Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-01-15

A Louisville. KY, dispatch Of the 9th
says: The most appalling accident
known here in many years occurred
this evening, about O'Clock. 1t was.
nearly time for work to stop all over the
city, and workingmen were expected
home by their families, when the re-
port spread rapidly that there was q
wreck or crash Of some kind at the new
bridge now under construction between
Louisville and Jeffersonville. Then
came the news that caisson had given
way and the worI1men employed in it
had been drowned Or crushed to death
by stone and t1mbers. The caisson known
as No. was about 100 yards from the
Kentucky shore. AS the workmen of
the men in the caisson to put off in
their boats, leaving work for the night,
they suddenly saw the low dark struc-
ture disappear, and heard, before they
could realize what had happened, the
roar of the furious m8lstrom. A run
ner was dispatched to the life saving
station, and three skiffs were manned
and pulled to the scene Of the wreck.
Word was sent to the police STATEN,
and squad was at once ordered to the
ground to aid in the work of recovery.
The coroner was called, and went with
corps of physicians.
The site of the bridge is at the upper
end of the city just below Tow Head
Island. Within an hour from the dis
appearance of the caisson 5000 people
were on the shore and strained their
eyes trying to see something OF the
wreckage. Dozens of boats were ply
ing about over the spot where the cais-
son had stood, and lights danced to and
fro vita them, but there was nc trace
of the massive structure of stone and
timber which had kept of the hungry
river, to promise any hope to the an
guish-stricken mothers and wives who
stood in the throng on the shore. The
water rolled sullenly but sn oothly down
from the cofer-dam above the pumping
barge below where the caisson had
stood. It was soon known that only
four of the eighteen men who were at
work at the time had escaped.
The following are the names of the
dead: William 3. Haynes, John Knox,
James McAdams, Frank Mahar, Pat.
Naylor, Ash. Thomas, M onroa Bowling,
Charles Chiles, Thomas Johnson, Jo-
seph Gordon, Hamilton Morris. Thom-
as Smith, Frank Soaper, Robert Tyler.
The men saved are all cclored, as fol-
lows: Abe Taylor, Louis G. Coch and
Frank H. Haddix, all of Henderson,
Ky.
The last man out of the caisson was
Frank Haddix. He was 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 a rumbling and there was
rush of air almost at the
same instant. He jumped up
the rungs of the ladder, followed by the
other men. They had hardly got clear
Of the caisson when the water burst
through the man-hole in a surge, knock
ing them all into the river, where they
were picked up. Haddix says he saw
Ham Morris, who was climbing next be-
low himself, swiftly drawn under by the
sand and heard his cries for help but
could do nothing.
The caisson is not wrecked, rs at first
supposed, but has settled down in the
bed of the stream completely filed WITH
sand and water. The pumping station
is hard at work clearing the way to the
bodies, but none will be reached to-
night. There seems absoluGalv 10 hope
tor any of those caught within the
caisson.
John Knox, the gang boss, took
charge of the work Monday. The ne
groes who escaped say he had them dig
too deep before letting the caisson set
tie, and the digging was too close to
the shoe of the caissOn. Just before the
accident Knox gave some order to
Robert Baldwin, the keeper in
charge of the upper door to the exit.
Baldwin then opened the door and the
compressed air which kept out the riv-
er rushed out, letting in the stream.
These men say they were working in an
ugly quicksand at the time.
The caisson was about 4)x20 feet and
built Of timbers y inches square
It was protected by -cofer-dam, but
the river is very high and the pressure
of the water very great.