Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1883 — BURST BOILERS. [ARTICLE]

BURST BOILERS.

Seven Men at Taylorville, HI., Blown to Eternity. [Telegram from Taylorville, 111.1 A boiler explosion occurred at the file works of Peter Neu & Co., that completely wrecked the establishment and killed five men. As usual in such cases, the why and wherefore of the trouble are wrapped in nrofound mystery, nobody about the place, of course, having the least idea before it happened that it was going to happen, or being aware of any reason why it was going to occur, everything about the boiler being considered in first-class order. It was about 7:15 o’clock when the boilers burst, and had the explosion occurred a quarter of an hour before the loss of life would have been fearful, for at that time the boiler and engine rooms were filled with workmen warming up for their day’s work At 7 o’clock the machinery was set in motion, and the men scattered to their respective positions, leaving the proprietor, Mr. Peter Neu, and a few others in the engine room. At 7:15 o’clock two of the boilers let go with a shock and report that shook the country for miles around. The establishment is situated about a mile southeast of the business part of the town, and the explosion caused everybody to think an earthquake had occurred. The fact was soon made known, and In a few minutes the entire populace was on a dead rush for the scene. Arrived there a spectacle of wreck and ruin presented itself, as the entire establishment was demolished, the large timbers and heavy machinery being scattered about over a broad extent of territory. The ruins took fire, but. being taken in time, the flames were extinguished before they gained any headwav. Then the work of searching for the .victims began. It was found that five men had been killed outright, and two were fatally injured. Peter Neu, the proprietor, had both his legs broken and his head crushed beyond all semblance of a human cranium. John Jones, the engineer, was completely disemboweled, both legs broken, and the body horribly scalded and mutilated. Samuel Lenam, the fireman, was torn all to pieces, portions of his body being found in different places. John McCoUom was terribly mutilated. William Deahel had his head blown off. Chris Neu, son of the proprietor, and Tony Vandever were injured so that their death Is only a question of a few hours. Chicago, with sixty square miles of territory and 600,000,. people, has only 444 policemen, about 250 being available for night service. Hence Chicago is fast becoming the wickedest city in tile country.— New York Herald. A new book is entitled “How to Wash a Baby. ” It omits the usual precaution peculiar to recipes, that is, “First catch your baby." —Lowell Citizen.