Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-09-24

Then there was a struggle, a stlnod
scream, and a smack, smack Of lips.
The noise disturbed tipsy Patsy, and he
rose from his bed and opened the door
entering into the hallway. The scufile
outside continued and there was more
smacking. Presently Alice cried:
"Oh, Teddy Horley, you're perfectly
horrid, and l don't like you one bit,
| therel"
"Now, darlintl7 began Teddy.
| "Don't darlint me | don't like you.
You are better looking and finer dressed
than Patsy, but he Is thousand times
better than you"
"Perhaps ye're in airnest," " said Ted
dy, little passlonately. "There's many
a thrue work spoken in Jest"
"Well, 1 am in earnest. I do like
Patsy, and if he'd ask me TO marry him
this day, I'd jump at the chance. So
there, now, you have the truth"
Then the door was slammed, and
heard Teddy walking slowly back into
his mothers room. Presently there
came knock at my door, and when I
cried "Come in," Patsy's freckled face
appeared on the threshold. Lspoke to
him kindly and invited him to have q
chair. He sat down, and 1 saw that
what he had heard had sobered him.
After moments silence he cleared his
throat and began:
"Did ye hear what she said?"
" Yes, Patsy" replied.
"An' do ye belaive she names it?"
he continued, eagerly.
" have no doubt of it.m
q" God bless her swate soul! ? I'm not
the man for her, an niver tot she
cared for me. If could only bring me-
self to belaive it's thrue, I'd be differ
ent man."
He sat in silence for some time and
then rose to 90. When he reached the
door he turned and said:
g. was a bit dhrunk when l come
home tonight. It's hard work be-
yont here in the tunnel, but sware to
We that afther tonight there'l never a
drap of pwhisky pass my lips"
l bade him good night and God speed
in this new-formed resolution, and he
shook my hand warmly. Mrs. Horley
came home and she and Patsy had
supper together. Teddy was out. l
took a short walk that evening, and
coming home passed Patsy and Alice
on one of the cross-streets walking
together, arm in arm. did not hear
what they were saying, but felt convinced
Patsy had declared his love and been
made happy with Alice's acknowledg.
ment that the passion was reciprOcated.
The next morning Patsy came to my
room before he went to his work. He
seized my hand, and look of supreme
happiness shot from his gray eyes.
"She sez she'll have me, sor," he
said, "an' Wen be married ez soon ez
1 get through work on the tunnel. I'm
a happy man, but for wan thing-it's
Teddy. Poor bye, he takes it to heart,
an is not himself at all. God knows
I'm his brother, an would rather lose
me roight hand than bring harm to
him"
"Oh, that will be all right. He'll
get over his disappointment in few
days. said, to console him.
90 l wish l could think So" he said,
moving toward the door, and these were
the last words ever heard the poor fel-
low utter.
PART 1.-THE CATASTROPHE.
Every reader of the Free Press has
heard of the terrible tunnel disaster,
the details of which electrified the whole
country. Teddy and Patsy Horley were
employed in the tunnel as laborers, and
worked side by side in the same relief.
The morning of my last interview with
poor Patsy, they went to their work as
usual, and for the first time in their
lives spoke never a word of kindly cheer
or brotherly badinage as they walked
swiftly through the streets. The better
to make plain what follows, it will be
necessary to say that the entrance to the
tunnel proper, on the New York side, is
through a circular, perpendicular shaft,
thirty feet in diameter, and about sixty
feet deep. This is q working shaft, the
bottom of which is used for the reception
of waste matter, as it is eXcavated, and
before it is taken away. Thirty feet be-
low the surface of the ground is an g all
lock," !" which is the sole means of com.
munication between the tunnel and the
outer air. 1t is necessary to keep the
air inside the tunnel sufficiently com.
pressed to maintain pressure of seven
teen pounds to the square inch, and the
air lock " serves similar purpose to
the lock of a canal, equalizing the pres
sure of the air to those passing in or out,
as a canal lock balances the level of the
water. As a matter of course, there
are two doors, one at each end of this
lock, only one of which can be opened
at once, while the lock itself is fifteen
feet long by six feet and six inches wide,
allowing for the passage, in case of ne,
cessity, of thirty men at once.
AS they were preparing to go down
the shaft that morning Patsy turned to
his brother and whispered:
"It's quare feelm' have in me this
mornin', Teddy. May the blissed Vor-
gin protect us from harm"
Teddy laughed. It's the pwhisky,'
he said, and turned away, not so quick
flash that fell from his brothers. great
gray orbs. Afterwards that look haunted
him, and made the misery of life all the
harder to bear.
Twenty-eight men composed relief,
and the work of excavation moved along
smoothly until noon. Then the squad
was divided. Fourteen men went to
lunch; the remainder worked on. In
half an hour the first squad was heard
advancing and the others threw down
their tools and prepared to leave the
( tunnel. Patsy was in the first squad
Teddy in the second. The men return
ing had passed inside through the air,
! lock and the others had quit their posts
preparatory to leaving. II Is probable
that II they had delayed this for even q
minute, the accident would not have
, happened, for the fatal leak, which wa!
, discovered just too late, might easily
have been stopped if discovered in time
, / Aa tho Hu uk aE Lo n.