DISASTROUS BOILER EXPLOSION IN GLASGOW.

Kumara Times, Issue 1130, 13 May 1880, Page 4

DISASTROUS BOILER EXPLOSION IN GLASGOW.

[FROM TTTB MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. 1

Glasgow, March 6.

As was briefly reported in Saturday’s Guardian, a terrible boiler explosion took place here on Friday night, but the consequences of life and limb prove now to have been of a much more serious nature than was at first supposed. Up to this afternoon the fatal issues number no fewer than 17, while of injured still alive there are not far short of 40 persons, many of whom lie at the Royal Infirmary in a precarious condition. Thirty-two only of the wounded were conveyed to the Infirmary, the others preferring to be removed home, but no one of the latter class of cases is regarded as of dangerous character. The Glasgow Ironworks, in which the explosion occurred, is one of the largest of the in the kind in the city and in it is carried on a most extensive trade in puddling and rolling malleable iron. Nearly 300 men and lads are em-. ployed in the different departments, the proportion of the puddling and forge section being 140, 70 of whom are attached to the day shift and 70 to the night shift. It was in connection with this latter department that the calamity happened. The structure in which the puddling rperations were carried on was about 200 yards in length by 40 yards in breadth, and, like places of a similiar description, was open all round, the roof being supported in the centre and at the sides and ends on strong iron pilliars. Under this roof there were situated seven boilers and 28 furnaces, as well as one or two rolling mills and a couple of large steam hammers. The furnaces were built in sections of four, and to each section was attached a large tubular vertical boiler. These boilers were fixed on a raised seat formed of iron pillars and brick-work, and they passed up and through the roof of the shed to a height in all of 46ft., the weight of each boiler being hot less than 15 tons.' The night men went on duty as usual at 6 o’clock on Friday evening, and the puddlers were soon busy at their acustomed avocations. It was the rule, however, lubricate the machinery of the rolling mills between the shifts and the hammermen were, therefore, not at their ordinary post when the accident took* place, and fortunately so, for. had they been even more calamitous results than those recorded would have been the consequence. So far as can be learned there was no previous Indication that anything was wrong, and all went smoothly till half-past seven, when, with fearful suddenness, boiler No. 4 burst, spreading death and destruction around. Instantaneously the whoie shed was filled with a dense volume of steam, blinding and scalding more or less every man in' the place, and none of those who retained consciousness could tell what had occurred or what had become of his comrades. To add to the horror of the situation bricks and pieces of metal were flying in all directions and were falling like hail showers, while over and above all, the roof was heard to be crashing in with a noise that paralysed the stoutest. It was with no small amount of difficulty that even the leas injured crawled to beyond the precintcs of the apparently doomed building, and necessarily some time elapsed before the full extent of the disaster was conjectured. In the first instance, of course all heed was paid to the situation of those who were buried in the debris. On every side men were found lying with their faces, hands, and bodies fearfully scalded and burned ; here and there others lay under a mass of rubbish with limbs bruised and broken, while in one or two cases the bodies of men who had met with instantaneous death were found. With all despatch the injured were carried to the Royal Infirmary some 500 yards off, and the bodies of the dead were taken to the police mortuary, close by. An examination afterwards of the wreckage pointed to the boiler having give way at the lower part, the downward force expending itself on the adjacent furnaces, which, though constructed of heavy plates of iron and lined with firebrick, were shattered as if they had been pasteboard, the displaced parts being thrown great distances. The force of the explosion also exerted itself upwards, raising the upper part of the boiler right through the roof, and then projecting it a short distance to the north, after which the ponderous weight of over 12 tons crashed down through the roof right upon the rolling mill, breaking the machinery there as it would tinder, and burying that division of the department in a mass of wreckage. Later on in the evening this place would have been filled with men engaged at the rolling process, and their chances of escape would have been poor indeed.. It was also found that two large pieces from the sides of the boiler had been thrown a considerable distance, one bit, fully a ton and a half weight, going about 40 yards, and the other of the same weight going nearly a like distance and then crushing through the top plates of a furnace. Large 12In pillars were snapped asunder, iron pipes were broken at their strongest parts, and lumps of solid metal were scattered about over the yard. A more complete wreck could not well be conceived, and the damage to material—a merely secondary consideration, however in the circumstances—will amount to several thousand pounds. As may be imagined the greatest consternation on the alarm spreading prevailed in the surrounding districts where the majority of the workers resided. Crowds of weeping women and children gathered at the entrance to the works, and at the Infirmary, and were clamorous for information as to the names and condition of the injured ; but it was nearly noon to-day before anything like a complete list of the

dead and wounded was made up, and even then there were two bodies not identified No opinion has been formed as to the cause of the explosion, but a searching investigation will be instituted by the procurator fiscal.

The South Canterbury Times says that it hears on tolerably good authority that Mr Sperrey, Chief Commissioner of the Property Tax, hae issued instructions that in oases where assessors are in doubt as to any property coming with the scope of the Act, which fixes a limit of LSOO, they are to fix an excessive valuation and make it necessary for persona aggrieved to appeal, and prove that the value of their property is less than the amount estimated. If the information received by Our contemporary be correct, the action contemplated by Mr Sperrey is subversive of the brightest and most admirable of British principles. We are aware of the difficulties that stand in the way of the administration of the Act; but that is not the fault of the people, but of the Government to whom the Act owes its existence. It is quite possible that men, innocent of any intention to misrepresent their positions, and who may, indeed, afford assessors correct estimates of their positions, may be harrassed and incur loss of time and money through the officionsness of assessors.