The copper era and Morenci leader., 1915-02-12
ENGINEER IS KILLED
AT NEW SMELTERa
POWER HOUSE
w. p. Rice Fatally Injured by Flying
piece of Fly Wheel When Big Air
Comp. essor Engine Gets Too Mitch
Speed and Explodes.

A deplorable accident, the definite
cause Of which will probably never
be known, occurred at the power
house of the new smelter this morn
ing about 1920 a. m, resulted in the
accidental death of w. P. Rice, a
young man about twenty-eight years
of age, who was in charge Of the
engines in the power house at the
time At the time of the accident
Rice was presumably engaged in
starting one of the big air compress
sor engines, known as No. 13. Ac-
ccrding to the testimony of Mexi-
can, who was oiler, Rice had taken up
his position at the throttle to, startthe
engine and told the oiler to open the
oil cups. The big fly wheel began
to reyolves as Rice opened the steam
valve, gaining greater velocity with
each revolution, and according to the
thirty seconds there was an explosion,
the great fly wheel, measuring ap-
proximately twenty feet in diameter,
ard other parts Of the mamoth en-
gine, flying to pieces. When the
steam, smoke and dust cleared away
the dead body of Rice was found
lying distant about eight feet from
the engine. His arm was broken
and his lower limbs crushed in ad-
dition to fractured skull which no
doubt caused instant death.
The oiler, Virgil Weiss, who oper-
aJes the switch board in the power
house, Robt. Edward, crane man
from the converter department and
Fred Mas, an electrician, were the
first persons to reach the body after
the explosion. They removed it
away from the escaping steam and
later secured a stretcher and the
dead body brought to the undertaking
parlors in town on special train.
At the time of the accident Rice
was preparing to go off shift and had
removed his overalls and had his hat
on. Barring the accident within ten
minutes he would have been on his
way to town.
When the big fly wheel went to
pieces great pieces of the wheel were
hurled through both sides of the
building which is constructed of
brick and through the high roof of
the power house in two places and
pieces of the fly wheel were lodged
at least a hundred yards distant from
the building The giganic arms or
spokes of the fly wheel were snap
ped off as if they had been straws
when they could stand no longer the
strain and all that remained was the
hub around the axle, while other parts
of the big engine were twisted and
bent out of shape. Weiss, Angano,
Edwards and Mas all testified at the
inquest to the finding of the body
after the accident and its removal.
M. G. Hardy, master mechanic
stated that Rice was careful engf
neer and that the engines were regu-
larly inspected by himself and assist
ant F. A. Ross. Mr.. Ross testified
that he had inspected the engines the
day previous and found every safety
appliance in good working order. He
said the accident was due to rae
ing the engine and might have been
caused by giving the engine too much
steam without load or could have
been caused by a defective steam
valve.
The coroners jury was composed OF
G.. A. Franz, foreman, Dick Stevens,
Carl Schade, Duke Await, C.. T. Nc
Clone, Beryl Lanney, who viewed the
remains and the scene of the acci-
dent and examined witnesses return
ing a verdict of accidental death
caused by the explosion Of the en-
gine.
The body of the deceased will be
shipped to his old home at Ouray,
Colorado, where his father and moth
ar and brother and SiSfar reside