A 1907 photograph of some of the destruction that occurred when a boiler used to mill and press apples for cider, exploded killing one man and scalding another.
The Elizabethville Echo of 19 September 1907 described the boiler explosion that occurred at Kessler’s Cider Press, Erdman, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, two days prior:
Fatal Boiler Explosion at Eardman
On Tuesday, 17 September, a boiler explosion occurred at Eardman, about one mile south of Klingerstown, which resulted fatally to one man, and badly scalded another. Elmer Artz, who lived about 3/4 of a mile east of Eardman, with a wife and two children, and had charge of the boiler was terribly injured and died an hour an a half after the accident. The force of the explosion threw Mr. Artz a distance of 95 feet against a house, crushing many of the bones in his body. Samuel Martz, who was there with a load of apples was quite badly scalded, but it is believed that he will recover.
The building which was of the usual saw mill type, was used by Henry Kessler to saw lumber, and one end was fitted up with a cider mill and press, and at this end a stationary boiler was set.
What caused the accident cannot be told for a certainty, but it is thought that the water was low.
There were a number of other people around the mill but all of them escaped with slight injuries except the two mentioned. A son of Mr. Kessler was thrown through an opening about the press, against a man unloading apples, but neither of them was hurt. Pieces of the boiler weighing half a ton were found four hundred feet away and the end of the building was completely wrecked. Mrs. Artz, the wife of the man who lost his life, it is said was on her way to Elizabethville at the time of the explosion, and telephone messages were received here to notify her that he husband had been badly injured, It is considered almost miraculous by those who have visited the scene of destruction that there were not more fatalities.
Note: The community of Erdman in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, is sometimes referred to as “Eardman,” as is the case in the article above.
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This photograph appeared in the souvenir book for the Gratz Sesquicentennial, July 2-4, 1955. The news article was transcribed from Newspapers.com.
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