The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-08-03
A DEATH TRAP.
Eight Men Killed by the Fall OF a
Blast Furnace Near Syracuse,
New York.
The Unfortunates Buried Beneath Sixty
Tons Weight of Brick and Iron.
dispatch from Syracuse, N. VI

dispatch from Syracuse, N. "
A terrible accident occurred at the Onon-
daga Iron Company's blast furnace mile
west of this city, in Geddea For several
weeks the furnace has been unused, 1t being
out of repair. Joseph Dawson, with q gang
of men, has been engaged for several days
in removing the inner and fire bricks from
the arch, leaving only the outer course
standing The foreman considered this
course entirely secure Without the slight
est warning the arch caved in, burying the
workmen beneath 1t in mass Of byicks,
mortar, SCOT and ashes An alarm
was at once given, and the men
ut the mill set at work with a viii
to remove the victims nless than an hour
eight bodies were taken from the ruins.
Several hundred people were at the scene.
Sons daughters, and wives wept frantically
as the bodies were removed. People gath
cred in knots in the village OF Geddes or
hurried to the scene of the casualty. Bust
ness was almost entirely suspended in the
village, and the place looked as If stricken
by panic 1t was fully five minutes after
the collapse before the dust cleared away
sufficiently SO that the debris could be
viewed The weight of the falling bricks
was SO great that they were forced out Of
the openings in the furnace and crowded
The gang of eight men were lining the in
side of the furnace which is sixteen feet in
diameter and sixty feet high. A small scat
fold was across the furnace at hight of
eight feet from the ground 1t was said by
MIR. Gere manager of the company, that 1t
was in dangerous condition, and that he
warned the men before they went in The
fellow workmen OF the dead men said that
it was not known that the lining was In a
dangerous state. Without warning the lin
ing of the upper part gave way, and sixty
tons of brick fell upon the men The sound
OF the falling mass was mutfled by the iron
walls and there was no crash A great cloud
of dust blew out from the doors of the fur
mace, filling the factory.
Men knew their fellows were inside that
iron tomb, but their eyes were blinded by
the clouds of dust, and it was several min
utes before they could grope their way in
side the furnace. With hoes and shovels
they began work. and after digging near
half an hour and throwing out a mass Of
bricks about four feet deep, they found the
bodies They were crushed and broken
Their faces were covered with dust, which
had settled into the cuts and wounds made
by the falling bricks, and their hair and
boards were filed with the yellow powder
While the men were busy throwing out the
debris they were frequently importuned
by their friends to leave fireplace at once,
as they were working in imminent danger
every minute. They paid no heed, but
worked on with will. More bricks were
liable to fall at any moment. The fall Of
one brick from such a height would kill a
man outright
The news Of the tragedy spread from the
blast furnace to the homes of the men who
were killed Women and children wailing
and crying fastened to the furnace The
limp, shattered bodies were carried out by
men whose faces were stern and set and laid
on the bare ground Sobs filed the air as,
like so many sacks, the bodies were lifted
into wagons and driven through the village
At the little cottages women stood with
aprons to their ewes, and even the little
children stopped playing. The excitement
among the employees aud many outside la
boring men was intense The loudest and
most open threats were heard to shoot both
Manager Gere and the general foreman, who
were both present The impression pre-
vailed among these excited men that they
were criminally negligent in allowing the
men to go into the furnace to work in the
condition in which it was. The police were
called in to quell any disturbance