Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2025 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Buffalo Commercial Advertiser Thursday, 22 September 1870 TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE FATAL BOILER EXPLOSION From the Auburn Daily Advertiser, Sept. 20th At six o'clock this morning the steam boiler at T. R. STALKER'S planing mill in Dill street, exploded with a terrific shock, shattering the whole building and throwing it to the ground, not a brick of the entire walls being left stand- ing. The fire in the furnace communicating with the debris immediately burst into flames, and a general alarm was sounded, the firemen quickly rallying and soon quelling the fire. An Englishman named JAMES HAMILTON, employed as fireman in the building, was buried beneath the debris, and could not be extricated until about 8 o'clock, when he was found to be insensible and so badly scalded and bruised that he died in half an hour. The report of the explosion was heard for several miles outside the city, and aroused people in all quarters. A crowd immediately gathered at the scene and began to remove the mass of fallen timbers, brick and rubbish, in search of the unfortunate man who was known to be buried beneath. The building was three stories high, 50 or 60 feet front, and 75 feet deep, filled with machinery, lumber, and work in various stages of manufac- ture, making an immense pile of rubbish to be removed before the missing man could be got at. The excitement among the rescuing party was wild at times as signs of his supposed locality were thought to be discovered. At length MR. CHARLES MARGISON, of Hose No. 4, heard groans beneath the debris on the west side, and here the efforts of removal were redoubled, until a few minutes hard work with axe and hooks, when HAMILTON was found lying on his face, blackened and scalded, and portions of his clothing burned off. He was taken out by the aid of MR. MARGISON, CHAS. DALY and JAS. FERRY of No. 2, JOHN DEMPSEY and THOS. McDERMOTT, of No. 3. Drs. SMITH, DIMON, VAN ANDEN, GEORGE and ARMSTRONG were present awaiting to render every service, and the sufferer was at once removed to KAVANAUGH & CARPENTER'S plumbing shop, where all means of resuscitation proved in vain. The engine was on the ground floor, at the north end of the shop, and HAMILTON must have been thrown nearly twenty feet from it by the explosion. The second floor settled down over him, with all its shafting, pinning him down to the ground, where he probably suffered all the horrors of scalding steam and partial suffocation, from the crushing weight above him. His groans could be heard at times by those striving at his rescue, and he asked for a stone with which to break a plate of iron which lay across him. He was probably unconscious at this time. We learn he has a brother living in the city, and a sister in the employ of MR. LEWIS, milk- man on the WM. PAYNE farm, just north of the city. An inquest was held on the body by Coroner FOSTER, and a number of witnesses were ex- amined as to the probably cause of the ex- plosion. The boiler has been in use five years, as we are informed by the engineer, JOHN FLYNN, and was of 25 horse power. He has been in the business over eighteen years, and is a care- ful man. The boiler was inspected last fall, and found to be safe. The deceased, we are informed by MR. STAL- KER, had been in this country only a few weeks, and was employed in building the fire in the furnace, which task he performed soon after five o'clock this morning, at which hour Mr. R. B. STALKER had left the shop, having remained there over night to guard against danger from a burning chimney. The theory given to account for the explo- sion is that the falling soot in the chimney had kept up sufficient heat to exhaust the water left in the boiler over night; that when the empty boiler became heated and water was let in by the pump, the explosion followed. ===========================================================================