FEARFUL EXPLOSION OF A BOILER.

Bruce Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 1207, 28 May 1880, Page 5

FEARFUL EXPLOSION OF A BOILER.

A terrible boiler explosion took place on Friday evening, March sth, in the Glasgow iron works, resultingin the speedy death of several men and serious injury of 50 others. The boiler was heated from one of the puddling furnaces, and the force of the explosion was tremendous. It shook the houses in the neighborhood, and almost levelled to the ground a large portion of the works. There are 14 puddling furnaces in operation within the works, and an upright boiler is placed between each two furnaces. No fewer than 70 persons were employed at the puddling furnaces. The works were in full operation, when shortly after 7 o'clock one of the upright boilers exploded. So great was the force that portions of the boiler were thrown about 80 yards, and the iron roof which covered the boiler was also destroyed and scattered around. The boiler is supposed to have blown clean through the roof, and then to have fallen again into the works among the employees. The force of the explosion was so great that one of the steam hammers was lifted from its massive bed plate and turned completely over, burying one of the workmen beneath. Frank McKie and Walter Oakes were the least injured of any and could talk about the accident. Speaking generally the faces of nearly every one of the patients were black with the coal dust, which had been scattered over the floor of the foundry by the force of the explosion, and the majority of the injured men were suffering terribly. Some could neither articulate nor move. One was in delirium and shrieking out cries of terror. It is not known how the accident originated. Not a few of the sufferers were Englishmen belonging 1 to the malleable iron districts of Yorkshire. Very heart-rending scenes occurred in the police office, when the dead were identified. During the whole of the night the streets in the Northern districts were crowded with persons eager to gain information, but as most of the injured were hurried off to the infirmary, and as they were much exhausted it was deemed advisable not to trouble them even by asking their names. In the infirmary beds had to be placed on the ffoor, and children had to sleep three or four in a bed. The medical authorities there never had so sudden and great a call made on them. On Monday the list of the dead numbered altogether 2*. As showing the violence of the explosion it m:iy be stated that the boiler weighed about 15 tons, and that the upper portion, which was thrown upwards and fell through the roof, must have weighed at least 12 tons. Another portion, weighing upwards of a ton and a half was found lying at a distance of at least 100 yards. A variety of theories have been put forward to account for the accident. That which meets with the most general favor is that the boiler, having been allowed to run short of water, a quantity of gas was generated by the intense heat passing from the flues, in addition to the steam with which the boiler was charged, and that, when the gas attained a certain expansive power, it necessarily exploded.