Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-04-26
ONLY ONE SAVED.
Fourteen Lives Lost in a Crib Off MiIWau-

k6o.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, April 21.-The ter
rife storm and tremendous sea it
caused Wednesday night and yesterday
morning swept away the frail house on
the crib at the new intake tunnel.
Every one of the fifteen men at work
there, with one exception, James
Miller, miner, whose home is
now at Whitetish Bay, was drowned
or suffocated in the air chamber within
the crib. There was absolutely no hope
for the unfortunate men. They had no
boat or other means by which they
might have made an effort to reach
shore and il the morning when their
peril was known the sea was SO high
no boat could reach them.
What hope could there be for human
life in a gale which tore away whole sec
tons of the government breakWateT,
built to withstand the worst of storms?
There was none. Strong men watched
the furious waves break over the crib,
only 5000 feet away, powerless to rem
der the aid they were only too will
ing to attempt at the peril
of their own lives. Weeping
women and children paced the
shore and wrung their hands in agony
for the loved ones that might still be
alive, but who were beyond the reach of
human aid. Not until noon could the
brave men of the life-saving crew, with
the assistance of the staunch tug Wei
come, get to the scene Of the disaster, SO
terrible was the sea, SO high the waves.
Then at the risk of their own lives they
arrived in time to save only one of the
fifteen unfortunate men.
Early in the dav message was sent for
the life-saving crew and those gallant
fellows, despite the fact that since early
morning they had been working on the
sunken schooner Laurina, gathered as
soon as possible and started with the
surf boat in cart for the scene of the
disaster. En- route the wagon gave way,
and no attempts were made to repair it,
as old sailors, who visited the scene said
the boat could never reach the crib
through the surf.
Then the tug Welcome was tried.
With every wave washing her decks
she sped into the angry elements with
the surf boat and it's brave crew at her
stern. Like shell the tug was tossed
from side to side by the storm. Her
fight with the waves was a magnificent
one. Old sailors predicted that she
would never reach the scene of the dis
aster, but with matches closed she held
n6c course u1lIlI she SCOOu TO the lee
ward of the Inflated crib.
From the position in which Miller
was found, it appears the men were
ali in one of the locks when the frail
superstructure over the crib, containing
the engines and pumps by which air
was forced downward into the shaft
gave way. 1t is thought that the build
ing was struck by a huge wave and
that when it reached the boilers they
exploded, which added to the terror of
the scene, the whole being swept into
the lake When the pumps ceased
forcing air into the shaft, the water held
back by the pressure came rushing in
and the men seeing the water then made
the effort to reach the upper staging
which had also been opened by the ac-
cident and down which the water was
rushing. The five men seen on the crib
at 9 O'Clock forced their way through the
locks or the compartments to the top,
only to find it covered with water. Here
they chung as long as possible, all but
Miller finally losing their grip and
sinking beneath the water back into the
crib or being washed away. State
ments made by Miller in his deIirium
appear to carry out this theory,
as frequently he muttered: 81 came
through eight feet of water" and this
was substantially the story he told when
he had revived last night sufficiently to
talk. He was miner and employed in
the lowest lock, and his bruised hands
and arms bore witness to the terrible
struggle for life, in which all save he
were lost
MILWAUKEE, April 22.-The bodies of
twelve of the fourteen victims of the in
take tunnel disaster were recovered
Yesterday, two of them being washed
upon the beach by the waves, the other
ten being found in the basin Of the crib
where they met death.