New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-22
TILE TUNNEL DISASTER.


The frightful accident in the Hudson River
tunnel is very much to be depored Yet 1t was
hardly TO be expected, much as it might be de-
sired, that such hazardous enterprise could
be successfully accomplished without loss OF
life. The law of averages at least, was against
any such hope. If the tunnel is completed, 1t
will be the greatest work of its kind In exist
ence, and the greater the work the greater the
danger. 1t will be more than three times as
long as the Thames tunnels and much larger
than either of them. The first of these, the
work of the famous Brunei, was not constructed
without several serious accidents. Such other
sIbaqueous tunnels as there are in the world
are comparatively of little Importance. There
ale two in Chicago running out two miles
under the bed of Lake Michigan to furnish the
city with pure water; the largest of these is
seven feet in diameter. There are two road
way tunnels in the same city running under
meath the Chicago River. There is another
water tunnel at Cleveland. and there Is an
unfinished bore, once intended for railroad
tunnel, at Detroit This is believed to be
complete list of the existing subaqueOus tun-
nels The HudsOn River project, it is thus
seen, is the first attempt that has been made
ger and freight tIafc of the principal rail
roads of continent underneath one OF the
u eat rivers of the world. When it is finished,
it will doubtless stand unsurpassed unless in
deed, the stupendous project OF tunnelling the
British Channel, about which there was much
| discussion with some practical experiments
several years ago, shall some day be realized
While it is true that complete immunity
from accident was hardly to lie hoped tor IN the
prosecution of such an engineering work as
this, it is equally true that the very magni-
tude of the work and the consequent growth, in
strict ratio, Of the danger to those engaged il
it should have caused the care taken for the
preservation of life to be at least proportion
ally great. The serious responsibility devolves
upon those who shall conduct the inquiry into
this disaster, by which twenty one human beings
have lost their lives, to learn whether the man
| ayers of the enterprise have done their whole
duty in this respect. Perhaps it is not neceS-
sary TO say that the investigation should be
made quite as searching and rigorous as # the
victims had been twenty milliOnaires instead of
| twenty poor day-labOrers, and yet there Is more
need of saying it than most of us would prob
! ably care to admit. At the same time, it will
| be grossly unjust to the projectors OF the tunnel
! to assume hastily that the responsibility rests
upon them. They have labOred for years in
the face Of bitter opposition as well as great
obstacles, to gain foothold Tor their enter
p,isc, and they are evidently men of resolute
! energy and large resources. 1t was obviously
to their interest to prevent such accidents, just
as it was to the interest of the workmen TO save
their own lives. And yet the responsibility
clearly lies between the two.
The engineers in charge Of the work and the
officers of the company unite in believing that
the accident was caused by the care!essness of
the workmen themselves. They knew that the
appearance of the smallest leak was danger to
the lives of ali of them, and that it could
easily be stopped in the way described. Yet it
| is thought that in changing gangs OF men the
danger was overlooked for one fatal moment
| and after that it was too late. There is I'M
fortunately no improbability in such theory
| The recklessness of laboring men, and especi-
ally it would seem, of those engaged in mining
work, is proverbial. Not even fines and I'M
prisonments will prevent the coal miner, for
example, from setting at defiance all the pre-
cautions against destruction which science and
capital have combined to give him. He will
smoke, if he and all his mates are to die for it, 1t
Is easy to believe, therefore, that some one of
these poor fellows may have paid with his life
the penalty of his own carelessness. One fact
however, bearing upon the responsibility of the
| employers, must be mentioned. The accident
did not occur in the main tunnel, which, so far
as it has been constructed, is securely lined
with iron and brick, and will probably be found
| intact when the debris has been removed 1t
was in the temporary entrance TO the tunnel a
narrow, sloping bore, running from the air lcck
at the foot of the working shaft to the main
tunnel, that the leak and crash took place In
this temporary entrance the plan of building
up the walls of the bore securely with every
foot of advance Was not followed, as in the main
tunnel beyond. If it had been, probably there
| could have been no accident. The engineers
| state reasons why this was not done at the out
set, and was left until now, but the president
ADMITS his regret that The approach was not
"built first" That regret many will share