The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1898-12-02
EXPLOSION OF A BOILER
Six Persons Killed on q
Stockton Steamboat.
MANY DANGEROUSLY WOUNDED
v,ct,u,s oS the Accident Were Scald ed
to Death-The Heartren ding Scenes
Among the Sufferers.

among Che SuAoA0AsA
Stockton, CAL, Nov. 29.-The most
disastrous river accident in the history
of Stockton occurred this morning at
4:20 O. clock, near Fourteen-Mile slough,
when a part of one of the boilers of the
river steamer T. G. Walker, which left
San Francisco at 6 O'Clock last night,
was blown out, killing six and danger
ously wounding / persons, while prob
ablysl5 or 90 Others were more Or less
badly hurt. The T. G. Walker is owned
by the California Navigation & I'M
provement Company, and ran between
San Francisco and Stockton. The
dead are:
John Tulan, captain of the T. G.
Walker; Ferdinand Law, of Seattle;
W. A. Blunt, the agent in charge of
shipping of sugar beets from the Moss
tract to the Crockett factory; Watson
H. Henry, of Stockton, engineer of the
T. G. Walker; Mrs. Henry Watson,
wife of the chief engineer; Jerry
Daley, fireman.
Ten were wounded.
The majority of the passengers were
in bed when the explosion occurred,
and were awakened by the report,
which was as loud as cannon's roar.
People rushed from their rooms in
their night clothes and found the whole
forward portion of the steamers upper
works blown away. The electric lights
had been put out, and the escaping
steam enveloped the front portion of
the boat, till it was impossible to see
how much of the boat had been dam
aged. The screams of the men who
were locked in their rooms near the
pilot-house were heartrending.
Captain John Tulan had been blown
from his bed against the door of the
stateroom, and so seriously injured that
he could not move. The door could
not be forced open, as he was jammed
up against it. One of the employees of
the boat secured an axe and cut the up
per part of the room away, and finally
removed him, but not until he was viz
tually roasted alive. When pulled out,
the flesh dropped from his bones in
large pieces, and although he was suf-
fering excrutiatingly he bore it bravely,
and not groan escaped him as he was
taken out of the steam.
Watson II. Henry, the chief engineer,
and his wife, were in their room near
the pilot-house when the explosion o.
CURED. Mrs. Henry was blown through
the roof. The flooring was blown up
wards. and she was hurled with great
violence a distance of fully 20 feet,
kox sIs he hox of ha Gho
horribly crushed by the force of the ex-
plosion, and also badly scalded by es-
Gaping steam. Her injuries proved
fatal at 1890 this afternoon. She re-
tained consciousness until a few mo-
ments before her death. Her suffer
ings were so intense that she begged
the physicians in attendance to end her
life, but all that could be done was to
deaden the pain by the use of narcotics.
Mr.. Henry was terribly scalded. He
was blown some distance away, but
not as far as was his wife. He died
shortly after being brought to this city.
W. A. Blunt was instantly killed.
He was standing On the lower deck, as
he intended making landing short
distance above the place where the ex-
plosion occurred.
Jerry Daley, the fireman, was in the
freehold of the boat when the accident
occurred. The escaping steam COM
pletely enveloped him, scarcely a. por-
tion of his body escaping the scalding
vapor. He died at the receiving hos
pital at 1916 this afternoon. He had
been in the employ of the California
Navigation & improvement Company
for about ID years.
Underneath the lower decks, where
the deck hands slept, the groans and
screams were heartrending. The un-
fortunate imprisoned men were receiv-
ing the full effect of the steam as it
came from the boilers. Eight of them
were almost roasted alive. Those who
were able made their way to the deck
as best they could, while the more seri-
ously injured were unable to get out.
The exposed poftions of their bodies
suffered the most. The arms and faces
of those near the main entrance were
frlghtfully scalded. Coratti Dominica.
who was on the lower deck, was blown
into the water, and had to swim ashore
after his back was terribly scalded.
Louis Brizzolana, in company with
Charles Maagini and wife, was standing
near the pilot-house on the texas deck.
The force threw him to one side, but
not until he was badly burned about
the body. Fortunately, Mr.. Maggini
and his wife escaped without go much
as scratch, though both were thrown
down by the concussion.