TYLER COUNTY, TEXAS
Accidents and Events
BODIES RENT IN TWO
Seven Men Meet a Terrible Death Near Woodville, Texas
Train Engine Boiler Bursts
It is Not Known Whether it was Caused by Low or Muddy WaterWoodville, Tex., June 22, - At Doucette, three miles north of here, at 7 o'clock this morning the tram engine boiler of the Nebraska Lumber company exploded, killing seven men outright and seriously if not fatally injuring three others. It seems that the engine was just ready to start for the log camp when the explosion took place, some six or eight men being in the cab. Six of these seven victims had their heads entirely torn from the bodies and were otherwise mutilated beyond recognition. The list of the killed and wounded is as follows:
A. L. Doucette, president of the Nebraska Lumber Company
Grant Hammerly, engineer
Charles Walforth, Section Foreman
Charles Smith, Section Hand
Wylie Sargent, Mill Hand
A man known about the mill as "Frenchy," but whose right name could not be ascertained
Another unknown manThe wounded: Dan A. Harman, fireman, arms terribly lacerated and painfully scalded about face and neck. D. O. Sullivan, section hand, badly scalded; ____ Dowling, scaled about face and neck.
The reports of just how the explosion happened are somewhat conflicting. One report is that the engine had just left Doucette and had jumped the track. The men crowded around to get the engine back when the explosion occurred. The engine was what is known as a Shay, with the machinery on one side and the drivers propelled by cog wheels. The water which supplied the engine has been low and muddy and the sediment is supposed to have caked in the bottom of the boiler until it became dangerous. Another reason was given is that the engineer let the water get low with a hot fire and turned on the injector. An eye witness says he heard the noise and squatted between the ties and looked. Iron flew through the sky like shot and carried everything in its path. The men that met death never knew what killed them. A sharp report, a rain-like patter of iron and it was all over. Six of the death were buried near the scene of their death, and the remains of Mr. Doucette were brought here and forwarded to Orange tonight. (Duluth News - Tribune, June 23, 1896, page 1)
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