Hi all... I was looking up an obit when I came across this story in the Stockton Daily Evening Record dated 24 Feb 1879, page 4. Dreadful Calamity! Explosion of a Steam Boiler on a Public Street! Fifteen Persons Killed and 39 injured! List of the killed & wonded! NOTE: It's a long article, so I will only highlight here.. I do intend to put this story on my website (hoping for this lifetime). Last Saturday at 2:30 pm several hundred persons gathered on El Dorado street bridge,at the head of Stockton channel, to witness the trial of a newly patented propeller pump. Some were present out of mere curiosity, others because of their friendship for th epatentees, and hoping that the new invention might prove to be a grand success, while others were in attendance for the purpose of judging of the practical test with a view of utilizing the new patent on their farms in the event of the trial proving satisfactory. The pump was placed perpendicularly in the water a short distance from the northwest corner of the bridge, with a spout or trough consierably larger than an ordinary sluce-box used by miners, leading from the pump a few feet to show to spectators the volume of water raised. A short distance from the pump and nearer to the middle of the bridge, the portable engine that was to supply the power was plced. The engine was in charge of Mr E. F. AVERY, one of the patentees of the invention. While assembled spectators were anxiously awaiting the commencement of operations, and not imagining that they were in the least danger, the engine suddenly exploded, INSTANTLY KILLING 15 PERSONS, And seriously wounding many more. NOTE: The reporter goes on to describe the horrid sight of mutilated bodies, etc... (must have been paid by the word back then)... I will now list the dead & wounded. Marge All died Feb 22, 1879 in Stockton, unless another date given: Michael CROWELL, native of Galway, Ireland, age 41 Robert B JOHNSON, native of England, age 71 Charles M CREAMER, age 22 William Henry BISHOP, age 20 yr, 1 mo. George Washington FULTS, age 52, died Feb 23, 1879, native of Watertown, Jefferson county, NY John M. KIRKPATRICK, aged 40 yrs, native of IL. James CuRRY, native of Ireland, age 62. James COSGROVE, a native of County Cork, Ireland, age 40 yrs William ALLEN, a native of Ireland, 58 yrs. ----- There is another obit section also.. which includes a poem & a tribute. What a horrific happening this must have been.. almost all the funerals were on the same day, from the same church... can you imagine the procession by horse and buggy? Marge in Lodi, CA