Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-07-22
BNTBRN DISPATCHES
TERRIBLE CALAMITY.
Gazing Of the Hudson River Tunnel
twenty-five Lives Lost.

NEW YoRx, July 2l.-At5 o'clock this
morning Q oaisson leading to the en-
trance to Hudson river tunnel, con-
struoting at Sixteenth street, Jersey
City, cavsd in. carrying with 1t an i'm
msnss quantity Of earth. Twenty-one
men were buried. Seven wore soon
after taken out, bruised. but not serious
ly, and rsscusrs were laboring hard to
reach the remaining fourteen. Mean
while, water from the river flowed In
rapidly, and steam FIRE engines were set
to work 10 save those who might still be
alive from drowning. The
OFFICIAL REPORT
OF the disaster says : "Twsnty-sight
men were In the tunnel when the acci-
dent occurred, Of whom eight escaped
and twenty were drowned. The cause
given IL that probably the men did not
watch the brick wall OF the working
shaft - closely - they should. The
accident will stop work for three weeks"
There arc no other points In the official
report not already covered. When eight
men had got out, another workman, In
trying TO pass through the door leading
from the airlock into the temporary
chamber Of the tunnel. was jammed In
the doorway, and despite the efforts OF
those ahead. could not DO brought ont,
a. the. door closed upon him and bald
him fast.
THE CAUSE OF THE DISASTER.
The officers OF the company. In sx-
planning the accident, say the workman,
In coming through the airlock, must have
exercised unusual oarslessnsss, and both
doors Of the airlook being opened ct the
same time, the compressed air was al
lowed to escape. The compressed air
serves . double purpose, namely. to keep
the water out and to support the roof OF
the tunnel, 90 that when II escaped .
catastrophe was inevitable.
ALL DEAD.
The engineer and officials say Il 10
impossible for the imprisoned workmsn
to DO alive, - the water within the
whole length Of the tunnel ID up to the
roof and sven above It. The laborers
who are making an excavation In the
west shaft will not. however. cease their
labors to get at where the bodies are
supposed to be; but II Is impossible to
force any air into the tunnel, as all
which has been forced In 10 far has
escaped through the shaft, In which 1t
has made the water leap up two or three
feet above the surface. Il IL feared this
afternoon that only seven men, instead
OF eight, have been saved, a. one named
Thomas Ammins, who wss reported by
one OF the workinemsn to have escaped,
10 now said 10 be missing.
A rHRuLNo ACCOUNT BY ONE OF TIE
RESCUED.
Thomas Van Nostrand, one OF the res
cued men, said: The main shaft IL sixty
feet deep, and from the bottom OF this
shaft the entrance TO the tunnel IL Of
ec.sd through . cylindrical barrel six
feet In diameter and fourteen feet In
length. This 10 called an air lock and
serves TO preserve the density OF the
atmosphere OF the tunnel. which In turn
IL secured by the forcing Of air through
the pipes from the pumps. There 10 q
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 lock, o view can DO gained Of the
work and workmen inside the tunnel.
There we're twsnty-sight men ct work at
the tunnel. They went on at IL O'Clock
last night for the sight-hour shift. I
was Of work at the nearest end OF
the lock, and In the west end OF
tho tunnel ct about 4:30 O'Clock I heard
bolts snap and braces give way. At the
same time I felt o rush OF air In my face.
! started back, with seven Of the men
who were nsa me, and ran Into the
lock. The air pressure crowded the
door shut at tho east end. At first It
was locked by q 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 rushing. Peter Woodland, Assist.
ant Superintendent, stood at the door
outside the lock, which was stationary.
Il would not move with rs without
knocking the dead eyes. That would be
fatal to the men outside. a. the water
would rush In and drown them In an
instant. Woodland knew this, but he
stood at the door; his face was ghastly
white, and he realized the terrible dan
ger. he said to me: "Tom, quick,
burst the dead eyes and do what you
can for u.s." I knew that Il was death
to NJ all 10 I didn't, so l obeysd the
order. As the glass broke the air
rushed In and the lock shot out In the
main shaft, leaving the men to drown.
a. the space occupied by the shaft Allied
With water In an instant. We were
wholly stripped Of our clothes when va
crsvled out, We heard . rush OF water
at our back. It filled in fast, but the
obstruction kept 1t back long enough for
Ms to escape from the main shaft. It
was all We could do to save ourselves.
Woodland was standing In the water
when I saw him. It was q sure death,
and I had to knock out the dead eyes as
I told you. He knew as we'll as / that
Il was all over with them. I shall never
forget the look on his face or the sound
Of his voice - he told rs TO save our.
selves.
Lrsr OF THE SAVED.
Following II . complete list OF the
saved: Thomas Brady, B. McGovern,
A. ]. Moline, Christ Hansen. ]. Van
Nostrand, ]. Doyle and W. j. Hayes.