The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-07-29
HORRIBLE ACCIDENT!

Suddenly Give Way, and Twenty Men
Miserabiy PerIsh-HerOIc Conduct OF One
of Their Number.
A New YORK dispatch of the 2lst
gives the following account OF the terri
bic accident at the Hudson River Tunnel;
At five o'clock this morning the caisson
leading to the entrance of the Hudson River
Tunnel, constructing at Sixteenth street.
Jersey City, cayed in, carrying with II an I'M
mens- quantity of earth. Twenty-Five men
lost their lives, while eight had almost
miraculous escape. Inc night gan OF thlrty
men, including acknowledgements
Woodland and two fremen, entered the shait
at midnight the hour for work for this gang
being from twelve TO eight O'Clock. The depth
of the shaft is sixty-1ve feet, and, Whlle most
OF the men were employed at the bottom OF
the shalt, about third OF the gang was
engaged on the brick wall of an arch twenty
five feet higher. 1t was the latter squad, all
brcklayers, that escaped, except two. The
main arch Of the tunnel runs out from the
shaft stance of about thirty feet, when IL
opens into two distinct arches that are 10
form the tunnel. Through some negligence
of the workmen, it is supposed. the air-lOck
was not properly ad justed, and when the proc
ess OF 81 fling commenced, the brick wall :
connect NC the two arches gave way anu
water rushed into the cave
The following is list OF the casualties;
Peter Woodland, Assistant SUPERINTENDENT;
Frank Aleston, foreman; Thomas Burns,
foreman; A. dickson, Peter Feishe,, Patrick
Kimin, Charles Nelson, William +. Bagley,
Andrew Jacobsen, Bryan Sheridan. Charles
SvenssOn, 0. Anderson, Frank Bark, OF Ho-
boken; Mat McCarty, Patrick Broderick, Otto
Besseilen, John Jensen, Patrick Collins and
Mike BrOderick.
The following is a complete list of the
saved: Thomas Brady, B. McGovern, A. j.
Moline, Thomas Cummings, Christ Hansen,
j. VannOstrand, John Doyle and James
HAYES.
In addition to these, three men whose
names are not known are missing, and the
officials say they must have persisted. All
whose names are given belonged to Jersey
CITY except Bark He resided in HObOken.
The SUPERINTENDENT thinks the air in the
tunnel must have escaped through the silt.
Thomas Van Nostrand, one of the rescued
men, says: The main shaft is sixty feet
deep, and from the bottom of this shaft the
entrance to the tunnel is effected through a
cylindrical barrel six feet in diameter and
fourteen feet in length. This is called an air
lock, and serves to preserve the density oil
the atmosphere of the tunnel, which, in turn,
is secured by the forcing of air through pipes
from pumps. There is a door in each end OF
the air-lock. They both open inward. At
each side of the doors are round windows OF
thick glass through which, from the outside
of the air-lockS, view can be gained OF the
work and WOrkmen inside the tunnel There
were twenty-eight men at work in the tunnel.
They went in at twelve o'clock last night for
the eght-hOur shift. | was at work near
the east end of the lock, and in the
west end of the tunnel 1t was at
about 4:30 o'clock that l heard the
bolts snap, and the braces give way. AT the
same time felt rush of air in my face. !
started back with seven OF the men VINO were
near me and ran into the lock. The air
pressure crowded the door shut at the east
end. At first it was blocked by jOist which
we pulled out, and then the door slammed TO.
Through the dead-eyes we could see the men
inside the tunnel. The water was fast rush
/ ing in. Peter Woodland, Assistant Superin-
tendent, stood at the door outside the lock,
/ which was stationary. 1t would not move
with US without knocking out the deaI-eyes.
This would be fatal to the men outside. as the
water would rush in and drown the men in an
instant Woodland knew this, but stood at
the door. His face was ghastly white, and
he realized the horrible danger. tie SAID tC
me: Tom, quick, bust the dead-eyes and
do what you can for u.s. l knew it was
death to US all if did not, so l obeyed the
order As the glass broke the air rushed in
and the lock shot out in the main shalt, leaV
ing the men to drown, as the space occupied
/ by the shaft filed with water in an instant
We were wholly stripped of our clothes
when we crawled out. | heard the rush OF
water at our back 1t filed fast, but the OBJ
structions kept it back long enOu for US tC
escape from the main shaft. It was all we
could do to save ourselves. Woodland was
) standing in water up to his waist when l saw
him. It was sure death, and had to knocF
out the dead eyes, as | told you. He knew
as well as | that il was all over with them.
shall never forget the look on his face or the
sound of his voice as he told US to save our
selves though the very act was to insure his
DEATH
Another of the escaped wOrkmen says
WAfter eight men had escaped one man, il
irving to pass through the door leading iron
the air-lock into the temporary chamber o
the tunnel, was jammed IN the doorway, and
DESPITE the efforts Of those ahead, could no
he brought out as the door closed upon III
and held him fast Peter Woodland, As
sistant Superintendent told the men to try
and get out, and, when the ninth man wa
fastened in the doorway, called out to thoSt
who had escaped, telling them to hurry an'
try and get assistance TO help the rest ant
himself Who we're left behind. He refused
to leave himself, saying he would stay AM
make every effort to get the rest out, and, /
il were not POSSIBLE, then those eScapin!
must try to get the rest and himself gu
alive.n
The officers of the company, in eXplainin.
the accident, say the wOrkmen, in comm!
through the air-lOck, must have exercise
unusual care essness, and, DO h doors OF IN
air-lock being opened at the same time, tn
compressed air was allowed to escape. Tn
COMPRESSED air serves a double purpose
namely to keep the water out and to supper
the roof of the tunnel. So, when 1t escaped
the catastrophe was inevitable.
The engineers and officials say that it
impossible for any of the imprisoned work
men to be alive, as the water within tn
whole length of the tunnel is up to the roo
and even above it. The labOrers who al
making the excavation west OF the shall
will, however. not cease their labors to get a
where the bodies are supposed TO be but it
impossible to force any air into the TUNE
as all which has been forced in so far has e.
F capped through the shaft, in which It ha
, made the water leap up two or three fee
above the surface.
1t is feared this afternoon that only seve
men instead of eight men have been SAVED
as one, named Thomas Cummings, who wa
reported by one of the workingmen to hay
escaped, is now said to be missing.