The Press., 1902-04-10
THIRTY YEARS AGO.
Items of local interest taken from the columns
OF The Press, thirty years ago.l
April IL. 1s7a.

=.
Nelson Towne is about erecting store
house, 32x60, upon his land south Of the
railroad, near South street.
w. d. Heald has purchased the nearly
new house on East Main street, known as
the Bosworth house. Price, $500.
The smaller Of Brady's two cotton warp
mills at West Stafford caught fire on
Monday, and with its contents, was to-
tally destroyed. The fire caught from
one Of the bearings of the water wheel,
which had been started to clear 1t of an
accumulation of Ice that had interfered
with its working. The value OF the prop
erty destroyed will amount to $3.50, 200, a
large proportion OF which is covered by
insurance.
It has been decided to furnish Torrent
Engine company with an engine house by
forming stock association with one hun
dred $25 shares, making the entire stock
$4,000, the association to buy lot, erect
house and rent 1t to the company at a
fair percentage of cost, which it Is ex-
pected will not exceed $1,000 or $500,
and look to an enhancement of real es-
tate prices for the profit. Members of
the company are to have the preference
In procuring stock In the association, and
only moderate assessment on each share
will be called for, most OF the cost of
building being raised by mortgage. The
books for subscription are now open at
Heald & Small's store. There Is no vii
lage of the size in the state that has a
better organized fire company than we
have now, or one made up Of better set
of members. We are glad to say the SUBJ
scriptions now nearly cover the amount
Of indebtedness, that the members are
we'll uniformed at their own expense, and
have fund on hand to go toward fur
nishing their room for holding meetings
In the proposed new engine house.
A most distressing accident occurred
at the Phoenix wooden mill at Hydeville
yesterday, the boiler attached to the dye
house exploding about IL a. m. The
cause of the explosion was no doubt care
lessness in permitting the water in the
boiler to become too low, as few min
utes before the explosion occurred John
Edison, In charge of the boiler, started a
fresh supply from the pumps. The boiler
was an excellent one, as the tremendous
force Of the explosion attested, the boiler
house being completely wrecked, and
great damage done to the main building
and smaller adjacent buildings. With
the exception of the tubular portion and
one large section Of the outside of the
boiler, scarcely a vestige of the boiler
was left within sight of it's former loca-
ton. The tubular part was not moved,
except to lie at right angles with Its POSI-
ton when within the boiler. Fragments
were thrown In every direction, some of
them great distances, the dome, weighing
about 500 pounds, flying several hundred
feet across the stream and the road lead
ing to the Hollow and some distance into
the lot beyond, its location indicating that
1t must have passed directly over large
dwelling house in it's passage through the
air. Other enormous fragments were
thrown with equal force. Mr.. Edison ap-
pears to have let in fresh water and to
have passed around to the other end Of
he boiler, as after the explosion he was
found lying under the debris, the front
upper portion Of his head crushed and the
brains protruding. He lives yet In an un-
| conscious condition, but cannot long sur
| vive. But two others were injured
Frank Smith receiving a broken wrist
and some slight bruises, and Charles Rob-
erts scalds about the head and back and
some bruises. The loss of property it is
difficult to estimate at present. The
amount of personal injury Is providen-
TALLY small, compared with what might
have been expected from such an explo-
sion, there being usually large number
of persons about the vicinity of the boiler.