Man scalded to death in steam wagon crash

One man was scalded to death and another was seriously injured when a sixwheel Sentinel steam wagon hit two lorries, smashed into a wall and blew up close to the centre of Stirling.

The accident, in October,1929, at the foot of Stirling’s Wallace Street, was one of the most spectacular road smashes seen in the area for some time, according to the Observer.

With its eight-and-a-half ton load, the steam wagon was proceeding down Wallace Street when it collided with the first of two lorries. They were parked at a crossing while their drivers sat in the cabs eating supper.

It was thought the light from a street lamp `blinded’ the steam wagon driver.

After striking the lorries, the wagon skidded to the other side of the street, mounted a pavement, knocked down a wall, hit a telegraph pole and came to rest against the rear of Mr JM Gow’s confectionery shop. It was then the machine’s boiler exploded.

The Observer said: “People, attracted from their houses by the noise, first of all of the wagon striking the lorries and wall and then the explosion, were confronted with an amazing sight. The entire breadth of the roadway was enveloped in a dense cloud of steam.

Mrs Gow, running out from the confectionery shop, thought a locomotive had left the railroad behind the premises.

John Duncan, signalman, Cowane Street, Stirling, rushed to offer help, fearing someone had been killed.

Steam from the explosion cleared to reveal that the metalwork of the cab `twisted and bent like paper’. Driver of the wagon James Henderson, 67 Salisbury Street, Glasgow, was found lying in the roadway. Stoker Edward Smith, Hill Street, Glasgow, who was badly scalded as he left the machine, was found on the railroad by Duncan McNicoll, St Ninians, a railway worker who was going on duty.

Lorry drivers Lawrence Sharp and John McKinlay, both Dundee, escaped injury but their vehicles, belonging to Messrs Horsburgh, also Dundee, were damaged.

Mr Smith and Mr Henderson were taken to Stirling Royal Infirmary. Mr Smith was so severely scalded that he later died from his injuries. The Observer revealed that in a tragic coincidence, Mr Smith’s brother was burnt to death in a similar accident four years earlier.

A steam wagon, of which he was the driver, crashed into a wall at Snabhead, near Whins of Milton, two miles from Stirling.