1896 Boiler Explosion at Stein's Saw Mill in Farmerville in Union Parish Louisiana Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by T. D. Hudson, 10/2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================= Farmerville "Gazette" issue of Wednesday, 23 December 1896 ================================================================================== BOILER EXPLODED. Four Persons Killed and Three Others Seriously Injured. Monday afternoon about 12:30 o'clock one of the large boilers at Stein's saw mill, a mile west of Farmerville, exploded, killing four persons and seriously wounding three others. All the dead and injured are negroes who were working at the mill. The names of those killed are: Abe Fields, Henry Mason, Dred Bass and Abe Field's boy. The wounded are Will Smith, Sidney Futch and Frank Karby. Mr. J. H. Lindsay, the manager of the mill, and two negroes named Bob Page and Pink Hudson were the only employees at the mill who escaped unhurt. It was a horrible and sickening sight that met the gaze of the numerous spectators as they hurried to the scene of the terrible disaster. Abe Field's body was blown about forty yards from where he was standing, and Dred Bass was hurled some distance. The bones of both these unfortunates were horribly broken and their bodies terribly mangled. They died instantly. The top of Abe Field's boy's head was blown off and to him death was instantaneous. Henry Mason's dead was crushed, his shoulder broken and likewise both legs. He lived two hours after the accident but never regained consciousness nor spoke. Of the injured Sidney Futch, a lad of about ten years, fared the worst. He got a leg broken and mangled and was severely scalded. It is feared that his injuries may prove fatal. Will Smith received a painful gash in the head, and Frank Darby's arm is badly fractured. After the explosion fire broke out in the mill, but by prompt and free use of water the flames were extinguished. The boiler, furnace, tool room and 65 feet on the north end of the shed were totally wrecked, but the south end of the shed including the saw gear and planing mill were practically uninjured. The mill was not running at the time of the disaster, as the hands were taking the noon dinner hour. Mr. Lindsay can assign no cause for the explosion; he says there could not have been more than 90 pounds of steam as the safety valve was set at that notch. The engineer had just finished pumping in plenty of water. The boiler which weighed about three tons was completely demolished. The major part of it shot through the tool room like a wild cannon ball, struck the ground about twenty-five yards distant, there plowed a big hold in the ground and then shot again burying itself out of sight in Bayou D'Arbonne, about fifty hards from where it originally stood. Rocks, bricks, shingles and other degris were hurled around a distance of a hundred yards or more. At the time of the accident Mr. Lindsay was sharpening a saw ten to twenty yards from the ill-fated boiler and he escaped without a scratch. His children were playing under the wrecked shed and their escape seemed to be providential, though his son received a slight bruise. Pink Hudson, it is said, was sitting in front of the fire box of the exploded boiler and the heavy machinery shot over his head without bruising him in the least. The bodies of the dead were taken charge of by their friends and carried to their respective homes. The explosion is one of those inexplicable accidents for which no one is responsible and no cause can be assigned for it, as due precautions were taken not to permit an overhead of steam to accumulate. ================================================================================== ###########################################################