The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-07-30
SHOCKING CATASTROPHE.
BY the Gazing I'm Of a Tunnel at Jer-
sey City Twenty-One Men Meet Death
i'm Its Most Frightful shape.

the Hudson river, connecting New York and
Jersey cities, has been the scene of most
heartrending calamity, resulting in the death
OF twenty lone poor laborers, who persisted mis-
erably like rats drowned in barrel. From the
dispatches to the daily press we CLEAN the fol-
lowing particularsof the distressing catastrophe:
At the midnight change of "shifts at thu
tunnel twenty-nine men descended the shaft
and worked there until 4:30 in the morning
when the accident occurred. The work in
which they were engaged was in making con-
nectlon between the iron plates of the roof of
the grand arch and the brick work of the work
ing shaft For support this iron roof depended
upon strong wooden. braces, and upon the COM
pressed air which was forced down from above
by means of air compressers, and which
exerted an uplifting power of twenty
pounds to the square inch. The safety
OF the men and of the work depended princi-
pally upon the control of this compressed air
small leak, through which it might pass up
ward through the thirty feet of mud and Gin
ders which cover the tunnel, was liable to occur
at any time, and, unless discovered and stopped
IN season, to cause the entire mass of material
to come tumblin5 down into the archway.
This fact was perfectly well understood by the
men as well as their foreman and steady
watch was kept for air leaks, which, when
found, were at once stopped up by the silt in
the tunnel which has the consistency, and
much OF the virtue, of putty. 1t was probably
owing to a relaxation of this constant watch
that the terrible calamity was due.
Half of it projects through the east wall OF
and into the shaft. The other half is in the
opening of the excavation leading into the tl1n-
mel. 1t is provided with o massive door at each
end, which opens outwardly toward the tunnel
Two bulPs-eyes of plate glass look from one end
into the shaft, and two more from the opposite
end into the tunnel, in which an electric light
was kept burning night and day. The pipe.
which convey the compressed air into the tlln.
mel run through the air-lock A pipe opens
into the lock from the tunnel and an
other pipe from the shaft, so that air
from either direction may be let into the
lock according as ingress or egress may be de-
sired The principle of operating the lock is
much the same as that of the lock of canal
In going in the pressed air is let into the lock
gradually until the density becomes equal to
that of the tunnel. In coming out the opera
ionis reversed-the highly-eompressed air in
the lock is allowed to escape and its density
thus gradually becomes the same as that of the
outside atmosphere. The greatest care is of
course necessary in operating the lock, for up
OH it depends the lives of the workmen and the
success of the enterprise.
1t was in this confined space that the eight
men found themselves apparently cut off from
all retreat. They hammered ON the iron sides
of their prison, and screamed loudly for aid /;
but, for what seemed an eternity no aid came
Their cries were heard, however, and as soon as
possible relief was at hand. On the surface
Moses P1erson, the engineer, saw a stream of
condensed air coming up on the outside of the
shaft, and, diyining what had happened, rushed
quickly to the mouth of the shaft. "Open the
door, came to him in sti1ed tones from the
imprisoned men below.
Half of the shift of twenty-eight men left
the tunnel at o'clock in the morning, and
passed to the surface through the shaft to eat
their lunch. They returned at about 4:30 to
relieve their comrades, and it was at this time
that the disaster occurred. While the change
was being made q kissing sound was heard
which all recognized instantly as the noise Of
escaping air. 1t grew louder as the vent in
creased III size, ana almost Immediately the
timber supporting the roof began to sway, then
there was q sharp crack, the heavy joists
snapped like bamboos, and the thirty feet of
silt and cinders which covered the cham
Der to the level of the worling-shaft was
precipitated upon the heads of the doomed men.
Eight of them had time to leap into the air.
lock- ninth, Foreman Frank Olson, passed his
right arm through the open door, but before he
could enter the heavy iron of the roof fell
against the door, swaying it partlyto, and crush
ing him before the eyes of his companions. The
other twenty men were now completely cut off
from all escape, and were literally buried in the
falling timber, iron, and mud.
The men i'll the lock seemed doomed to GER
tain death, for the compressed air pushing
against the door giving egress to the shaft pre-
vented them from opening it, aud the water of
the river, oozing through the mud and loose
soil, was rapidly pouring in and threatening to
drown them.
This air-lock is an iron chamber resembling a
locomotive boiler, which furnishes the only
means of ingress to the tunnel and egress from
it. 1t is round, has length of fifteen feet and
q diameter of six feet
He sent messenger for Michael Hurley, the
day foreman, who liyei but short distance
Sway and also for J. II. Anderson, the General
superintendent. Hurley reached the scene in
q very short time, and clambered quickly down
the shaft to the rescue. He was followed by
Patrick Meehan, Michael Burchell and Thomas
Anderson, and the four tried to force open the
door of the lock, but without success, the press
IRE of the air against it from the inside being
too great. Then Hurley seized crowbar and
burst one of the bull s-eyes. At the same time
Thomas Van Nostrand one of the imprisoned
men, broke the other.
The compressed air rushed through the lock
with a whirf, followed by stream of water,
and, the pressure being thus removed, the door
was forced open The night men rushed out and
hurried across the shaft to the stairs leading to
the surface, followed by flood of water which
threatened to .ingulf them. They escaped with
out injury, and at once went to work on the
surface digging for thepurpose of rescuing their
buried companions. Meanwhile Supt. Anderson
had reached the scene. A glance at the river
showed them at once that all hope of saving
the life of any of the twenty workmen in the
tunnel was in vain. The water had risen in the
shaft until it was twenty feet deep, and on
level with the river, and this was sufficient evil
dence that the tunnel was flooded. Even had
the men been saved from suffocation, drowning
must have put an end to their lives in very
few minutes after the fatal crash.
The news of the disaster had spread rapidly
through Jer ey City, and by 6 o'clock crowd
numbering nearly 1000 people had congregated
around the shaft and were gazing at the pool
which marked the tomb of the unfortunate la
borers. Policemen were soon on hand to keep
the throng back, and ropes were stretched
around to protect the workmen from inter-
ference.
The scene all through the day was a sorrowful
one. In the great crowd that surged around the
shaft were wives seeking their husbands, moth
ers their sons, and children their fathers The
wife of Assistants Superintendent Woodland did
not hear of the disaster until O'Clock. two hours
after her husband was dead. She rushed fran
tically to the shaft, pushed her way through the
throng, and gazeds down into the deep water,
weeping and wailing. She was led away by
kindly hands and taken back TO her desolate