Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-27
IN A BATH OF FIRE.
Nine Workmen Fearfully Burned at
Carnegie's Homestead Mill.
FOUR OF THEM FATALLY INJURED.
A Shower Of Over Six Tons Of Metal F6lls
From the Converter.
PRESENCE OF MIND SAVES A LIFE

Inc converting mill at the dOmesIeaO
steel works, of Carnegie, Phipps & Co, was
the scene yesterday morning of another Of
those terrible accidents which visit the
plant at irregular intervals Over dozen
men were working in the pit when skull
fell from the shield in front of the con-
verter, sPilling IL, 800 pounds of the molten
metal, which, when 1t struck the water
below, few in every direction, burning
nine employees in frightful manner, four
of them fatally. The names of the victims
and their injuries are:
ALBERT WILLIAMS, foreman; IS. married.
two children; fatally burned about the face
and body. -
ANDREW sTOFFIELD, married. ono child;
fatally burned about face and shoulders.
ARTHUR McGUIRK, %, single; fatally
burned all over the body.
PETER WOODS, IS years old, married.
two children; fatally burned over entire
body.
JOHN Gw1NN, severely burned. "
FRANK ABLE, 16 years old; painfully burned
about legs.
JAMES BAIRD, married; one child; 2s years
old: back and side burned.
JOHN SHIELDS, aged 81, married. two chill
dren; burned about head and shoulders.
THOS. HARDY, married, two children; face
Eand shoulders burned.
Cause of tho Accident.
The falling of the skull or debris from the
shield on the pressure pipe that feeds. the
hydraulic ram used in manipulating the
converter broke off the pipe and caused the
converting vessel to dip and precipitate its
contents to. the pit below. The seething
mass came in contact with the dampened
earth forming the bottom of the pit, and the
explosion followed, scattering the stuff in
all directions, soaring and soaring many of
the mill men.
One etalwart fellow was eating his lunch
at the time, and seeing the vessel tilt. he
rolled over and over, and escaped without
spark falling upon him. When he returned
to the scene he found that his dinner bucket
filled with metal. ..r =.
The converter in use at the Homestead
works consists of vessel in shape resem-
bling a bottle with the heck somewhat
shortened and slightly bent over sideways;
this is made of boiler plate and lined in
side with peculiar sandstone called by the
men 'gumster." The base of the bottle is
removable, being kept in position by bolts
and nuts; this being removed, core is
fitted concentrically within the shell, and
the moistened "gumster" rammed lightly
in.
Description Of the Converter.
The bottom is double, constituting an air
chamber or "blast box, the top portion of
which is perforated cast iron plate, into
which are fitted tuyeres, consisting of
slightly conical elongated bricks or plugs,
perforated longitudinally with holes of
slight diameter and fixed in at the thicker
end. The blast is communicated to the
blast box by curved tube reaching thereto
from the hollow trunnion box, inside which
one of the trunnions of the converter lies;
the other trunnion has a cogged wheel or
pinion attached, by means of which the ves-
sci can be rotated on toothed rack gearing
into the pinion and being worked directly
by hydraulic pressure.
Among the men burned Yesterday morn
ing were those who have been scared and
SCARED on several occasions, and AL Will
Jams, the foreman, had on one occasion the
shirt burned off his back. He is the brother
of Ed Williams, who was burned to death
last September.
About ten years ago, before the Carnegies
had control of the Homestead plant, Joshua
Davis was killed by skull falling from the
same place. Since that time men have been
employed to keep the shield free from these
accumulations, but Of late the firm has taken
these men of.
A dispatch from Homestead late last night,
said: Andrew Stofield died at o'clock
this evening. Arthur McGuirk will not
live until morning The recovery Of the
other men seriously injured is considered
very doubtful.