FEARFUL DEATH AT WOOLWICH ARSENAL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7170, 14 September 1886, Page 2

FEARFUL DEATH AT WOOLWICH ARSENAL.

A shocking accident happened at tbe Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, on July 17. Most o£ the workshops were closed for the customary half-holiday, but in one of the forges of the Royal Gun Factory several men were employed in casting a great iagot oE steel for the construction o£ a 68ton gun. The mould was a cylinder standing on end in a pit o£ about 10£t_ square, and the iron floor of the pit formed the bottom of the mould. Into this was poured about eight tons of molten steel from a patent gas furnace, and the casting would have been perfect if the usual period of two hours had been allowed for its growing cool. But in about one hour only after the metal had been run one of them descended into the pit to block up the mould casing preparatory to its being removed. The steel had, however, barely set on the outside, and as soon as the cylinder was raised from the floor tho liquid fire poured out in a fearful deluge. The man attempted to reach tho ladder by whiuh he had descended, but was instantly caught and overwhelmed by the molten flood. Tho manager was immediately called ; but no part or trace of the man could be observed in the seething well, and the metal was visibly cooling on the surfocs," threatening to encaae the renninß of its victim in a solid block of steel. The men at once set to work with iron roip, bookp, and ladleßS and notwithstanding the beat, succeeded in extracting a shapeless mass of human cinder, which was pronounced to be the interior of the trunk. The head and limbs could not be found ; but af.ter the steel block had cooled and solidified 3ome fragments of the body were seen projecting from the unyieluing surface. The poor fellow was thirty-two years of age, and his widow is left with five children.