The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-01-07

Special Dispatch to the 1htelligencer.
sIsTERsYILLE, W. Va. Jan. GA
terrible accident occurred in the Ben
wood oil field this morning about 10
o'clock, when one OF the boilers of the
Fisher oil Company, on the David How
ell lease exploded and Killed two men and
injured several others. The intelligence
OF the affair reached here few minutes
after 10 o'clock and there was a great
deal of excitement for long time, until
1t was learned who che killed and in
jured were, as there are large number
of people working over there whose
homes are in this city, The story Of the
explosion as well as could be learned
was that early this morning a gang OF
the Fishers men went to The Howell No.
3. to connect up the boiler, and at the
time OF the accident were busy at work,
and one of the men was on top OF the
boiler assisting to make the connec-
tions.
Five people were about the boiler and
every one of them was either killed or
badly injured. william Austin. the man
who was on top Of the boiler was
thrown UP into the air a distance of 200
feet, and when he alighted was 500 feet
away from where the explosion took
place. Sam Blgler, the other man kill
ed the farm boss for the Fisher com
pany, was also thrown up Into the air q
considerable distance, and struck the
ground about the same distance away as
Austin. Both Of the men were dead and
had been mangIed IN terrible way by
the flying debris from the boiler.
The Injured men were James Nolan, a
driller; Sam Hlnkle, a tool dresser, and
Eugene Emery, a Toustabout. At the
time the explosion occurred Emery was
standing out in the open about thirty
feet from the boiler, holding two inch
line pipe, and was knocked down by the
conclusion and very seriously scalded.
In addition his right eye was blown from
his head, and he suffered great many
flesh wounds about the body. He is
perhaps the worst hurt OF any OF those
who were injured and there IS posi-
bilIty that he will not recover from the
shock and the injuries received.
Samuel HInkle, the tool dresser was
standing near the boiler at the time It
exploded and was literally tilled with
small pieces OF iron and other debris,
and Is so severely injured that he viii
have a hard struggle to pull through
with his life
The driIler. James Nolan, was in the
rig at the well at the time the boiler
went up and E.a was pretty badly hurt by
the fying debris. but will recover. He
was walking about short time after the
explosion.
4 few minutes before the explosion oc-
Cured C. C. Stover, the superintendent
of the Fisher company, and Art Fisher,
one of the firm Of the Fisher OIL Com
pany, were al the boiler house and had
been directing work. They had left the
place not more than five minutes before
the accident occurred and were only
about a mile away when the accident
happened. Several rouStabouts OF the
company were also at the place early in
the morning and had been working
there. they. too, had left, having been
sent over 10 another farm By the super
Intendent 70 do some work there.
After the eplosiOn occurred II was
found that the boiler had been blown
into the air. and that there were pieces
of II hundreds of yards away, The
largest pleca OF the boiler found was ly-
ing pt a distance OF about 800 feet from
the scene OF the explosion. 1t seems that
Benwood Is fated. There have been a
number OF accidents occurred over there
during the past few months and all OF
them have been serious, but none fatal.
The latest tragedy In that field was the
killing of three men by drinking a lot OF
essence OF cinnamon In lieu OF Whisky