The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1880-07-28
GREAT DISASTER.
TWENTY MEN BURIED ALIVE
IN THE HUDSON RIVER
TUNNEL.
DESPERATE STRUGGLES rcn LIFE.

JERSEY CRY, \. J., July 21-At .
o'clock this morning the eaisson sur
rounding the deep well leading 10 the
entrance Of the Hudson River Tun-
mel, in course of construction Mt the
foot of Sixteenth street, in this city,
caved in, carrying with it an i'm
mense quantity of earth. Twenty
one men were buried. Seven were
soon afterward taken out alive and
fourteen remained underneath. The
water from the river flowed in rap
idly, and the steam fire engines were
set to work to, if possible, save those
who might still be alive from drown
ing. The workmen resided in the
vicinity of the tunnel, and very
large and excited crowd of persons
soon congregated. The night gang
of thirty-five men, including ASSIST
ant Superintendent Woodland and
two firemen, entered the shaft about
midnight, the hours of work for
this gang being from II TO 5. The
depth OF the shaft is 90 feet; and
while most of the men were en-
ployed at the bottem of the shaft,
about one-third of the gang was en-
gagged on the brick wall of the arch,
% feet higher. 1t was the latter
squad (who were all bricklayers)
that escaped, except two. The main
arch of the tunnel runs out from the
shaft a distance of about thirty feet,
when it opens into the two distinct
arches that are to form the tnnnel.
Through some negligence of the men
it is supposed the air-lock was not
properly adjusted when the process
of shifting commenced. The brick
wall connecting the two arches gave
way, and the water rushed into the
cave.
The superintendent thinks the air
in the tunnel must have escaped
through the slit. He has put gang
of one hundred at work to dig a new
passage to the tunnel, but they will
not be able to reach there in less than
three days. The names of the men
in the tunnel are as follows Assist
ant Superintendent Woodland, Fore
man Thomas Burns, James Crevy,
4. Erickson, Peter Fisher, Patrick
Kerwin, Charles Nelson, William +.
Bagley, Andrew Jacobson, Bryan
Sheridan, Charles Stevenson, Z. An
derson, F. Burk, Mat. Mccarthy,
Patrick Broderick, Otto Bestine,
John Jensen, Patrick Collins and
Michael Broderick
The following is the official report
of the Hudson River Tunnel Com
pany, through its engineers (Messrs.
Speilman and Brush, relating to
accident to the Hudson River tunnel
which occurred at the foot of Six
teenth street, Jersey City: This
morning, about 4:30, while the men
were changing shifts, that portion of
the iron roof adjoining the shaft of
the connecting chambers between
the two tunnels and the sinking
shaft fell in. Twenty-eight men We're
in the tunnel at the time, of whom
eight escaped through the air-lock
and twenty were killed. The acci-
dent occurred at the connection of
the iron plates with the brick wall
of the working shaft, which, during
the changing of the shifts, was prob
ably not watched by the men as
closely as it should have been, and
the compressed air was allowed to
escape This compressed air is re-
lied upon to assist in supporting the
roof, which was also sustained by
strong timber bracing, and escape of
the air has always been prevented
by stoppingany leaks with the waste
slit. As the roof fell, the plate clos
ed the door of the air-lock into the
tunnel, and. the water rising rapidly,
cut off the escape of the twenty
men who were killed. The building
of this connecting chamber, though
a difficult piece of work, progressed
until now. The roof was all in DO
sition and securely bolted. The con
nection of the iron plates with the
shaft was being made at the time of
the accident. Work will be prose
cuted night and day with all the
men that can be advantageouslv en-
ploycd until the bodies are recover
ed, which will probably take about
three days. The accident will prob
ably delay the work for three
weeks.
The following statement was made
by one of the men who escaped
After eight men had escaped, one
man, in trying to pass through the
door leading from the air-lock into
the temporary chamber of the tun-
mel, was jammed in the doorway,
and, despite the efforts of those
ahead, could not be brought out, as
the door closed upon him and held
him fast, Peter Woodland, the as
sistant superintendent, told the men
to try and get out, and when the
ninth man was fastened in the door
way, called out to those who had es-
capped, telling them to hurry and try
to get assistance to help the rest and
himself, who were left behind. He
refused to leave himself. saying that
he would stay and make every effort
to get the rest out, and, if it were
not possible, that those who were es-
Gaping must try and get the rest and
himself out alive, if possible.
The men who were rescued did
not reach the surface a moment too
soon, for the water rushed after them
with amazing rapidity till it reached
a level within five feet of the top of
the shaft. The survivors were so
bewildered that they seemed to lose
all presence of mind, even if assist
anee could be rendered to the poor
fellows in the pit. Nearly all the
men employed in the tunnel lived in
close proximity 10 the works in
Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fif-
teenth streets, and friends and rela-
tives rushed to the place in a most
excited frame of mind.
The news of the disaster spread
like wildfre through the surround
ing cities. From all points immense
crowds thronped to the scene of the