The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-12-20
A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
The Boiler at The Rhode Island Per-
kins Horseshoe Works.
NELSON GUDS0N KILLED.
Very Exciting Occurrence mt Valley Falls
Last neutrality-suspicious. Man Lost
Finger and the Noise Aroused the
Community-shock Felt for Miles.

At 6:o0 last night deafening detona-
tion shook the houses of Valley Falls to
their very roof-tops, and as crowds Of ex-
cited men. women and children came
pouring forth, il was learned that one OF
the huge boilers in the Perkins Horse
Shoe Works had exploded, and that one
man had been killed. and, said excited
imagination, many others were wounded.
For two, square miles the earth had been
haken, and windows and sashes had
been shattered and thrown TO the ground.
Intense excitement prevailed. and "A rush
was made for the scene OF the disaster.
There a scene of desolation met the eyes
OF the Mortified spectators. one dis-
mantled boiler lay 200 feet away In the
Blackstone river, and a gaping hole in the
top of the engine house showed plainly
how il had taken its flight. The boiler
room was badly wrecked. but still stood
partly erect.
Ii was at 6 o'clock last night that the
men left the mill and soon after the
watchmen and the night flremen came on
duty. The fremen take charge OF the
fires as they ars left for the night. The
explosion occurred in the rolling mill.
which is n mammoth shed covered with
strips of corrugated iron. There are
thirteen furnaces In there used for melt
ing scrap. They are large fire-brick
structures and the waste heat IL used in
generating steam for running the en-
gines Iron cylinder boilers surmount
the furnaces.
At 3 O'Clock the last pour is made and
the men clean mp the machines and turn
them over TO the night men. The hre
boxes are located beneath the furnaces,
and in order to clean them out 1t is nec-
essary TO climb down into pit. Thomas
Hines, 'one of the three regular night
firemen was Oft duty last night owing TO
sickness and his place was supplied by
Nelson Gudson, a Frenchman, who re
sides at Central Falls. Gudson was
down in the pit in the act Of drawing the
fires when the explosion occurred.
Just how it happened no one knows.
There were several men about the place,
but none OF them has "A definite idea OF
how IL occurred. They all relate that
there was sudden roar like the explosion
of hundred cannon, and horrible rock
ing of the building-then the men picked
themselves up from the floor, where they
had been thrown by the concussion, and
made simultaneous rush for the rolling
room, where they knew that the
explosion must have occurred.
Down in the pit below one OF the
boilers they found the mangled body OF
Gudson covered with seething friedrich.
lie was unconscious but mumbled few
delerious words. Medical Examiner Gar
vim was summoned and an examination
of the hapless mans body was made.
lie was badly burned and scalded from
head to foot, and four scalp wounds ap'
peared on his head. He died la few
moments without recovering conscious
ness.
The present works, which amount in
reality TO vast iron covered shed, were
erected after the fire six years ago. Thei
cover large space OF ground, the floor
being constructed of dirt and plate iron.
In the middle Of the large mill roof was
IA gaping hole. through which the boiler
had taken its flight. One boiler was
found partially submerged in the river,
200 feet away. About 100 feet distant
lay second boiler hardly injured exc pit
for few cracks and in the boiler pit was
seen the ruins of third. The force tina,
sent the two boilers crashing through
the sheet iron roof must have been ire
mendous.
John Roberts. another fremen had a
finger broken by flying brick Non,
others except the two firemen were In
jured. The company will sustain u los
Of about $, 900