The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1880-07-24
Drowned in a Tunnel.

Twenty-ono workmen were drowned by the
sudden caving in of the approach to the tunnel
under the Hudson river, between Jersey City
and New York. There are about one hum
dred and fifty men at work on the tunnel,
divided into shifts of from thirty to forty men.
Each shift is subdivided into two gangs.
Work proceeded continuously day and night
on the tunnel, each shift working eight hours.
AT the time the accident happened one OF the
gangs OF the morning watch had Just gone into
the tunnel and the other gang was coming
out. Seven men were in the air-lock and
when they heard the rush of water they hast
ened out OF the air chamber, but so quick did
the water come in that the cage was partly
filled with water before the men could open
the door and get into the shalt. They ran up
the ladder leading to the bottom of the shaft
and escaped.
The tunnel had been extended out about
three hundred feet from the working shalt
There is q space of about thirty feet from the
working shaft to the point in the tunnel
where the permanent work has been built.
This passage slopes toward the river and has
hitherto been protected by q temporary filing.
The workmen had been engaged for several
days replacing this temporary bulking with
permanent work. The iron plating above the
root had been placed IN position, and the men
were working their way downward through
the silt and debris, putting in the iron plates
at the sides. 1t is supposed that some OF
these plates which were placed next the brick
wall of the working shalt were not placed
close enough to confine the compressed air
supplied to the men working in the shaft by
the engine on the surface. This compressed
air worked its way out, turning the plates
backward and allowing the water to flow into
the tunnel. 1t was not the water directly
from the river that flowed in, as the place
vxyl,o H. l. u. CT r
from the bulkhead, but the ground is filed in
ground and was much loosened and broken
up by the excavation for the wor king shaft.
The ground is flled with water, and as soon
as current was created the water from the
river III he'd in through the bulkhead, filing
the tunnel and working through the refuse
shaft in the working shaft, filing it with fifty
feet OF water and coming within ten or twelve
feet OF the surface OF the ground. Twenty -one
men were overwhelmed by the rushing water
and drowned.
Thomas Brady, miner, who was in the
connecting chamber when the accident &C.
Cured, was found at his home by a reporter
and gave the following description of his
struggle for life, together with his fellow
workmen: 1--WE went on at midnight. There
were twenty-eght OF US. The shaft leads
down to the air-lock. We have to pass through
the air-lock in going into the tunnel and com
ing out. The air-lock is twenty five feet long
and boier-shaped. A thick iron door four
feet high and about three and a half feet wide
is at each end. The air is forced into the
connecting chamber and tunnel to support the
iron plates on the root by force pumps We
go Into the air-lock, close the outer door,
turn on the air valves, aud VII n the air in
the lock is OF the same density as the air
within the tunnel we can push the inner door
of ir.locE and into I 10
Meeting chamber. Then the inner door is
closed. Circular tracks run around the
chamber and connect it with the two tunnels
running under the river to the eastward The
north tunnel is about five hundred feet long
and the plates in the roof are all in position
and the brick work around the sides has also
been finished. The south tunnel is fifty leet
long; the root plates arc put up, but only
few feet OF the side brick vol was completed
The eastern part of the large CONNECTING
chamber was completed and the roof plates ali
over the root were in position, but only very
little of the side brick work in the part
of the chamber nearer the tunnel was COM
pleted, and we were at work last night putting
the plates near the inside door and building
the brick work at about the central part. Mud
benches and woodwork hold up the plates
until we build the brick work underneath.
Braces were used to keep the plates in posi-
up.
"At four o'clock all but twelve OF us who
were at work in the chamber went through the
air-lock and up the shaft Tor lunch. At about
halt-past four they came back again, and we
who had not yet gone stopped work and were
ready to go tor our lunch. Two or three men
were in the air-lock and ten or twelve OF US
were near the air-lock waiting for these men
to come out so that we could go up Just
as these men were coming out OF the lock
leak occurred in the mud on the northern side
OF the chamber, very near the air lock. 1t did
not brighten US much, because We had seen
leaks of this kind before, and knew what to
do in order to stop them. We Immediately
set to work trying to plaster up and stop the
leak with mud. But it was no use 1t in.
creased constantly. The air rushed through
it at aterrific pace, making very loud, Kissing
noise like steam engine blowing off at high
pressure In less than minute we saw that it
was no use. We could not stop the leak. We
waited for the orders OF Night Superintendent
Peter Woodland, who had charge oil the gang.
He told US to save ourselves, and seven
of US succeeded in doing SO. l rushed
into the air-lock with others. 1t was not two
minutes before the whole thing was over.
The water began to pour in upon us and was
rising fast. A tremendous pressure closed
the air-lock door next to the chamber, and
poor Olaf Anderson, miner, was jammed in
The door. heard the men inside moaning,
and Anderson was crushed to death by the
door. l tried to help him out, but he was
.early dead in second. He clutched my
and as If it was his death grip, and had all