DENNIS, John

 DISASTROUS

EXPLOSION. 

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BOILER AT THE POWER HOUSE
BURSTS AND CAUSES GREAT
DESTRUCTION OF PROP-
ERTY.

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Fireman Killed and the Engineer Badly
Scalded and Bruised.

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At about four o’clock Monday af­ternoon one of the boilers at the power house of the Franklin Water, Light & Power Co. burst. The noise was distinctly heard in every part of town and its source soon became known. Fire had been communica­ted to the building and an alarm given calling out the fire depart­ment.

Citizens hurried to the scene and were dismayed to find the substan­tial structure almost a mass of ruins. The walls of all the east half of the building excepting the smoke stack were nearly leveled to the ground and scattered many yards around. A third of the boiler weighting over a ton was hurled into a meadow 100 yards from the building. A person who saw the explosion, says this was hurled into the air clear over the top of the smoke stack. The fireman, John Dennis, was almost buried in the debris and when taken out was found to be burned in different parts of the body. Several deep gashes had been cut in his head, one just above the eye being especially ugly. The right side of the body was severely burned. He was brought to the office of Dr. Whitesides where the cuts were dressed, after which he was taken to his home in the nor­thern part of town. Hopes were en­tertained of his recovery, but on Tuesday afternoon about one o’clock death came and his terrible agony was over. Mart Dennis En­gineer, and brother of the fireman, was also injured but not danger­ously.

The company carried $15,000 in­surance. This included the boilers, buildings, contents and employes and is amply sufficient to cover all losses to property.

One of the boilers was but slightly injured. The pumps also escaped without injury and it is claimed by management they can be put in operation within eight or ten days and be able to furnish water to citizens. It will be sometime, how­ever, before the electric light plant can be operated.

The belief had become pretty gen­eral that the boilers were de­fective and danger was anticipated. At least a large number of “I told you so’s” have turned up since the accident. A former engineer is reported as saying that he quit work because he prized his life more than he did the boiler, and that there was danger of an explosion at any moment. Prof. Johnson also says he knew that there was a weak point in the boiler and that belief it was due to that defect.

Over against these statements, however, is the fact that the inspector of the Hartford Boiler Insurance company had visited the plant but a few hours before the explosion and had made no adverse report on its condition. When an inspector finds defects it is his custom to report the matter at once to the local agency or to the proprietors. This had not been done, and it appears reasonable to conclude his inspection had lead him to believe the boilers were all right.

The local agent for this company is S. A. Wilson.

The explosion recalls the fact that Franklin has been particularly unfor­tunate in this respect. Five boiler explosions have occurred in the past eight years. The first was at McDan­iel’s mill when James High, the en­gineer, lost his life; the second at the Payne mill when Tom Stuart and Moses Snodgrass, engineer, lost their lives; the other two at Landis’ saw mill, where John Cheatham was killed.

The Franklin Democrat, Friday, September 1, 1893,
Volume XXXIV Number 8, page 1 column 5

The report of coroner Jones, in the inquest held on the body of John C. Dennis killed by the boiler explosion at the power house, will be found elsewhere in our columns. “Incom­petent and inexperienced men in charge” is the verdict, and that accords with the general opinion of citizens.

The Franklin Democrat, Friday, September 1, 1893,
Volume XXXIV Number 8, page 3 column 1

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Coroner’s Inquest.

The undersigned Coroner of Johnson county, Indiana, did on the 22nd day of August, 1893, hold an inquest on the body of John C. Dennis, late of said county, found dead in Franklin, in said county, on the 22nd day of August, 1893.

Having viewed the body and heard the testimony of witnesses, find that the deceased came to his death by reason of an explosion of a steam boiler, at the power house of the Franklin Water, Light and Power Company, in East Franklin, on the 21st day of August, 1893. In my opinion the explosion was the result of having incompetent and inexperienced men in charge of the boilers at the time of said explosion.

Deceased was seventeen years old, five feet and ten inches high, weight about one hundred and fifty pounds.

No valuables found on the body.

J. T. JONES, 
Coroner.

Franklin, Ind., August 25th, 1893.

Note: The Johnson County Indiana WPA Death Index, 1882–1920, page 52, referencing Book H-17, page 20, records that J. C. Dennis, a seventeen-year-old white male, died 22 Aug 1893 in Franklin.

Submitted by Mark McCrady, Cathea Curry and Lois Johnson