New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-25
LONG DELAY AT THE TUNNEL.
BEGINNING TO BUILD A CoFFER-DAM.


fine since the accident occurred. However there
was a fair crowd scattered about the grounds ana
MANY persons came and went; Some men ana oQys
found placa of vantage the top of brick pie,
from which they conld see into the haf-rulned shed
| Every few minutes the pile would cruinble, ana
dozen Of them won ID come to the bottom, out ap
| parently made little difference; they would soon
| get back again. Others who could OBTAIN no pe,,
| fer positions stood and stared at the bare board
walls for honrS together, as Il they expected 10 De
Inside the building there was little doing. In the
forenoon the pump WAS only run sulhclentiy Keep
| the water from coming up and covering IL Detore
| the tide tell. Afterward that was unnecessary
| The divers WOnncberg and Rogers. were on the
ground early in the morning, ana thought thhu IheS
| might be able to close the openings OF the broken
| bull'seyes through which the water 1owed INTO te
| workng-shaft. II that could be done, 1t would be
! n comparatively easy matter TO remove thc wafer
from the shaft and reach the tunnel pumps. when
| would be of great ADVANTAGE in helping o remove
the water from the cOffrrdam during inc process
of its construction, as they are especially anapted
| for deep pumping The descent was ab0nt 10 DC
made when II was discovered thar Wonnebergs mel
met was in an injured condition ana could not be
used So the diving was deferred hhtli nc" nelhe'
conld he procured from New-fcrk
At tins stage of the proceedings very many or me
! spectators. both in aud out Of the building fuiiy
| expressed their great disgust ut the manner IN
which the work had been carried on from me hrst;
| 4" 1t has only been succession OF mistakes ana
accidents" said one man the iact ~. tue tunnel
engineers utterly deInorazrd ny the accident,
! and were completely at sea 10 what ought TO be
| done Unfortunately, sorn" of them expressed the
IKE WORKING shaft. and so three days had to be
wasted in demonstrating the absurdlty OF thai
| theory Now they are just beginning what should
| have been begun "Wednesday mOrning-the
building of the cofIcr-dam. Any practical engineer
could have told them tha5 that was the tmhg 10 DO.
| if they bad asked him but they seemed deslrous
| of 'cxpcrInentingi" The man who spoke
PRACTICAL engineer himself. His opinion seemed 10
| reflect the sentiment OF TIE spectators ana tne
| Work for the construction Of the cotlcr-dam
| begun in the morning; large force OF men cN-
tl,a .ls.tfI had nlrspI nnl
and large timbcrs were brought To the grouhd.
| pile-lryer was brought up, and a powerful engine
Tor working il. and il was expected that the Work
! of driving piles would be begun IN the evening.
| Ii was 2:20 p. m before tie diver, we're iuiIy
| equipped, ready TO 20 uIwn. Ihey took WIN mem
| pieces of plank sawed the same S,zc as the BULLS
| ewes which had been broken. Finding the air-lock
| they elached the bits of glass remaining IN the
dead-lights and removing the rings which had held
the glasses position clamped the bits OF plank IN
| their places The men remained IN the water forty
| five minutes and succeeded in then undertaking
| only with great difficulty. ihev could not have
done the work at all but the water mad been allowed
! to run into the working shaft until II had reached
! tId.-eVc. at a time when the TIDE was OUT ana De
| low the pump Rogers descended second time to
close the waive of an air-pipe leading into the lock-
After the air-lock had Deen completely closed, the
| pu NJ was started again and the water III the
working shaft was lowered with astonishing rapid
/ lty. No water flowing INTO the shalt ana The
| water already IN It was removed at the rate Oh
! twelve inches in five minutes. The pumping WAS
| continued until the lower end Of the suction hose
was reached, aud then the pump had 10 he lowered
requiring All interruption OF half an hour or more,
Yesterday there were many sad scenes at the
| tunnel works. 1t being the regular Z" pay-iay,"
the company paid to the widows or families OF the
| dead workmen the amounts which would have
| been paid to the men had they been alive. The
| women took the money teartullv, and the thought
that those dear to them had yielded up their lives
IN earning it made 1t almost sacred and opened
| their grief afTcsh. Mrs. William Bagley called at
| the Office with her two bright little boys, VINO
manifested childish interest IN the work gong on.
