Pittsfield, MA Boiler Explosion, Jan 1911

15 KILLED IN BLAST.

TWENTY OTHERS ARE INJURED IN BOILER EXPLOSION AT PITTSFIELD, MASS.

BODY IS HURLED 200 FEET.

ACCIDENT OCCURS AT ICE PLANT ON SHORE OF LAKE MOREWOOD -- CUTTERS RESPOND TO CALL OF FIRM FOR WORKERS AND ARE BADLY MANGLED.

Pittsfield, Mass. -- The lives of 15 workmen were obliterated Thursday and 20 men were injured by the explosion of a boiler at the plant of the Morewood Lake Ice company two miles south of this city.
Almost the entire force of ice harvesters, including many Italians and foreigners who reported for work in answer to the company's advertisements for men, were sitting around the boiler warming themselves when the explosion occurred.
Nine of the victims have been identified as follows:
WILLIAM DUNN, engineer at the plant, thirty-five years old.
EDGAR ALLEN, an employe, twenty-eight years old.
JOHN RAYMOND, carpenter.
LEO FERNANDEZ, employe.
MARTIN SMITH, employe.
WYATT MOORE, employe.
GEORGE WARD, fireman.
WILLIAM PEPOON, laborer.
ELMER ELDREDGE, laborer.
It is believed that most of the unidentified dead were foreigners. The injured were taken to the House of Mercy in ambulances summoned from Pittsfield. Some of them cannot recover.
The boiler was used in furnishing power to haul the cakes of ice up the inclines into the storage house, and is said by the officials to have been in perfect condition Wednesday, when it was tested. The boiler house was wrecked by the terrific blast, which hurled debris and human bodies through the air. One body was blown 200 feet, while the cylinder of the boiler was found in a tree a hundred feet away. The victims were all horribly mangled and identification is difficult.

The Nashua Reporter Iowa 1911-01-05
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!