New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-22

D. c. Haskin president OF the Hudson Tunnel
Railroad Company, SAID to TRIBUNE reporter yes
terday:
Iii is a terrible and lamentable calamity. Every
precaution taken for the safety OF the men EN-
ployed by us. but you must understand thar IN a
work of this kind great danger always attenus the
shifting of workmsn. In this instance the man
whose business it was 10 attend 10 the plating and
air near the air lock negccted ms work. We snip
posed that the danger had been passed, and from
this | ina CINE that the workmen had become some
what careless. The duty Of the Waterman was to
prevent the compressed air from making leak be-
tween the partly fixed iron plates. THIS had been
gong for three DAYS successfully, and everything
pointed to q completion of that part Of the work
without accident. Bat as the men were being
shifted leak was made, and as the compressed air
escaped the atmosphere of the place became foe'
As the earth began to cave in the top plates we're
bent down, and the men rushed bhndly for the air
lock. We suppose that they are all buried under
this earth close to the shaft for they had no oppor
tunity to run into the finished part of the tunnel
under the river
DO YOU feel any loss of confidence in the system
Of constructing the tunnel because of this accident"
"Not at ALL 1t is like a train of cars running
upon misplaced switch. have the utmost conf
denee in our engineers and foremen and be-
regret now that the approach was not built first
but regarding the engineering principle involved
have no change of mlnd."
HOW THE BODIES WILL BE RECOVERED.
"What measures will be taken for the recovery
Of the bodies n
"It will probably take us two or three days to
reach the bodies of the buried men, but pains
expense will be spared to reach them as soon as pos
sible. This afternoon have been in consultation
with the best engineering skill of New-York regard
ing the best method TO be employed. Among those
who have been here are W. II. Paine. who is our
consulting engineer, and Mr.. LOvejoy. of the Ele-
waited Railroad. Our plan will be to pump the
water out of the shaft, which is filed and at
the same time to excavate the spot that has
oaved ID. Fifty men now digging at this place,
and the work will be continued night and day. A
Golfer dam to keep ont the tidewater will have to
be bnilt In the excavation, and platform upon
which the men Can be lowered into the place. Then
the iron plates will have to be- lifted ont for under
them. / suppose, the bodies are buried"
"Will the accident cause any change in the man
her of continuing the tunnel I"
1T will not. The system has been proved to be
successful. and the same plan of work will be fol-
lowed after the effects of the accident have been
moved. But the first and only thing to do now is
10 recover the bodies"
what do you estimate the damage caused by the
disaster to bef"
About $4,000 or $4,000 The delay will be
most injurious to the work. for were getting
along rapidly. We shall be delayed two weeks
probably"
"What is being done for the families of the dead
workmeni"
IL have ordered the pay of the men who
were killed and who leave families to go right on.
The money will be given to their families l believe
there only three or four who had families"
ENGINEER srIEIMAN's OPINIONS
The engineers in charge of the tunnel works are
Arthur SpielmaD and Charles ii. Brush. both MEM
bers of the American Society of CITl Engineers.
They are partners in business, and have Office at
No. 10 Newark-st., HObOken, and branch office at
the shaft of the tunnel In response TO inquiries by
u TRIBUNE reporter yesterday Mr.. Soelman said:
ave weIe coming back in our work and were
making the connection between the two tunnels
and the shaft This part is the WIDE arch or en-
trance 10 the two tunnels. 1t is the large single
tunnel adjoining she shaft, and is about thirty feet
from the surface of the ground The plating had
been nearly all put up SO that there only
small space left between it and the shaft. The top
arch had been placed in position. and we felt con-
fdent that the most dangerous part of the work
was past. The plates were of fve-eighths inch
boiler irOn two by four feet in SIZE As
they were put up they were boted together and
the brick was pat up afterwards as rapidly posi-
bic. They were temporarily braced. until joined
with wooden beams as soon as they were placed In
position although the compressed air was power
full enough to hold them up The braces all
firm and strong and there is no thought that they
could have given away. Each gang of wOrkmen
appointed men to watch the arch where the plating
was being put up to stop the leaks made in the soil
between the plates and elsewhere, which
caused by the compressed air pushing through.
They were supposed to do this work with great
care, for they knew that their lives depended upon
it, Small leaks were beng constantly made in this
way but they were easily stopped by handful of
the clay soil of that part of the tunnel Fromcbe
nature of the ground even O small leak was bad
here the soil being soft and yielding. 1t was the
only bad place in the line Of the tunnel and we
would have ad ii all covered in ten days.
"Knowng that .hIs was a bad place, did you no
take extra precautiOn against accidentW
ave did. On the safe ard careful construction
of this portion depended the whole safety Of our
future work For this reason especially, everything
was done by us that We could think Of TO secure
safety. No were allowed to work in the farther
part of the tunnel while this work was going on.
and usually we should have had fifty at work
there Several men from each gang were appointed
10 watch the places carefully, and instructed to be
Oh the lookout for the slightest leak Special care
was taken in bracing the plates Oh account OF the
porous nature of the soil"
WHAT CAUSED THE ACCIDENT
"What is your theory OF The accidentP
/" / think it was caused by IA small leak over
looked by the watchmen as the men were coming
out, which increased rapidly that the compressed
mir shot out before anything could be done. A
theory is advanced that soft spot might have been
come upon, through which the compressed air shot
up and exhausted the tunnel. But DO not think
this was possible. The workmen in shifting were
probably careless. All except the last tier of plates
had been put up. and only space remained of
probably foot or So in width, and as everything