| The sister of Michael BrOdeTck. Of Philadelphia,
was greatly affected and looked at the fata! shaft
with shudIer. Mrs. John Treeyy broke out IN
lOud wli;Ings soon as sire came inside tie gaze
and with difficulty could be plciiied She was
taken int1 the office Mr.. Haskln talked kindly with
her ana she finally Departed after first looking
down into the shaft. Mrs. kIrwin, the sister of
MCarty. and some other relatives were there, and
all seemed to feel terrbly-parcul so because
there Was such delay IN getting at the bodies One
woman sad that she hadn't sept since the accident.
Wien she Thought OF her poor husband down
there and then the poor creature broke ont sob
ing and could say no more. Mr.. Metcalf, the book
keeper vino paid over the wages was unsirung by
the scenes he had passed through. 1t was ter
rbleD said he W all feel for these poor people,
and want to DO everything can for them. Mr..
Haskn svnpatnizes with them deeply. and has
gwen orders thar The wages OF the unfortunate
woilmen shall be paid to Their families right aOng
until the company makes otter provision for
them"
Most of them, and some bave come TO claim The
wages of those who had no relatives IN tins COM
pany. Among Others, clearinghouse keeper
from Brooklyn came to collect Il bill of rs which
he alleged one of The wOrkmen owed Inn. We in |
tend paving tho wages to those who were dependent
the worlmen-to tner wives, mothers or sisters,
but Of course we are not assuming the debts they
may have contracted"
c. C. Lovejoy, Chief Engineer, of the Elevated
Railroad who is experimenting the cOnstruc tion of
the cott-r-am. said that that the only way pos
sibl, of reaching the bodies now. and that IT would
take cOnsIde rabr time. I'VE have been greatly de-
ayrd," said he, "by our inability to get proper ma
teT1al for the work 1t has been almost Impossible
to get ple-dryers and equally hard to find piles of
afffvfh In into NTnl tnpl
will have TO be sixty feet III length. We have
dered some, and expect them to be here this even
iug."
This work done to-day" said President Haslln, |
Will enable US to get at pumps, and then we |
can use them to assist us with the rotterdam"
"Do yon still hold to the theory that you con- |
tending with surface waterP
Certainly, l have discovered nothing to change |
my opinion yet-though-well of course we cannot |
tell 1t may be otherwise
d" 1t seems strange, Mr.. Haskin and people think |
it is strange, that the cotfer-darn was not begun |
sooner"
"WelI, we began preparing the plans for the COT
fer-dam the very morning Of the accident. OF |
course could not begin the work without any
plans to 60 by. AT first we thought of building |
cotferdam fifteen feet square n order to reach the
bodies soon possible but after our plans were
all prepared we had to abandon that idea because we
found that there were long tmbers the ground
work below. that wOuld interfere with such
construction. Then We had to begin anew, so we
planned a cUfferdam fifty feet square-to the
whole OF the temporary entrance to the tunnel
where the fall Was. / his, then, will be much |
toward getting along with the tunnel as well as
toward rescuing the bOdiesD
And how long will all that take do you thinkin
:" / think we will he able to reach the bodies in
three or four days-certainly by Wednesday or
Thursday. OF course IT will take much longer than
that to finish the cofier-dam and get down to work
on the tunnel"
Now you only expect to reach the bodies by the
coffer-damf
:" Yes. that is the only way now. The air-lock is
shut"
Mr.. Haskin then reasserted his complete conf
dence III his system of tunnelling. " IL was only
mistake that caused the accident. Somebody blum
dered. Such accidents are happening continually,
though that does not make this one any the less
terri BILE"
There almost many people about the
tunnel works at night rs during the daytime. MANY
of tho wOrkmen who were of duty returned with |
their wives and daughters. The weird glare of the
electric lights gave the pace and the workers n
uhn sflu and flrne fnl nil.