The New York herald., 1870-12-03
Burning Of the Great Caisson OF
the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Labor of Months Destroyed
in Six Hours.
Escape OF Seyenty-ilvc WOrkmen from
Imminent Death.
Htory Of the Catastrophe-Loss
g250,oOo.

who $1,000 along Win MS irlend at tae gapn.
mouth OF the caisson OF the East River bridge OF
Thursday night, at about halrpast eight O'Clock.
ayes, guess l Will; there's nobody wants to 2
down again until the men come back from Dime
at eleven O'Clock tonight For nipht is turne
into DAY and day into night In one Q
these bridge cassons; and when the steamtugs. wit
their red and blue lights burning from their wooder
turrels 90 creeping along the bosom of the rive
like m0nstrous lre-nies, then do these submarine
giants delve and dig and ditch and drill and bias
nifty feet below the parting track made by the
vicious little tugs and mammoth steamers. The
work Of the
BURIED BRIDGE BUILDER
is like the onward dow OF eternityi II does not cease
for the sun at MONDAY The silent stars at night.
Gangs are relieved and replaced, and swart per-
spiring companies OF men follow each other up and
down the iron locks dim quiet purpose, after
having hastily eaten their meals.
While below they work like moles In the ground,
biting and Blasting cavities In the solid earth and
boulders ana when they come up out OF the fright
ful chasm tney bite at huge squares OF beer and
bread and cheese voraciously, and absorb quanti-
ties OF beer IN their stomachs like sponges. Day
and night beng alike to them for months they often
lose their calculations OF the days OF the week until
the time nears Saturday night, when a strange sem
sation seems like electric shock to strike every
man below in the EARTH and he feels that pay day Is
the only event Of the week worth looking forward
TO. II is strange TO hear OF
DINNERS AT TEN O'CLOCK AT NIGHT,
and yet on Thursday evening all the men laboring
In the dismal, badly lighted depths OF the caisson
were thinking OF the meal to be eaten and the ces
sation OF their weary work, which is Only paid at
the rate of three dollars for eight hours work.
The two men had gone down and one OF them
looked around him, after shutting The lock, Tor o
minute. Nearly all the men were stripped TO their
waists. laboring like oxen IN chains-some up TO
their hips in water and others wheeling large bar
rows of earth and stone hiher and thtner over the
fran planks astride Of the bitches full OF muddy
water
Squat sperm candles were stuck in the cones or
little hillocks of earthly mud and there in the dank
foul atmosphere burned blue. Huge grlts and tire.
mendous leviaIhians OF beams obscured the vision
and separated the cavern into chambers, making the
men moving to and fro TO look like grisy phantoms.
There was
SILENCE OF THE GRAVE
over all the place. excepting that here and there was
heard the dull thud Of the mattock pick and shovel
or those who were silently digging o huge grave
TO bury the monstrous caisson in. For
here was no time for useless conversation
timber. twenty feet Of stone sondy packed and sur
rounded and covered in by monstrous colin OF
iron and STEEL Suddenly
A SPELL OF HORROR
fell on every one OF those grimy perspirIng giants
In that dismal cavern. PICK ana spade were thrown
down, wheebarrows were overturned and the men
balls ana pallid faces. Thin spiral shoots of blue
smoke and flame burst from tue Jagged creyices in
..rnE oAlssoS rs ON FIRE.
The caisson Is ON frel'' cried, or rather snrieked
the eighty human beings in the cavern. Then came
a scene OF awful terror and madness among all
present. Buried fifty feet in the earth, with no way
TO get out but by the narrow cylinder lock- which
would only permit OF three men ascending and ex.
pectlng that an explosion OF the gases IN the cham
work and all the manhood In the place
10 atoms, the scene was an awful one, and
the terror which possessed these poor wretches was
such as comes to Few men in their lives, but
experienced can never afterwards be forgotten.
the men employed IN the calsson were OF divers
nationalilies. SEINE irish, number Of Germans
score or more cf Italians, a hali-breed Chinaman
and two Scotchmen IL was curious IN this moment
of supreme horror 10 sec now the diiie eD chaIac-
terstics OF race wee Brought 10 tue surface. The
Chinaman began
HowLING FRIGHTFUILY
until his dark, lemon-colored Skin turned purple
and the While he invoked all The gods VINO ormerly
obtained subsistence between the Iangtse- Giang
and the Mantchourlan frontier. The irishmcn pre-.
sent with Il disregard OF danger, ran TO stuff the
or6ces fun OF wet earth and old rags, hastily
soaked in the ditch water and muitered
the name OF ST. Patrick between their teeth, call
Ing for aid and Intercsssion The Italians abbered
and gesticulated mildly aad called upon ST. An
thony OF padua, and one OF The .Scotchmon. with
a nfty cent currency note which he had cropped on
the soggy mud OF the caisson, while the Germans,
with
DEATH BLANKLy STARRING THEM IN THE FACE,
talked High Dutch and Low Dutch and
every other dialect Of the confedera.
Won Moltke, whom they firmly believed would help
them out Of their dreadful peril. An Englishman
was heard TO observe, "This IL 'orrtd work. shall
miss my bit OF bread ana cheese te-night." Terror
has its mourniul and its humorous sides. In the
meantime discipline began to return, and the FORE
II. rpV
besought the men to try and
ENDEAyoR TO ExTrNeuIsH THE FIRE
Buckets OF dirty water were vatny dashed against
the burning tmDers but soon the binding smoke,
dense as London Fog, lled every cubic lch of the
different chambers OF the calsson ana binding
the men like simeon in the desert Those who mad
bad lungs, and there were but few OF them in the
caisson began 20 choke and gasp Tor breath, and
CROPPED blindly about them With u paralyzed numb.
Of error.
SIXTEEN THOUSAND TONS or AIR PRESSURE
on the chambers only added to the force Of the
halnes, which now began to scOrch and SINCE those
ID the caisson, and grand Sedan retreat was made
by the confused, terrified ana blinded mass OF men
toward the mouth OF the cavern, every one rushing
pushing and ostlng nls best friend III utter dismay
The cylinder lock was worked with unusual
lapidliy ana speed up ana down 10 convey the
iaborers to the surface OF the eartn The air pres
sure OF twenty pounds to the square inch furnished
IN abundant supply Of oxygen to feed the fire.
ald vast yellow. lambent sheets OF fame tapped
masses OF Georgia pine aud burning the heart
out OF the thlckest monarchs OF the forest. As tue
last man lett the IOck
A MIGHTY, RUSHING SOUND
OF q volume OF water from above was heard to enter
the chamber OF the caisson, and now the two great
elements Of fire and water began to battle, down
below river and earth, for the supremacy.
Above, the deaieninR revolving whirr OF two
great engines with their furnaces glowing red
could be heard az they threw thousands OF gallons
OF river water into the volcano below while tile
rescned aborers clustered around, with pale faces
and quiyering lips, under the deep, silent stars
thanking their luck IN getting out OF
THE FIERY FURNACE.
Long lines OF hose were bent during the night
under the orders Of Engineer Kngley and Assistant
Engineer C0inwood, and vast streams OF water
poured into the chasm, hour after hour, to dreWn
the fire out II possible, and save the catsson from
entire destruction.
When morning came however, II was discovered
that the fire was still raging, and the tugs Fuller
and Tebo were sent for and they were set TO work,
aud during the forenoon they poured into the casso
13,oO0 gallons OF water per hour.
At nine O'Clock Yesterday morning, the ire still
burning with great force In the depths OF the
casson, an alarm was sent to the Brooklyn Fire De-