tween life and death.
At about Sis O'Clock the steamer was
passing Kingston on her way to Port
Angeles. Fallihee, the fireman, was in
the hold at the furnace and the engineer.
Edward Peake about midships and near
where the ladder comes down from the
deck above. Suddenly a jar was felt
throughout tho whole boat, and the hold
was filled with steam in an instant. The
men on deck thought that the boiler had
burst, and for short time general confu-
sion reigned. The engineer called for
Fallihee. and from the black hole and
above the Kissing of the steam came the
words:
II am all right; get out as quick as you
can"
Fallihee was in q dangerous position,
but never lost his nerve nor gave up.
When the explosion took place he was
knocked down by the rushing steam. and
half stunned, found himself living in the
boiling water which came from the pipes.
He raised himself and tried to reach the
narrow passage that runs between the side
of the boat and the boiler. He missed
it, and for brief period was
cropping around in the water
and steam. He kept his mouth closed to
avoid taking the heated air into his lungs,
and after heroic effort reached the ladder,
more dead than alive, and got his head
above deck. His brother Joseph, who
works on the boat, grabbed him as he
appeared and kept him from falling back
into the pit.
A bed was hastily arranged in the
cabin and Fallihee was laid upon it. Over
taxed nature asserted herself and his suf-
ferings commenced. Strong and brave
man that he is. he could not keep from
grooming with pain. The contact of his
body with the bed seemed like file upon
his flesh, and when his clothes were re-
moved SO that Oil could be put upon
his body, face, arms and legs, the
pain overcame him and he lapsed
into delirium and raved in terrible man.
ner. His brother, who stood by his side,
describes his sufferings as the ''agony of
the damned"
The boat was meanwhile floating about
helpless until the tug Mogul, happening
an hour before the tug had the Monticello
on her way back to Seattle. During the
trip the scalded man revived several
times, only to relapse into unconscious
ness, attended by wild rawlings.
The boat reached Seattle little after 10
O'Clock, and Fallihee was taken to Provi-
dence hospital and his wounds dressed.
From the top of his head to the knees
he is scalded; there is no place that
the water or steam did not reach.
His face is terrible to behold, and
conveys an idea of the terrible ordeal
through which he passed. The attending
physician thinks he did not breathe the
steam into his lungs. If subsequent ex-
animation does not disprove this he has a
chance Of recovery. although it will re-
quire weeks of patient suffering.
While the worst results of the accident
fell upon Fallihee, the chief engineers
hands and face suffered, and Capt. q. J.
Hatch stepped into the water and scalded
his ankles.
The accident was due to one of the verti-
cal steam pipes blowing out Of its socket.
Captain Hatch thinks this was due to
imperfect workmanship. This is the second
accident that has happened to the Month
cello, and from the same cause The
first resulted in loss of life, the fireman
dying Of his injuries some time after the
accident. As near as can be learned. the
boat was going about ten miles an hour,
and, it is said, had on 1l6 pounds of steam
The previous accident was caused by the
fireman knocking a cap off when throwing
in wood, but Fallihee says the doors were
closed on this OCCASION.