BOILER EXPLOSION AT BENDIGO,

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 923, 12 July 1871, Page 2

BOILER EXPLOSION AT BENDIGO,

independent, junb 20.] Yesterday morning, between 11 and 12 o'clock, a boiler attached to the engine of the New Nelson Company, California Gully, suddenly and unaccountably exploded. The machinery was going aud the batteries were crushing, and everything seemed working smoothly, when, with a loud explosion, the fire-tube of the boiler burst in the middle, and operations were brought to a stand-still. The steam and water rushed out in every direction, as if from a boiling spring. The bricks of the boiler-shed, timber and firewood, and things of every description were thrown up into the air, and scattered about all around for a considerable distance, some being thrown as far as the main road, and into Mr Francis's yard at the Johnson's Reef Hotel. Some fragments of brick and stone were hurled as far as the buildings on the opposite side of the Mount Korong road, and one piece of the boiler or fire-bars was cast into the middle of the same thoroughfare, a distance of about 100 yards. The brickwork at one end of the boiler was torn up, and the boiling water rushed out and spread about the stamps-platform. Both sides of the shed, composed of the same material, were completely broken and shattered. So great and terrific was the explosion that the rods of iron which held the brickwork together were bent, as if they had been whalebone. The part of the engine-yard opposite the fireplace in a few moments was rendered a perfect scene of destruction. The waggon on which the wood used to be conveyed to the boiler was actually lifted, firewood and all, and so tremendous was the rush of the steam and water from the tube, that it was carried along way towards the Johnson's Reef Hotel, the fence around which was blown down for several yards by the same power. The truck rails were also ripped up, and the timber was scattered far and wide. The steam, as it escaped, roared like thunder, being heard as far as Eaglehawk, and as it gradually exhausted a spectacle of much damage was revealed. The tube waa blown down into the fireplace, and the plate-iron bent and fractured as if it was so much brown paper. It is gratifying to state that, notwithstanding the sudden and unexpected nature of the accident, no lives were sacrificed. One man named Gordon was doing something on the top of the boiler at the time it burst, but wonderful to relate, he escaped with scarcely a scratch. He merely hurt himself a little as he was desperately endeavoring to escape from his dangerous predicament. He hastily scrambled through an aperture between the roof and brickwork, and in scrambling equally as fast down a ladder he injured himself, but nothing to speak of. There can be no doubt but that he had a lucky escape. Had any of the valves or connecting-pipes sprung at the time, it almost makes one shudder to think of what might have been his fate. As to the cause of the catastrophe we cannot state what it was, nor does anyone appear to know. We are assured that there was plenty of feed in the glass, and that the pressure of steam was no more than was necessary for ordinary requirements. Some attribute the explosion to the rottenness of the plate-iron of which the tube was composed. With reference to this, however, we have no doubt but that the company will institute an investigation, and so settle tha question. It is said that this is the third time the same boiler has burst, and seeing that this time it has been damaged almost irreparably so far as the tube is concerned, it is not likely to receive another trial. In the meantime the machinery will be thrown idle, and a considerable expense and delay incurred, not only by the New Nelson Company, but to those companies who have stone waiting to get crushed.