The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-05-31
CRUSHED TO DEATH.
The Fatal Ship-Launch at Chester, Pa
Horrible Denouement to Scene of Glad

The Fatal Ship-Launch at Chester, Pa
Horrible Denouement to Scene of Glad
ness.
leicester Pa) Cor. New York World
Shortly before the hour appointed for
the launch of the Saratoga about fifty
ship-caEpenters, all picked workmen, Sc
lected for their experience and skill,
were underneath the ship breaking the
blocks upon which the immense hull
rested, SO as to lower her upon the era
dies or creased ways upon which she
was to glide into the water. Every
alternate block had been knocked away
when Mr. John Fountain, the master
carpenter of the yard, who has superin-
tended the forty launches that have
taken place there within five years with
out the slightest accident, mounted to
the platform near the bows to examine
the " tell-tales, which are several little
lines drawn with a lead-pencil across the
string pieces, and indicate the instant
the ship moves, if it is only by the
breadth of a hair.
When Mr.. Fountain mounted the
platform to question the men who were
watching the tell-tales he was astonished
to find that the ship had already begun
to draw, that is, to move slightly, and
there was a break in the tell-tale lines of
three-quarters Of an inch, showing that
the ship had moved downward that dis
lance. Mr.. Fountain said, elias she
gone that much ?" and the man replied.
Yes, sir; and she is pulling very
hard
Mr.. Fountain then said: 'Cut the
tie at once. Make no noise to raise an
alarm, and pass the word for the men to
come out from under" He himself
stopped down and called out: "Come
out clear the way" and his father. at
the stern end of the ship, which was
nearest the water, took up the call.
There were then some forty men under
the ship working at the blocks, and, as
he saw some of them working out, he
gave himself no further uneasiness,
especially as workmen often remain I'M
der the ship at a launch and allow it to
pass over their heads, although there is
always more or less danger of being
struck with a block or carried under.
The time occupied in cutting the string
pieces was about three-quarters OF a
minute, and during this interval all the
men under the ship might have got out
When the strings were cut the hull
glided gracefully into the water, the
crowd cheered, the bottle of wine was
broken, the beautiful ship was duly
christened Saratoga, and the launch
seemed to have been in every way sue
cessf11l.
Suddenly the whole scene changed
from one Of gayety and rejoicing to a
picture Of horror and grief, and the
cheers were succeeded by cries of agony
and heartrending shrieks. For a dis
lance of fifty feet upward from the foot
of the ways from which the proud ship
had so joyously leaped into the water,
mingled with broken blocks, tools and
chains, was writhing, sickening
mass of human flesh and bones, torn,
crushed and mangled almost beyond re-
cognition. The ways we're smeared and
REDEEMED, the blocks were covered with
fragments of flesh and clothing, and the
launch was followed by a trail of blood.
The excitement and horror that took
possession OF the spectators as this hor-
rible discovery was made can be better
imagined than described. A wish to
succor those who still lived was made,
and three, with limbs and bodies intact,
were dragged from the heap of dead and
dying, while two others were assisted
from the water, into which they had |
been thrown in the track Of the vessel. AS
soon as the assemblage could be con-
trolled and quoted down, and something
like order secured, the dead bodies were
gathered together by the workmen of
the yard, whose strong frames trembled |
with emotion, as, with tears streaming
down their faces, they recognized the |
form OF comrade