The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1893-04-25
Lake Michigan Has a Gale
Which Causes Loss Of
Many Lives.
A Crib Goes Down and Only
One Man is Saved Out
Of Twenty-Five.

in wears. The sea Is running very
high and tugs are unable to venture
out of the harbor. a small vessel is
ashore ut the head of Juneau avenue.
The worst feature of the gale at this
port is the probable loss Of twenty
lives by the washing away ofthe house
over the crib at the terminus of the
new water works tunnel. No men
are IN sight and it is believed they
were swept away, but they may be in
the air lock below.
Five or six men can be seen cling
ing to the machinery and timbers OF
the waterworks crib. The water is
sweeping over them. 1t is thought
that the others may be dead in the
chamber below, from the lack of air.
The life saving crew has been unable
to render assistance as yet.
LATER.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, April 2l.-It is
now known that twenty-five men went
out to the water works crib last night.
Unless rescued soon all that may be
alive at this hour must perish as the
crib is submerged by every wave. 1t
is reported that five of the life saving
crew refused to obey orders to go out
in the life boat. The tug. Starke,
left the harbor about $50 oclocls but
was forced to return.
The sea broke in her pilot house
windows and cut Captain Chris Miller
quite severely. There is talk of man
ming the revenue cutter johnson and
going to the scene. Captain Davis
signifies his willingness to make the
attempt if men can be secured to man
a life boat.
This afternoon the tug Welcome
went to the crib and rescued one man.
The man rescued by the life saving
crew was 50 exhausted when taken on
board the tug tina; he was unable to
speak.
He recovered sufficiently just be-
fore being taken to the hospital to be
able to tell those about him that his
companions were all in the air
chamber below the crib. 1t is be
lieved that they are all sufiocated.
Two bodies were seen floating aronnd
in the well of the crib by the life
saver who reached the crib. His
name is Olson and he was badly
handled by the sea while performing
his noble work.
Captain Peterson of the life saving
crew was badly hurt about the head.
He is now at the station and physi-
clans have been summoned to him.
IL was an anxious crowd that stood
on the shore and looked at the crib
this morning. Some of the spectators
were relatives of the men who were in
peril.
Their hopes were kept alive BY
the statement of the foreman who said
that if the men were in the air cham
her they could live for quite while.
The sea was the most awful one
anybody in the vicinity had ever seen.
The waves were fully fifteen feet high
and dashed over the crib with terrific
force.
All that was left of the crib was
couple OF posts that had supported the
house and one of the pumps. The
two large boilers, the engine, one of
the two pumps, the air compressor
plant and the twenty thousand brick
that were on the crib had been washed
of. Shortly after o'clock one of the
spectators, who had been looking in
tently at the crib. could see the figure
of a man moving slowly about. Ii was
only by clinging to the lew remain
ing timbers that he was saved from
being washed off by the waves. A
couple OF men ran along the shore to
a little headland and waved their
handkerchiefs to let the man know
that he had been seen. Those look
ing through the glasses could see that
the man on the crib answered the sig
nal by waving of his hand while with
the other he chung to the pump for
his life.
From her station in the light house
at North Point. Mrs. q. s. Stebbins
witnessed the destruction of the house
which occupied position on top of
the crib. She says it was washed
away about $50 o'clock and that it
disappeared in some huge waves which
scanned to swallow it. When the
waves had spent their force, Mrs. |
Stebbins saw the machinery and other
heavy articles alone remaining on the
spot where the house had stood.