The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-01
BIG BOILER EXPLODES
CITIZENS COMPANY's NEW POWER
HOUSE PARTIALLY WRECKED.
Employees Escape Serious Injury
Street-Car Service Crippled Temp
orariIy-Damage About $4,000.

power nOuSc Ol the III
liens Street Railroad Company exploded
yesterday afternoon shortly before 4
o'clock, causing an estimated damage of
$1,000. slightly injuring three men and Grip
ping the street-car system for several
hours. Tn power house. a very large
building situated on Noble street and
White river. is divided into two sections.
the engine and dynamo room and the boil
er room. The boilers are in that part of
the room which forms an IL and extends
about thirty feet to the east of the rest of
the building. The structure is rooted with
sheet-iron. and the upper part of the walls
are also made of 1t, the lower parts being
constructed of brick. and about a foot
thick. The boilers are in the corn
er, and between them and the brick
walls is a space Of about eight
feet. The boilers join. and in the
rear is the heavy sheet-iron chimney. sew
enty-five feet high and resting on heavy
beams with a brick foundation underneath.
best and strongest material that could
be procured was used in the erection of
the building, and the foundation for the
boilers, as the latter are large. being
twelve feet wide, twenty feet high and
twenty feet long. The sides of the boilers
were supported by brick and natural gas
was used for heating.
Michael Egan, the engineer, John Gal
lagher. the fireman, and Gas Inspector
Murphy were standing in front Of the boil
ers when the explosion occurred. Egan and
Murphy had just xamine the gas gauge
and found the pressure to be four ounces.
At the same time Gallagher took the steam
pressure, which was 12O pounds. No others
were in the boiler room. but there were
several employees in the dynamo room. This
was the situation when there came a deaf
ening report that was plainly heard in the
central part of the city and for al radius
Of several miles around. The brick walls
of the south boiler were forced out, and
this in turn struck the wall of the building
and shattered 1t. The smokestack was left
standing in a dangerous position. The
sheet-iron On the walls and the roof was
pierced with flying material, and holes ten
feet wide were made. One of the heavy
doors on the south boiler was blown off.
The three men were knocked down and
stunned. Their escape was narrow. as the
door blown from the south boiler fell be-
tween Gallagher and Murphy. General
Manager Mclean, who happened to be in
the barn office. together with all the en-
ployes at that end Of the line, rushed to
the help of the three men. They found
lntlu LYING Oil tie HOOT anu apparently
l~ifeiess. They were removed to the Office,
where restoratives were applied, and they
recovered within a short time. Egan suf-
fered the worst injury, his scalp being
Gallagher received a thorough shaking up,
while Murphy was cut slightly in the face
by pieces of his eyeglasses. which were
shattered.
AS soon as the un,njured employees could
collect themselves the engines were stop
ped, and the power from the following
I'm &c MO- shut IN sui a. a-I CA,.$A
Meridian streets. North Alabama street,
Central and Columbia avenues, Bright
wood, Haughviile and Irvington. Power to
these lines was sooI transferred from 9th
err resources. The service was very irreg-
ular for a time, as the power was not suf-
fcient to run all the cars. This was finally
remedied by taking off ten motors and all
the ~trailers.
The two generators which were used In
the power house of the indianapolis Light
and Power Company before their removal
to the West Washington-street power
house were transferred to the power house
of the forme company last night, and until
the boilers and the building are repaired
the street-car company will get power
from these two generators in addition to
the other resources. 3
John Barnes. an employee, had a narrow
escape from being blown through the roof.
"A few minutes before the explosion oc-
Cured he went on top of the south boiler
10 bake some armature coils. He finished
his work. got down., and had Just reached
the dynamo room when the explosion oc-
CURED. When Michael Egan, the engineer,
recovered, he was sent to the Louisiana.
street power house to work there, and as
he stepped into the building he tainted
He was removed to his home, Nc. IS Lee
street. West Indianapolis. The attending
physician thinks Egan's weak condition Is
due to a nervous shock rather than to in.
ternal injuries. Gallagher and Murphy
were all right at last reports.
General Mana ger McLean' said he could
not tell the exact loss until the wreckag
was cleared away and the masons and boil.
er makers made their estimates of the
damage. He said. however, he did not sun.
pose the loss would amount to more thar
$1,000. Though the cause of the explosion
was not positively known up to a lat
hour last night, yet it was believed that II
was due to a leakage in a gaspipe. Gen,
eral Manager Mclean said the explosion
did not result from an over-pTessure n
either gas or steam. The records of botl
just before the explosion show that tn,
pressure of gas was but four ounces. wher
the limit is eight ounces, and that of stean
but 10 pounds, with a limit of 160 pounds
The work of repairing the damag.
wrought by yesterdays explosion will +,
commenced this morning. 1t will h.
pushed through, night and day, so tn,
officials of the road say, in order that III,
line may be able to handle the race crowd
next week and the State fair crowds w
weeks hence without interruption or de