The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-01-16
CAUGHT LIKE RATS.
An Appalling Accident on a
New Bridge Being Built
at Louisville.
Eighteen Men are Caught in
the CaiSsOn, only Four Es-
Gaping.

| SAlC AopluAy bAoo bACAC "0S
wreck or crash of some kind at the ne
bridge now under construction betwee
Louisville and Jeffersonville. 1t was fir
reported that q span of the bride
had fallen and a gang of men ha
been thrown into the river, but tn
was at once discredited as there was n
span in existence. Then came the trut
that a caiSson had given way and the worl
men employed in it had been drowned Q
crushed to death by stone and timber
The CaisSOn known as No. was about on
hundred yards from the Kentucky shore
AS the workmen of the pumping static
were looking for the men in the caisson t
put off in their boats leaving wor
for the night, they suddenly saw tn
low dark structure disappear in dashin
white waves, and heard, before they coul
realize what had happened, the roar of tn
| furious maelStrOm. A runner was dis
patched to the life saving station and thre
skitfS were manned and pulled to the seem
of the wreck. Word was sent to the polio
station, and squad was at once ordered t.
the ground to aid in the work of recovery
The corner was notified and went with
corps of physicians. The site of the bridg
| 10 at tIlS cIlu VI Gllc Guy JC1ck DSION
Tow Head island. Within an hour from
the disappearance of the caisson three
thousand people were on the shore and
strained their eyes trying to see something
of the wreckage. Dozens of boats werG
| plying about oyer the spot where the
caisson had stood and lights danced to and
fro with them, but there was no trace of the
massive structure of stone and timber which
had kept off the hungry river to promise
any hope to the anguish-stricken mothers
and wives who stood in the throng on the
shore The water rolled sullenIy but
smoothly down from the cofferdam above
the pumping barge below where the caisson
had stood. 1t was soon known that only
four of the eighteen men who were at work
at that time had escaped.
The bridge officials ordered the reporters
off the pumping barge and made it difficult
as possible to get information. Reports
from the scene of the accident show the fol-
lowing list of killed:
William E. Haynes, forty years, PA Clay
street, Louisville
John Knox, twenty-eight years.
James McAdamS, twenty-Six years, Hyde
Park, Pa
Frank Mahar, twenty years old, native of
New Jersey.
Patrick Naylor, twenty-seven years, Phil
adelphia.
Thomas Ash (colored), thirty. eight years,
Henderson, Ky.
Monroe Bowling (colored), ffty-four
years, Henderson, KY.
=. .C.hs~Ie~o..T TksJe- 49, -
Thomas Johnson (colored), shirty ye"1''
joseph Gordon (colored), twenty-five
wears Henderson,, XIV.
Hamilton Morris, twenty years, Hender-
son, Ky.
Thomas Smith, twenty seven years, Hen
derson, KY.
Frank soaper (colored), twenty-five years.
Robert TYLER, sixteen years. Henderson,
Ky.
THE MEN SAVED
are all colored, as follows: Abe Taylor,
Lewis Coch and Frank H. Haddox, all
Henderson, KY. The last man out of the
caisson was Frank Haddox. Hewas barely
saved by Murray, who dragged him from
where he was caught waist deep in the
quicksand. Taylor says he stood nearest
the iron ladder by which they got in and
out of the caisson. He heard rumbling,
and there was a rush OF air at
the same instant He jumped up the
rungs of the ladder, followed by other men.
They had hardly got clear ofthe caisson
when the water burst through the man.
hole in a surge, knocking them all into the
river, where they were picked up. Haddox
saws he saw Ham Norris who was climbing
next below himself, swiftly drawn under
by the sand and heard his cries for help,
but could do nothing. The caisson is not
wrecked as at first supposed, but
has settled down in the bed of the stream
completely filled with sand and water. The
pumping station is hard at work clearing
the way to the bodies but none will bt
reached tonight. There seems absolutely
no hove for any of those caught within the
caisson. John Knox, the gang boss, tool
charge of the work Monday. The negroes
who escaped said he had then
dig too deep before letting thu
caisson settle and the digging
was too close to the shoe of the caisson
Just before the accident Knox gave sOm'
order to Robert Baldwin, the keeper il
charge of the upper door to the exit. Bald
win then opened this door and the com
pressed air that kept out the river rusheC
out, letting in the stream. These men sa!
they were working in an ugly quicksand q
the time, The caisson was about 40x20 fee
and built of timbers twelve inches square
1t was protected by a cofferdam, but tn
river is very high and the pressure of tn
water very great.
FOUGHT FOR LIFE. 9
Abe Taylor, one of the survivors, tells tn
following story of the accident and the hol
rible fight for life of the panic-stricke
workmen imprisoned in the air chambe
beneath the bed of the river: The ME
were at work in the soft bottom of tn
: river The made such rapid progress tc
day in the muddy surfacg that the excavs
ton went down faster than the caissoI
whose great weight was expected to carr
it gradually down, keeping pace with til
work of excavating to rock foundation
This afternoon an unsual quantity of watt
began to trickle from under the caisson
edges, but the pumps were at work takin
it out and no apprehension was felt, Graz
ually the incoming tide increased unit
suddenly from under the edt
{ of the eaisson on every sic
/ q food gushed in. The men. too lat
realized their deadly peril, and all rusht
!; for the exit into the escape pipe. Immed
: ateIy around this little trap door which a.
mitted to liberty and life, the frantic Vi
fortunates fought like demons, all KNOWN
= that but few of them could pass throug
the inner trap before the air chamber w
completely filled by the in-rushing It'd
:: Only one could go through at a time, ar
: as one man gained a preeminence he W
I snatched by his frenzied companions al
G drawn back into the struggling crow
. Meanwhile the food rose swiftly al
!, relentlessly. The caisson roof was scarce
. higher than the mems heads and to be Il
: behind was thought to be certain deaf
b Taylor says he the last of the survivors
]. escape into the outer lock. As he escap
!, from the clutches of dozen hands al
}; leaped through the trap into the outer To-
9 he heard Knox, the foreman, shout: "F
= Gods sake, hurry boys, its getting over II
j head; let the shortest men go first" T
t trap fell back behind Taylor and shut
doomed comrades from view. 1t is suppos
l. .e52@ #a e za@a' y Est1