Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016
                           All Rights Reserved
                        USGenNet Data Repository

        Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page:
                <http://www.us-data.org/fineprint.html>

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.
===========================================================================
The Ludington (Michigan) Record
Vol. XVI Old Series No. 16
Vol. 3. New Series No. 31
Thursday, December 21, 1882

         HAVOC BY EXPLOSION
         
         Eight Workmen Blown to Pieces
            at Shawneetown, Ill.
         -----------------------------
         
         Their Bodies Shockingly Mutilated
            by the Bursting Boiler.
            
         A boiler in the saw-mill of A. J. Vincent
      & Co., at Shawneetown, Ill., exploded the
      other day, killing eight men and fatally
      wounding another. The victims were seated
      around the engine eating lunch. Remnants of
      the boiler and portions of the bodies of the
      employes were found 300 yards away. The details
      of the shocking affair are embraced in the fol-
      lowing telegram from Shawneetown:
         It appears that the men were seated around
      in various positions in the vicinity of the
      boiler, eating their noon luncheon, when the
      boiler exploded, creating terrible destruction.
         There were eleven men in the mill at the time,
      and of those the following eight were instantly
      killed.
         WILLIAM MONTGOMERY, CHARLES BLOSS, HENRY HUGHES,
      CHARLES BAKER, GEORGE PRICE, W. P. GROVE, JAMES
      McLAUGHLIN, SAMUEL KENNEDY.
         Several of these were blown into fragments.
      The sawyer was blown to pieces, so that scarcely
      a common pailful of his remains could be picked up.
         One corpse was blown into the river, and two
      others were thrown a distance of fully 200 yards.
         WADE KEE, another employe, was thrown a long
      distance from the mill, and had his legs and arms
      broken and otherwise injured. He was picked up
      shortly afterward and died in less than an hour.
         The other two men are hurt, one probably fatally.
         The mill is a complete wreck, portions of the
      boiler lying in different directions and at various
      distances, ranging from 100 to 600 feet.
         The accident is the worst ever recorded here,
      and has created great excitement.
         Several of the victims leave families, some of
      them in comparatively destitute circumstances.
         Nobody is left to give any clew as to the prob-
      able cause of the accident, and nothing apparently
      can be known but that the disaster is appalling 
      and complete.
      
===========================================================================
If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more 
of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to 
the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/
===========================================================================