The daily gazette., 1880-07-22
TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.
TWENTY MEN BURIED BY THE cav
ING OF THE HUDSON RIVER TUN-
MTT

TWENTY MEN BURIED BY THE CAV
ING OF THE HUDSON RIVER TUN-
MEL.
JERSEY CITY, July 2l.-At S
o'clock the caisson surrounding the
deep we'll leading to the entrance of
the Hudson River Tunnel, in course
of construction at the foot of Six
teenth street, in this city, caved in,
carrying with it an immense guam
tity of earth. Twenty-one men were
buried. Seven were soon after tal-
en- out alive, and fourteen renamed
underneath. The water from the
river flowed in rapidly, and the
steam fire engines were set to work
to-, if possible, save those who might
still be alive from dro wing. The
workmen resided in the vicinity of
the tunnel, and a very large and ex-
cited crowd of persons soon congre-
gated.
FURTHER PARTICULARS.
The night gang of thirty men, in
cluding Assistant Superintendent
Woodland and two firemen, entered
the shaft at midnight, the hou IS of
work for this gang being from IL to
o'clock. The dept of the shaft is
sixty-five feet, and while most of the
men were employed at the bottom
of the shaft, about one-third of the
gang was engaged on the brick wall
of the arch, twenty-five 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 distance of
about thirty feet, when it opens into
the two distinct arches that are to
form the tunnel. Through some
negligence of the men it is supposed
the air-lock was not properly adjust
ed when the process of shifting COM
menced.
The brick wall connecting the two
arches gave way and the water rus.-
ed into the cave.
The superintendent thinks the air
in the tunnel must have escaped
through the silt. He has put a gang
of 100 men at work to dig a new pas
sage to the tunnel, but they will not
be able to reach there in less than
three days.
AN OFFICIAL REPORT CONCERNING
THE ACCIDENT.
The following is the official report
of the Hudson River Tunnel Com
pany, through its engineers, Nessrs.
Spielmann and Brush, relating to
the accident to the Hudson River
Tunnel, which occurred at the foot
of Fifteenth 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 cham
bers between the two tunnels anC
the sinking-shaft fell in. Twenty
eight men were in the tunnel at the
time, of whom eight escaped through
the air-lock, and twenty were kill,
ed.
| The accident occurred at the con-
nection of the iron plates with the
brick wall of the working shaft
which, during the changing of the
shifts, was probably not wa ,ched by
the men as c'oeely as it should have
been, and the compressed air was
allowed to escape. This compressed
air is relied upon to asst in sup
porting the roof, which was also sus
tanned by strorg tim ber bracing. anC
the escape of the air has always
been prevented by stopping any
leaks with the waste silt. As thu
roof fell the plate closed the doc
of the air back into the tunnel, ant
the water rising rapidly, cut off tn
escape of the twenty men who wer
killed.
The building of this CONNECTING
chamber though a difficult piece @
work progressed until now. TIL
] roof was all in position and securel,
bolted. The connection of the irol
plates, with the shaft, was bein,
made at the time of the accident.
/, Work will be prosecuted nigh
, and day with all the men that ca
i, be advantageously employed unit
i the bodies are recovered, which will
: probably take about three days.
The accident will probably della
= the work for three weeks.
STATEMENT OF A SURVIVOR.
= The following statement was mad
b by one of the men who escaped =
After eight men had escaped on
man in trying to pass through tn
door leading from the air-lock int
= the temporary chamber of the tun
E mel was jammed in the doorway an
e despite the efforts of those ahea
: could not be brought out as the doc
a closed upon him and held him fas
y Peter Woodland, the Assistant 81
il perintendent, told the men to tr
1t and get out, and when the mint
man was fastened in the doorwa
called out to those who had escape
telling them to hurry and try to gt
assistance to help the rest and hin
d self, who were left behind. He RI
!; fused to leave himself, saying ths
y he would stay and make every effol
!, to get the rest out, and if it wei
q not possible that those who were ei
e Gaping must try to get the rest an
i himself out alive, if possible.