The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-06-23
Terrific Boiler Explosion Near
 AttaNa Kills Four Men
THREE DANGEROUSLY HURT
Pieces of Flesh Are Scattered In Every Direction and Handsome Lumber Plant Is Com
 pletely Wrecked.

Gadsden, June 2-(Special )-One of the most disastrous explosions in history of this section occurred at 7.45 o'clock this morning at the large saw mill of the Attalla-Curtis Lumber company, two miles beyond Attalla and seven miles west of Gadsden, in which four men were killed and three dangerously wound- ed. The killed are:
 The Dead.
 Will Rosson, locomotive engineer, head blown off and body horribly mangled; ; leaves wife and four children.
 Marion Maddox, struck in head by scantling and killed
 James Watts, blown one hundred feet. both legs broken and crushed to death J. A. Cash, blown through roof of mill and terribly mangled
 The Injured.
 A. w. Smith, horribly scalded and will die.
 R. M. Wood. cut on head.
 A. W. Crabtree, leg broken and body bruised.
 Barney Works, sawyer head cut
 AtAS nm was NOilpiCltlJ NItCktQ dHu the busy scene of only a few moments before was quickly turned into one of mourning. The scene was most horrible and heartrending. The groans of the wounded were added to by the wailing of wives and children of dead Flesh, bones and brains of the dead were scattered for hundreds of yards and a more deso- late scene could not be pictured,
 The mill was started up at the usual was absent and Will Rosson who ran the locomotive. came in to show the sub stitute how to run the engine. J. B. Parner, foreman, asked Rosson to watch the boiler until he secured another man. Parker returned shortly with A w. Smith and as Parker stepped out the boil CT exploded, carrying death and destruc- tion.
 No Way for Steam to Escape.
 There were three boilers, two of seventy-five horsepower and one of a hundred horsepower. The guages showed two guages of water and ninety pounds of steam. The supposition is that the boiler was not coupled up and there was no way for the steam to escape. Pieces of boiler found after the explosion were red hot. The boiler was blown en- tireiy away and one piece weighing sev- eral hundred pounds was blown five hun dred feet. One fiue twenty feet long was blown five hundred feet, and enter ed the roof of a lumber building and came out few feet further above. Flues could be seen scattered for half a mile, warped into all shapes. The splendid machinery was wrecked beyond repair
 The mli had a capacity of thirty-fve thousand feet of lumber daily and was among the best equipped mills in the state.
 Met With Violent Death.
 Will hossen and A W. Smith were in the engine room when the boiler ex- ploded. Smith was scalded all over and blown several hundred feet and will die Rossen was blown fifty feet, his head cut off by flying timbers and his body crushed to jelly. Flying pieces of boiler tore great holes in the roof of the mill and sent death to two men at their work. Marion Watts was struck by large piece or linDer ol ehe heau anu hiS HeSh broken. He was 9 years old and had been married three months.
 James Watts, who was sitting on the lumber slides, was blown fifty feet against the side of the mill and brained and whirled around feet foremost and blown one hundred yards further to the lum- Der pile and every bone in his body crushed.
 J. A. Cash. was standing near the planer. He was blown to the roof of the mill and crushed to death. Blood could be seen everywhere.
 There were forty men at work in and around the mill and the wonder is that more were not killed.