A TERRIBLE FATALITY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2578, 7 November 1893, Page 3

A TERRIBLE FATALITY.

A CHEMIST BLOWN TO PIECES. A fatality happened in the suburb of Elsternwick, Melbourne, on October 24th, which in point of horrible detail has rarely been equalled in the records of casualties in the colony. Mr W. Evelyn Liardet, a scientific and experimental chemist, was experimenting with explosives in hia laboratory, when by some mischance the compound exploded, and shattered him to pieces, A moment later, when h f ~ wife and children rushed to th<» g Cene dismembered body was \ y { ng out B i de the laboratory, thrown the walls of which it had been forced by the great power of the explosive, and pieces of his anatomy were scattered in all directions. Mr Lijarclet oame to Victoria about three years ago from Sydney, where he had lived for some time after leaving Queensland, in which colony he had held a responsible aud lucrative post as Inspector of Explosives under the Government. With a competence of about £BOOO he and his wife aud three children settled down at Elsternwick. Having no pressing need to work for his maintenance, Mr Liardet devoted most of his time to his scientific experiments, which he conducted at a laboratory erected at the back of his residence. He had busied himself in perfecting an explosive, which, as he said, was to far surpass all other explosives, and at the same time to, make his fortune. It was said to b§ a, combination of picriric and common salt, a preparation of tar, and other ingredients. Ho succeeded in bringing his explosive to perfection, aud at an expense of £2200 had patented it throughout Australia, Great Britain, other places. With tli& o>i this work he had, a power twen+s i*¥QAgsr **" " ecl tine or >*- ' ia,li o e ' a ~ he had, sp\A, \h% pW -« stated that pan,y for ijaQ.o^'' -rights to a complsted y- ,j, and when this was comv - -e intended retiring from business.

Yesterday morning Mr Liardet was at work, as usual, iu his laboratory, and Dr Backhouse, a personal friend, called to have a chat with him. Iu order to show the doctor the power of the " dynamo," Mr Liardet took a couple of ounces of it and rolled it up loosely in his hand kerchief with a piece of fuse and a detonator cap; then tossing the handkerchief over the garden wall into the sea, he said, " Wait half a minute and you will see the force of the dynamo." The handkerchief sank beneath the surface of the water, and while the doctor was smilingly thinking that the wetting would extract all the devil out of the dynamo, a great volume of water was thrown up about 130 ft. into the air. Mr Liardet offered to give some other demonstrations of the power of the compound, but Dr Backhouse was satisfied, and, nervously anxious to get away, wished Mr Liardet " Good-bye," saying jocularly as he went, " Now, bo careful, and don't let my next visit to you be to pick up your pieces." Mr Liardet laughed, and said, "Never fear; I have had several escapes, and am convinced I was not born to be destroyed in that fashion. Ouce iu Sydney, though, I had a

narrow shave. I was mixing some stuffs when they began to turn a peculiar color. I got frightened, bundled my wife out of the way, and then ran myself. Next moment there was a 'bang' and the laboratory was missing." Dr Backhouse left, and Mr Liardet worked away until about a quarter to four o'clock. Then, almost before the air or tune he had been humming was out of the ears of his wife, who with the servant girl was busy in the kitchen, a loud explosion was heard, followed by the cracking of timbers. After the first sound there was no other, and though Mrs Liardet could see nothing because of the dense Binoke when she ran out of the kitchen, she thought the absence of groans indicated that her husband was unhurt and she cried, " Thank God, he's safe." As she strained her eyes through the smoke she trod upon something soft, which she picked up, and to her dismay found it to be a portion of the body of her husband. In another moment the smoke lifted, and beneath the kitchen window the wife saw the dismembered body of her husdand,uot yet dead, though mangled beyond description. Death, however, supervened immediately. Dr Backhouse, who so recently left the place, was instantly summoned. At the explosion the laboratory was shattered, and the body had been forced through one of the walls, bursting a hole 3ft across as it passed. Where it rested was about 15ft away from the scene of the explosion, and as Mr Liardet was about 16 stone in weight, the force of the explosion may be imagined. The body was literally smashed to pieces. The left arm was severed from below the elbow, and its bonea and tissues were scattered round the laboratory and yard. There was a terrible hole in the abdomen, and another in the head, through which a hand could be placed. Both legs below the knee were reduced to a pulp, and both eyes were blown out. The face was blackened, the hair burned, and the flesh of the body generally was torn off with strips of clothing. When the doctors and others had gathered the portions of the body together they were placed it one of the rooms of the house, to await the inquest.