The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-03-19
Instantly Killing Brakeman Kane
and Conductor Winkenwer-
den, OF Butte.
And Fatally Injuring Engineer
Paul Fetherkile and Fireman
James Mulli2an.
The Accident Occurred on tho Montana
Union Track at Dublin Gulch Water
Tank at Butte.
Special TO The Independent.

Epsoial to The independent
BUTTE, March lS.--At four O'Clock this
morning the boiler Of freight engine on
the Montana Union exploded, killing two
men and seriously injurinQ two more. The
engine was standing on the track at the
Dublin gulch water tank. The engine WAS
No. 15O and was going toward the Anaconda
mines on the hill with twelve empty cars
and crew OF five, consisting of the
engineer and fireman, two brakcmen and
the conductor. or these five two were
instantly killed by the explosion and two
seriously injured. The only ono who
escaped WAS Ed Smith. the rear brakeman,
who was standing on the last car. The
dead are John Kane, brakeman; G. w.
Winkenwsrden, conductor; the injured
are Paul detherkile. engineer, and
Jas. MulliRan. fireman. Tho mon
were all blown In south
easterly direction with terrific force,
and Kane's body WAS picked up over 100
yards down the hill. He was blown clear
over the section house and two ether
houses. Winkenwerden struck tho section
house, which stands about 100 feet from the
water tank with suoh force US to cave in
the side of II. His head was fattened out
and his brains were scattered over the eide
Of the building. Fstherkile. the engineer,
was found between the two tracks about
150 feet from the wreck. His injuries con-
sist Of fractured skull. a compound flac-
ture OF the left leg, a broken nose and
three bad scalp wounds. The operation
OF trepaninR his skull was per.
formed this evening, and It is
thought that he may recover. Null
ligan, the fireman. was blown clear
over the section house. but will probably
escape with his life. He has a broken COL
lar bone, fracture Of the external table Of
the skull and scalp wound. nine inches
long. Both Mulliean and Fetherkile were
horribly soalded by the steam and their
fesh hangs in shreds. Every hair on Null
liRan's head was taken off by the steam.
MulliRan has a brother working in the
Northern Pacific round house at Helena.
Tho immense boiler went up into the
air at least fifty feet and after turning
completely over came down on the water
tank. which it completely demolished, and
rolled over on the side opposite the track.
From the opinion of those competent tc
judge. vino examined the wreck. there mp
pears to he no doubt that II WAS
caused by lack of water in
the boiler. Everything points to the
fact that 1t was red hot when the engineer
started to inject water into it from the ten
der. The boiler iron appeared as if it had
been heated rcd hot. The valves of the
injector were partly opened and the water
tender was partly full of water after the
wreck, showing that at thu time OF the
explosion water was being injected into
the boiler. The crown sheet appears to
have been rcd hot. The force of the explo-
sion twisted the tough metal into every
imaginable shape. Examination of the
flues also indicates that the boiler was
empty when water was taken on. Tho stav
bolts unmistakably show that they had
been overheated and tho officials of the
road are of the opinion that low water was
the cause.
The engineer says that he was Just start
ing up and his hand on tho throttle whom
the explosion occurred. When he was
picked up he had his oil can in his hand
and some claim that he was oiling up al
the time Of the explosion. Kane and Null
ligan were both new men here and this was
their second trip out. The other two have
been in the employ OF the road for some
years. An inquest will be held ON Monday
to determine the cause of the explosion.