New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-10
WOMEN KILLED BY BOILER
EXPLOSION WRECKS CITY PUMPING
STATION IN QUEENS.
ALkAII u WATER THOUGHT TO HAVE
EATEN IRON TO A SHELI~-THIRTEEN
CHILDREN FATHERLESs.

Two men were killed and one OF the pumping
stations Of the cty's water supply system in
Queens Borough totally destroyed by an eX-
plosion early yesterday. One Of the two big
boilers which furnished the power for the pump
blew up. Windows were shattered I'm buildings
half mile away
Those killed were: William Dhby. forty-lVe
years old. married five children, of No. 1s@ East
Fourth-st. Long Island City, engineer Of the
plant: James Nelson. forty. same address mar
ried. eight children. fireman.
The men were killed At $50 o'clock, just thir-
ty-one minutes after they had gone on duty.
The plant was in a brick building. fifty by nifty
feet on the ground floor plan. and having a
maximum height of thirty feet. In il were the
two boilers each OF 125 horsepower generating
capacity. and feet in diameter and - feet
long The plant night and day, three
shifts of an engineer and fireman operating II.
Thomas Carroll and James Larsen. who took
charge at midnight. had trouble with en-
gines boilers when Dihby and Nelson ap-
peared Carroll and Larsen left the building az
quickly as they could wash mp When the ex-
plosion came the building ripped TO pieces.
Bricks from it flew a thousand feet. The boiler
which exploded leaped two hundred feet from
its bed, while the other, which dead" at the
time was lifted from its foundations and driven
hundred feet in the other direction.
II is presumed that at the moment ~ the eX-
plosion Nelson was coaling the boiler or else
standing directly in front of the door of the
1irebox His body was hurled about one hun
dred and ffty feet in a straight line from the
spot where ne is supposed to have been stand
ing. On top of him lay the heavy iron door OF
the hrebox.
Dihby was evidently olling the pump. as when
hanging across the pump. The top OF his skull
had been sliced off probably by one OF the pieces
of steel almost as cleanIy as II by a surgeons
knife. Despite this, he still alive when he
was reached.
Trees standing near the building we're broken
off as il by cyclone. Eight hundred feet away
was row % greenhouses The glass in these
in many cases was reduced almost a powder.
An ambulance from St. Johns Hospital was
called, and into it We're placed the body Of the
dead fireman and the unconscious engineer The
latter died an hour later in the hospital. Alex
aAder Williams, superintendent Of the Astoria
Veneer Works. the person nearest to the
building. save for its occupants. He says he
was looking at the building when Il suddenly
resolved Itself into cloud Of steam brick and
dust, and instantly there was a rush Of air
which staggered him and a roar which dea fened
him. He ran 10 the nearest fire alarm box and
turned ia a call. and then hurried 10 the station
o-3ir. Already persons from all directions We're
ne cause OF the explosion IS believed to have
been the gradual eating away of the inside OF
the boilers by the strong salts and alkalie5 with
which the water from that pumping station il
iulpTeSaated. Boiler owners all through that
section Of Queens Borough have for years com
plained about the water They have declared
that il faxed the interior OF their boilers and
N the tubes so rapidly TO be positive men
ace 20 their plants Some Of them went to great
expense 10 have the pipes OF n private water
company to their plants.
An engineer who examined the wrecked boiler
said that he judged the shell had originally been
made Of three eighths inch steel, but that the
six or seven years OF scaling had worn II down
20 a sixteenth Of an inch, and even then there
we're pits in the steel which must have reduced
this thickness to a thiTty-seCOnd of an inch. In
fact, the boiler almost thin IN places as
ordinary wrapping paper.
The destruction OF the plant viii not seriously
affect the water supply in Astoria as the other
pumping stations Will be able to maintain the
pressure unless there IS unusual consumption in
which case there VIII probably be a scarcity In
the upper stories of houses. II is probable that
the destruction % the plant viii result in q
general inspection OF those boilers throughout
the Astoria section which have been using the
water.