Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1898-10-27
SEVEN MEN KILLED
Frightful Accident on Tor.
pedo.BOat Davis.
SCALDED IN TIE BOILER-ROOM
Boiler Tube Blows Out with Terrible
Result-No Fault of the Com
tractors Trial Trip.


ward boiler of the torpedo-boat Davis
while on hen official trial trip yesterday
fatally scaldcd seven tiremen.
The dead are: Charles Namely, fire.
man, married; Paul Luithle, fireman,
unmarried; Harry Wood, married;
William Wood, foreman boiler shop,
married; james Ryan. married: Axel
Johnson, married; Albert Buehl. mar
red.
The accident occurred at 40 A.
NJ, while the boat was westward bound.
off Tenas Illihee, near Cathlamet.
She had run one OF the required two
hours AT full speed, and was making
about 23 = knots per hour, under a
steam pressure OF $50 pounds.
Seven tiremen, under the direction
of William Wood, foreman of the boiler
shop of the Wolff IL Zwicker iron
works, were working maniully to
keep up the tremendous steam pressure
necessary to supply the flying engines.
Without moments warning, some
thing inside the boiler gave way, and
whitening blast OF live steam, fire and
smoke filled the cramped boiler-room
and overpowered the helpless workinen.
At the same time, the forward smoke
stack began to yomit forth fame and
muddy water, and those on deck saw
that something serious had happened
below. Harry Burrows, a fireman who
was stationed at the tightly closed
hatch of the boiler-rOom, threw the
door open, and was thrown backward
on the deck hy a rush of scalding steam
that scared his mustache and hair like
red-hot irons.
At the same instant, Joseph Porter,
machinist and J. +. Wolff, vice
president OF the contracting firm, sprang
down the ladder and into the seething
pit regardless of the fearful heat thai
almost overcame them. Together they
lifted Foreman Wood to the hatch,
where dozen pairs OF hands were
waiting to receive him. And then.
one by one, six more horribly mutilated
men were taken from the death trap.
Several of the most severely injured
walked unalded to the after cabin,
where DR.. E. II. Thornton, the COM
pany's physician, who accompanied the
boat, attended to them as rapidly as he
was able to do so. Few We're able to
repress the groans that spoke of their
terrible suffering, but all bore them
selves with the fortitude that men in
time of war call heroisn. The appear
ance of that grim procession, as it filed
along the narrow deck, Is not to he de-
scribed. 1t was a sight that no one on
board will ever forget, and which none
would see again for any price that could
he paid.
DR.. Thornton set about the work of
caring for the injured with GOODNESS and
Judgment, which the strain of long
afternoon did not abate. Naval Con-
structor Spear, of the trial board, stood
by his side through it ALL removing the
tattered clothing, ministering to the
suffering men, rs best he could, bind
ing up their burns and washing the
black SCOT from their faces. Lieuten-
ant Commander f. j. Drake did like
splendid service, and, with such help
as the rest of the crew could give, all
the sufferers We're placed on cushions
in the after cabin and on deck, and the
worst of their pain allayed with hypo-
dermic injections of morphine. But
they We're past help. AT $3.50 Namely
succumbed, followed by Luithle an hour
latear. Harry Wood expired just as a
stfetcher was laid to take him to a
more suitable resting place. The 9th
ers died in the hospital here, where
they had been brought late in the after
noon. The steamer Harvest Queen
towed the Davis from the scene OF the
accident to Astoria.
The accident was unaccountable to
those on board. The contractors have
been careful and painstaking in the con-
struction of the boilers. this being a
branch of their work in which they
have always met with marked success.
They have conscientiously followed all
the rigid requirements laid down by
the government, sufficient proof OF
which is the fact that the boilers have
been constantly under the inspection of
officers OF the navy detailed for that
pun pose. Before they were placed in
the torpedo-boats the boilers were sub
jected to a water pressure of 800 pounds
to the square inch, 40 pounds more
than that at which they were working
at the time of the accident. The crew
volunteered for the service. They have
always been used with fairness and con-
sideration by their employers, and not
one of the men on board but discaimed
the belief that their employers were in
any way responsible for the unfortunate
occurrence.
Winnipeg, Manitoba. Oct. 22.-Of
an estimated yield of from 2G, 900, 600
to 30, 900, 600 bushels of wheat, it is
now calculated that only about S,O00,-
600 will be threshed and the remainder
standing in stacks and shocks, is threat
ened with total destruction.