The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1900-04-05
THREE MEN KILLED
IN AN EXPLOSION
Bodies Were Badly Mhilated and
Boiler Left Intact.
ACCIDENT A QUEER ONE
Five Tons Of Iron Sailed Through
Air Four Hundred Yards.

An Atlanta dispatch says: Inree
men were killed by boiler explosion
at the brick yard of the G. O. Will
liams Lumber company, on the Chat
tahoochee River trolley car line, about
four miles from the city, shortly after
II o'clock Monday morning.
The explosion was terrific one, the
boiler flying through the roof OF the
engine room and striking the earth
nearly 500 feet away from the brick
yard. The boiler weighed nearly five
tons, and was of si1ty-horse power.
The accident was undoubtedly q
most remarkable one, as not break
can be found in the boiler. When the
coroner was investigating the affair he
heard hints of the explosion having
been probably caused by dynamite,
but this was merely vague suspicion.
The three men killed were:
John NJ. Smith, white, aged about
ifty-six years.
Walter Evans, white, twenty-one
years old.
James Perkins, white, twenty-five
years old.
Five negroes were injured, but it
is thought none will die.
Perkins was killed instantly. Smith
lived about five minutes, and Evans
died about four hours after the acci-
dent.
The manner in which the three men
were crushed and mutilated, and the
great distance the heavy iron boiler
was hurled through the air, showed
the terrific force of the explosion. A
remarkable feature of the accident was
the fact that although such force was
evident, yet the boiler itself was but
little injured. It seems to have risen
straight up from its foundations, pass
ed through the roof OF. the building
and then shot toward the car line.
clearing a negro cabin and the trolley
wires and landing upon its end. When
it struck the ground it bounded up
and planted itself in the earth several
feet away.
The cause of the accident is not
definitely known, but it is believed
the cold water must have been turned
into the hot boiler when it was empty
or nearly so.
Unfortunately the accident happen
ed at time when.the engine had been
shut down for a few moments for re-
pairs, and nearly all the employers
were standing near it.
Mr.. Smith was found lying against
a pile of lumber fully 40 feet away
from where the boiler bad been. he
was standing withing four feet of the
boiler when it exploded. He was
badly mangled.
The body of James Perkins was
found wrapped around a post about
ten feet away from the engine. 1t had
been whirled with great force against
the big post and death was instantane-
GUS. No limbs were torn from the
body, though one of his arms and both
legs hung only by small shreds OF
flesh.
Walter Evans was found about thirty
feet away, where he had been thrown
with great force. BE was resting
against a pile of brick, and it is
thought that he struck the brick head
first, as his head was badly mashed.
Blood was flowing from many wounds,
too, on his body. He was sent to bis
home and died shortly afterward.
The negroes who were injured were
found at different places about the
yard. Some were badly scalded, while
others were injured by flying debris.
All of the six men we're painfully and
severely hurt.