PIERCED BY AN AUGER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 49, 26 February 1878, Page 4

PIERCED BY AN AUGER.

The Virginia City Ohronicle bag tha following account Of a terrible accident which resulted in the death of Carpenter in thfl Savage mine carpenter ahop on Monda.yift.fter noon, January 7th :— About ,5 o'clock last evening one of the most extraordinary and horrible accidents that ever happened on iha ComBtock took place in the Savogo carpenter shop. Here there is in uso a steam auger, which points towards the workman and makes 1.000 revolutions per minute. It iB a self-feeder, and anything that is laid op against the point is caught and thrown over its coils with lightning-like rapidity. William Carpenter, the unfortunate victim, at the time mentioned was boring a hole through a stick of hardwood, about threo inches thick and eight feat long, and was leaning his weight against it, binder the impression that there was a gauge attached to the machinery to prevent the block going further along the auger than the distance required. Suddenly a workman near Carpenfcar observed an indescribable look jpn his face as his body shot forward and doubled over the terrible machine. It had passed, like a fencer's sword, through h!s stomach, and was protruding at tbe back. He was literally impaled upon tbe auger, whioh waschurning his intestines at the rate of from 1,000 to 1,500 revolutions per minute. In the inidßt of this horrible agony, Carpenter seems to have maintained his presence of mind, for he cast himself backward and got off the auger, = falling to the floor as he did so. The most terrible excitement prevailed among his comrades in the shop, and there was a rush to the prostrate man. The sight must have almost paralyzed them. ' Carpenter w^s lying qn his back, with his clothes torn and twisted above the region of the abdomen. Just above him the deadly auger was still whizzing, and olinging to it was a mass of j intestines, the loose ends of which spread out with revolutions, and gave the auger the appearance of a buzz saw. The man wa3 removed to the bath-room and laid out upon the floor. He was still cool, and not a cry escaped him. His brother (the ex-city jailer) was aent for, and on his arrival, in a few words, he communicated his wishes in regard to his business affairs and the disposal of bia effects, remarking, " Mv brother is an honest man. and will do the ritjht thing/' Presently it became evident that he was suffariog intense pain, and the physicians in attendance decided tbat he bad better die under the influence of chloroform. Before the drug was administered he was told that he would never come from under its influence alive. He merely nodded, bade those about him good-by, and in a few minutes was unconscious. He lay in this state as calmly as a sleeping child nntil a little after four o'clock this morning, when the influence of the chloroform passed off, aod he opened his eyes. He did not seem to suffer much pain, and occasionally talked to his attendants. He died at five o'clock, and, as those who saw him said, " died like a man." Hia last words were, "I am passing into the unknown,"