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- The Janesville Daily Gazette, Friday, April 20, 1951, pp. 1 & ?
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Steam Boiler Explodes, Hurls Men Over Shed
Freak Accident Throws Bodies and Wreckage Hundreds of Feet
A violent explosion of a portable steam boiler on an Edgerton tobacco farm brought sudden death to Arthur Witt, 53, and Walter Roll, 40, both of route 4, Edgerton, at 9:45 a.m. today. Herman Witt, a brother of one of the victims, is in Edgerton Memorial hospital with severe burns and cuts. His injuries are believed serious.
The accident was one of the most unusual recorded in this area for years. The blow-up threw the bodies of two of the men completely over a 35-foot tobacco shed, across a highway, and into a field hundreds of feet away.
The boiler, estimated to weigh a ton, went in the same direction, digging a deep hole in a pasture where it landed, 375 feet away. The two bodies and the boiler were tossed so high in the air that they not only cleared the shed, but soared over a roadside power line.
Mrs. Witt, mother of one of the victims, was standing in the farm yard at the home and saw the bodies and the boiler disappearing over the building.
One Man Hurled 560 Feet
Arthur Witt, owner of the machine, and Roll were standing on wheels of a trailer upon which the boiler was mounted when the explosion happened. The entire boiler section of the machine flew into the air, carrying them with it. The rear part of the boiler, including rear wheels of the trailer, were tossed in the opposite direction.
Sheriff E. A. Silverthorn, who was at the scene, said that the body of Roll was 560 feet from the spot where he was standing before the blast. Witt was thrown 375 feet in the same direction. Both apparently were instantly killed by the explosion, and suffered further mutilation when they landed in a pasture on the other side of a 35-foot shed and highway.
The ruined boiler was 275 feet away from the scene of the explosion [missing lines]
... John, Edgerton, and Herman, route 4.
Walter, John Roll, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Roll, was born in the town of Fulton, July 21, 1910.
He served in the 11th Infantry division from Feb. 6, 1942, to September, 1943, took part in the invasion at Normandy beach head and fought in northern France and the Rhineland. He was employed in the foundry department of the Edgerton Highway Trailer Co.
Survivors are his mother; three brothers, Fred and George, at home, and Willard, of Janesville; one nephew and several uncles and aunts.
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BLAST KILLS TWO -- An unexplained explosion of a steam boiler on the Herman Witt farm, Indian Ford, killed two men today, and put Herman Witt, 44, in the hospital with burns. Killed were Arthur Witt, 53, owner of the boiler, and Walter Roll, 40. At top - The boiler, believed [to] be in the process of a test, left the ground at far right, blew over the barn and telephone lines and landed 375 feet away, at left. One body was blown farther, as indicated by lighter dotted line, landing 560 feet from the explosion. |
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Below - The crumbled boiler of the unit, used in steaming tobacco beds. The wheels of the portable unit were blown several hundred feet in the other direction and the truck which pulled the unit was crumpled by the boiler front. Parts were scattered for hundreds of feet in all directions. The boiler sailed over the top of tobacco shed seen in background. |
