Stockton, California, USA
1879 - HAVOC IN A CROWD. TERRIBLE LOSS OF LIFE CAUSED BY A CALIFORNIAN ENGINEER'S STUPIDITY.

San Francisco, February 22. - A terrific explosion took place today of El Dorado Street, Stockton. A crowd of more than two hundred people had assembled to witness the trial of a new propeller pump set in Stockton Slough and run by a threshing engine. Those who stood near were prostrated. The body of the engineer was blown a distance of 150 feet through the crowd. Ten or twelve dead bodies lay in one heap at the northwest corner of the bridge. Others were strewn dead and drying on the street, blown from fifty to one hundred feet. The heads of some were blown to pieces. Others were blown to the ground with such force as to break every bone in their bodies. Faces, hands and whole persons were steamed in dirt, smoke and cinders. The wounded were promptly cared for and the dead were left undisturbed until the excitement of the moment had subsided, when they were removed to the coroner's office.

The explosion was the result of recklessness on the part of the engineer. The steam-gauge refused to work and after the engineer had attempted to fix it and failed he screwed down the safety-valve and went on with his work. The explosion occurred about fifteen minutes afterwards.
The killed are:
J. M. KIRKPATRICK, merchant.
JOHN URIELL.
JAMES CURRY, blacksmith.
GEORGE W. FOLTZ, carpenter.
MILLARD FOLSOM.
WILLIAM ALLEN, the sporting man.
MICHAEL CORNELL.
H. B. BISHOP, JR., student.
ROBERT B. JOHNSON.
JAMES COSGROVE, laborer.
CHARLES CREANOR.
W. C. TAILOR.
B. S. CLOMES, a farmer.
FOO FEE, a Chinaman.
THOMAS SEDGWICK.
J. F. AVERY, engineer in charge of the engine.
The wounded number twenty-six, three or four of whom are not likely to recover. Many were blown a considerable distance and escaped uninjured. The body of the engine weighing 2,500 pounds, was blown over the telegraph wires and landed on the plaza. They are still engaged in dragging the slough in hopes of recovering bodies which are supposed to have been blown further.

The World
New York, New York
February 26, 1879

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