The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-07-28
FOUR OF THEM ARE DEAD
The Survivor Tells How the I'm
fortunate Men Came to Meet
Their Doom.
THE FIREMAN STUBBORN
He Evidently Discovered he Had Made
a Mistake, but Would Not Submit
to the Judgment of a Sub
Ordinate-A Statement.

The boiler explosion at Packer colliery \,
No. 4, operated by the Lehigh Valley Coal &c
Company Saturday night, has resulted in
the death of four men and terrible scald- Ii
ing of fifth man, but the latter will .
recover. The victims were;
KILLED.
| JOHN MILLER, Girardville; SO years b
fireman killed instantly wife and three !
children.
JOHN LAUBAcH, Shenandoah % years
pumpsman died at his home; single
DARBY SHIELDS, Shenandoah; 40 years
engineer; died at his home; widower /
with six children.
JOHN MALINGO, Shenandoah; % years
ashman; died at the hospital; wife and
two children in Austria.
INJURED.
STEVE SHELsICK, Smoky Hollow 29E
years assistant fireman; will recover 4
wife, but no children.
The boiler which exploded was one of !
nest of twenty-one and was in charge of !
John Miller, the victim who was instantly
killed. This boiler had not been in use
for week and a fire was started under it
but two hours previous to the disaster.
All the victims were in the boiler house.
but only one of them was struck by the
flying debris.
, The explosion occurred at about g
o'clock Saturday night. Residents of the
vicinity say the report was a compari-
lively light one; in fact, two men who
drove along the public highway, which isl
about hundred and fifty yards north of
the boiler house, say that it was escaping
steam and not the noise of an explosion
that attracted their attention, and they
1 continued their journey to this town with
out really knowing what had happened.
t The first to arrive upon the scene after
the explosion were Ma, Foley, an engi.
4 neer, and Nicholas Brennan, the night
watchman, The former was in the Buck
p Mountain engine house a short distance
> northeast of the boiler house and Bren-
nan was at the breaker when the report
i was heard. Foley hurried down the hill
and first met Steve Shelsick, who eN-
n ctedly told the engineer to 20 to the
boiler house as quick as possible, that
Il some men were killed. Shelsick then
| started down the railroad track towards
| Smoky Hollow, running like a deer
i Foley next met Darby Shields. The vic
tim was in terrible agony but was able to
n walk and pleaded pitiously to be taken
home Foley took him as far as the house
3, of Mrs William Baiubridge and that lady
escorted the unfortunate man until she
=, | met her husband at Brownsville. Balm
bridge then walked with Shields to the
latter's home. at 5l4 East Lloyd street
e Meanwhile Foley, Brennan and others
had gathered at the boiler house to help
n the other victims. Miller had evidently
T. died from scalds and shock. His body
+ was found in the boiler house. 1t was
!. carried out and sent to Girardville. John
, Laubach was picked up unconscious He
!, was terribly scalded and had a wound on
y the back of his head which appeared to be
a fracture of the skull As none of the
F. men were hurled any distance, it is
It believed that the injury was inflicted by
flying debris of some kind. John
l. Malingo, the other victim, could not be
IS found, He started on a run TO Shenan-
doah and none of the colliery officials saw
u him again until he arrived at the Miners
= Hospital
Laubach died shortly after reaching his
home on West Coal street, this town.
~ Darby Shields suffered intense agony
le until half past eight o'clock last night
when death relieved him. He was terribly
y, scalded from the head down to the alb
Re domen and his arms were in a very bad
r. condition. MalingO arrived at the
Miners Hospital at Fountain Springs yes
d terday afternoon, some friends having
3 | taken him there in a wagon DR.. Biddle
ii said he was badly scalded from the waist
up and his case was hopeless. Shelsick
was taken to the hospital in the colliery
~ ambulance. His face, chest and arms
~ were pretty badly scalded, but his chances
" for recovery are very good.
!. From the havoc played with human life
10 one would suppose that the boiler house
NJ had been blown TO pieces, but such was
ID not the case. Considering the circum-
stances, the house was in a remarkably
h. good state of preservation. The rear OF
b. east end of the building was knocked out
4. and one of the large smoke stacks Just
outside of that end was knocked to The
ground. About one half the roof was
N stripped OF the shingles, but the rafter'
n remained intact. The rear half of tn,
I boiler fell about twenty feet outside thu
building
&. Hundreds of people visited the seen,
lt yesterday, among them mine officials
from all parts of the valley. Mine In
spectors William Stein and John b
n Granger spent several hours there. For
bf time the cause of the explosion seemed
Nv mystery, but during the day an investi
tn CATION brought out developments whicl
show pretty cOnclusively that the respon
H. sibility for the disaster rested with Miller
H. the fireman.
isl The disaster WAS reported early yester
/ n day morning to w. A. LathrOp, genera
Il superintendent for the Lehigh Vale
1 4 "