William W. Bowers and Florence E. Turk

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Husband William W. Bowers ¹

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           Born: 5 Nov 1879 1
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           Died: 11 Dec 1918 2
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         Father: Joseph Bowers (1846-1914) 3
         Mother: Margaret Elizabeth Wanamaker (1851-      ) 1

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Florence E. Turk ²

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           Born: 1 Oct 1878 - Butler Co, PA 2
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         Father: William Turk (      -      ) 2
         Mother: Valera Smyers (      -Bef 1919) 2

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Children

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1 M Joseph Bowers ²

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2 F Margaret Bowers ²

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3 F Leola Bowers ²

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4 F Berdina Bowers ²

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5 F Florence W. Bowers ²

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General Notes: Husband - William W. Bowers

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He was well known as an oil well shooter, having followed that business for many years, and like his brother was en­gaged in production and as a director of the Bowers Torpedo Company, of which he was gen­eral manager. He assisted in the organization of that company, and was also interested in the Britton Oil Company and the Big Gas Oil Com­pany, both operating in Venango County.
He was educated in the public schools at Rouseville, PA, and early in life started to work with his father, assisting him in the shooting of oil wells. He followed the oil business all his life, and from boyhood was familiar with the use of ex­plosives, having a fine record as a well shooter-as many as fifty-eight in one month, and even seven in a single day. He had so many narrow escapes from possible consequences of unavoidable accidents that he was extremely careful in the handling of nitroglycerin. While in the employ of Mrs. Harper, former owner of the Bowers torpedo plant, he planned to go hunting with A. L. Hartman, and because his dog kept him waiting, was away from the factory when it blew up, Oct. 17, 1908, Peter McGuire, David D. Feeley and the latter's young sons, Arthur and Carl, being victims of the explosion. The following account of the accident was published at the time in the local columns of the Derrick: “The explosion and shock were heard and felt for several miles around, and in a short time several hundred persons had gathered at the spot where the factory had once stood. A crater-like hole in the ground about one hundred feet in diameter and about fifteen feet deep marked where the men had been filling the cans. The heavy timbers were scattered in all directions, the engine was blown to pieces and the boiler had been moved several yards. The building, two stories, with a basement, where the cans were filled, was sixty by one hundred feet. The siding had been riven into splinters from six feet long to the size of a toothpick and had been scattered over a radius of a quarter of a mile. The crowd gathered to assist in the work of recovering the bodies had an opportunity to observe the peculiar qualities of nitroglycerin and to hand down to posterity a story of their own miraculous escape from a terrible death. William Bowers, one of the shooters of the company, went to the magazine, located one hundred yards from the crowd of spectators. In the magazine was more than a ton of the high explosive. A number of cans had been dislodged by the explosion and were piled against the door, which opens outward. When Mr. Bowers opened the door they fell upon him. His nerve and self-possession were al­most incredible. Lying still as he had fallen, he called to his brother Tad, who responded at once. He, too, showed great concern for the bystanders. He directed them to go back to Rynd Farm, explaining that something had gone wrong with the cans in the magazine and to be in the neighborhood was not safe. The hint was promptly taken, the crowd went away, and Tad returned to assist his brother to replace the cans in the magazine. After the brothers had been given a reasonable time, the spectators straggled back to find the cans replaced and the magazine door locked. An examination of the magazine showed that a heavy timber had fallen on the roof, which had broken in under the weight and force with which it had been driven. This probably threw the cans against the door.”
While Mr. Bowers was hauling a load of nitroglycerin a leaking can allowed the fluid to run all over the exhaust pipe of the auto­mobile and all over the springs of the machine, and he had a similar experience with a leaking can while hauling a load with horse and wagon, no explosion resulting in either case. On another occasion, while hauling a wagonload containing two hundred and forty quarts of glycerin, he was upset with the load by the breaking of the front axle. When he was on his way to shoot wells on the McCalmont estate, with ninety-six quarts of explosive aboard, both hind wheels of the wagon came off; and while shooting a well for John Robinson he fell with a can of glycerin in his hand, and four or five empty cans in his other hand.
He was a member of the Rouseville council for three years and constable for five years, with eminent satisfaction to his fellow citizens. He was a Mason and an Elk, affiliating with Rouse­ville Lodge, No. 483, F. & A. M., and with Oil City Lodge, No. 344, B. P. O. Elks. His religious association was with the U. P. Church. In politics he supported the Republican Party. [HVC 1919, 809]

1 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 809.

2 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 810.

3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 808, 816.