On This Date in Minnesota History: September 20

September 20, 1905 – Two men were dismembered and instantly killed by the explosion of a threshing engine boiler on the two and one-half miles east of New Market in Scott County at sunset this evening.

Example of a thresher explosion¹

Another man will lose his sight from fearful scalds about his head and face. Three others have injuries, principally scalds, and two horses were killed.

The dead men are Ole Hagen, a farmer and owner of the engine, and Andrew Gilbertson, who was working for Hagen.

Hagen was decapitated and his trunk horribly mangled. He was married and had a family of five, his age being about 40. Gilbertson was 45 and single.

Andrew Cryer is the name of the farmer who will lose his sight. Oscar Tourson, another farmer, was seated in a buggy behind the threshing rig, and was badly scalded. His horse was killed and his buggy smashed to pieces. It is difficult to understand how he escaped alive.

George Gilbertson, son of Louis Gilbertson, was also scalded, but not seriously hurt. The tank tender, whose name is not known, was blown 15 or 20 feet and seriously injured by the shock. All of the living are expected to recover.

The engine was being taken under its own steam to a nearby farm, where it was to drive the machinery of a corn shredder. It was of 16-horsepower and had been in use many years.

The force of the explosion seemed to blow out both ends of the boiler. Steam escaped in all directions and pieces of the boiler and machinery were found in fields rods away.

The Minneapolis Journal; “Decapitated in an Explosion. Two Killed and Several Injured in Boiler Accident on the Highway.”; Sept. 21, 1905; p. 1.

¹https://www.farmcollector.com/farm-life/boiler-explosion-zm0z17sepzhur

New Market, Scott County, Minn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Market,_Minnesota#/media/File:Scott_County_Minnesota_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_New_Market_Highlighted.svg

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