The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-20

,,,mrr That Belell a POSCl Town
Seeking Pure Water.

----r.5r Reservoir Upon Which the
8 Rested Was Tapped-As the
81 - Rushed Out The Ground Sank.
~ ranger of Artesian Well Boring.
rr.u the New York sun.
....r of Schueidemuhl, in the pro
.s prs.a. Prussia, recently bored
...... we'll. and has suffered ex-
.4rar4 calamity in consequence.
.r..<a.rts have long predicted the
...-.,uHa for whole regions of this
one writer told in alarming de-
~ rseeatlv how the whole of this CON
.--,r- east of the Rocky Mountains would
..,. .re day be engulfed and destroyed
-.,-b lust such natural results as I'M
,.,,rqr draining of the earth's interior
g-:4. Us has brought catastrophe to
--,,rsiieruhl The case of the Prussian
s.-, rg. awakened great interest among
s ;.r-i-t- all over Europe, many experts
visited the scene and tried to stop
ororress Of the catastrophe, and pub
.+,snriou in large cities like Berlin,
psris and London has been strongly at
,,,a5 flo the danger the scientists tell
Some four months ago the municipal
+t-,f+ie, of Schneidemuhl, which is a
rarrfarturing town of some ten thousand
E,bit9uts ordered the abandonment of
'.,.r uvmp because during the cholera
tnidemic last summer the water feu IN
nv .1s,,i.iau and authorized the boring
Il FAN arfesian well. A spring was struck
~, 5epth of about $50 feet, but the wa
D .r,,as impure The pipes were rammed
,rtbar through the hard strata, and at a
sn+b of 30OO feet an immense volume of
N ,5ter pushed from the pipe. A big
n5ergr0md reservoir had been
annf6 and the water pressed
Inv the superintendent soil,
shei through the artificial
sn+ in such force and in such quantity
temporarily to food the town, until it
orIi bl diverted into the river kuedOw.
hbap the pipe became clOgged, the earth
round it became loOsened sand the water
aran 10 OOze out at the sides. The Dor
ms were aware Of the danger, and several
yperts were summoned. Larger pipes
were ordered, to be driven around the
FIRST but by i'll luck they did not arrive
For week or more, and by this time the
fmfce around the pipe had become of
considerable width, and the water, bring
mo DID great quantities of sand, seemed,
#ef HutIlll4. 10 HOW Ill lllCItdoCu NOlulllC.
On May 6 the pipe was drawn out and
frempts to stop the hole began. In the
meantime underground rumblings, sub
6ued grndngs and explosions, and all
s0rts of subrerranean noises were heard,
fud cracks appeared in the houses near
q tst the well Bags of sand were thrown
Ind forced into the hole, and finally sand
fnd stones were dumped in by carloads,
but all to no avail. Experts ordered
Easing of brickwOrk to be made round the
hole, to 90 down as far as the bed of clay.
lhis was attempted, but could not be
Zone Herr Boyer, an eminent authority
from Berlin, started to case in the hole
the first week in June, but after a few
Ilys the whole casing sank into the hole.
1he w0rlmen were At tea at the time, or
They would have gone into the hole, too
attempts were made to drive still larger
pipes, but they struck stones, and still
Die water flowed like a big river, bringing
tp with it greal quantities of sand and
kyeu stones.
Bythis time the flow was so great the ar
fetal channel could not carry it off, and
fhe water began to flood the cellars of the
k0lses The cracks in the houses had
grown steadily wider, until house after
A0use collapsed. The last mail report of
nc progress Of events in the unfortunate
town says:
This morning at 3 O'Clock another
1hree-story house fell in, luckily nobody
being hurt Up to now twenty-three
l0uscs have sunk and eighty families
pave been obliged to leave their dwellings,
On Sunday morning the back wing of
large house fell and the next morning the
lront. Several streets look as if thhre
pad been an earthquake. The roads show
n everywhere great cracks, and the houses
}ook as II they had been thrown up by
oicdnlc force The pavement has here
ma there been torn up, and is covered
Fl,n the debris Of the houses The build
lIs' ID spite Of being supported project
fnreaJemngly forward or lean on one side.
B lIreat cracks run through the gables and
& fo"n the front of the houses, and CON
niue across the streets and yards From
me To time thunderlike rumblings are
re4fu underground The ground trembles
ma me windows and door arches fall in
he houses have sunk three-quarterS of
# yard "
Inc Suns cable dispatches since then
ave brought reports that the subsistence
ouuuuts The water of a great lake
car Neustettin, in the same province,
as sunk many feet. Experts from Ber-
w. DaAEg and Conigsberg, have been at
le scene several weeks, but nothing
uel can do avails to stop the flow of
water from the stream.
ants say there Is nothing remark
-e ABOUT the occurrence. 1t is only that
Ig expected has happened. The pipe
IS ~ an immense Subterranean reSer-
VT Oh water As long as there was no
ape iOr the water it formed an incOm-
gs2loie stratum, on which the upper
1r'H rested IN safety 1t is the simple
-" Oh Inc hydraulic press The com
-'sseo water under Schneidemuhl bore
~ .Ie weight Of 200feet of solid earth so
as there was no outlet for it, but
dl1eSian pipe afforded a vent,
a. the water rushed out,
lleldlng soil it had upborne
i,;n. GOWN. Of course, innumerable con
a,.{ may contribute to prevent the
a1I. rom so subsiding. Strata of firm
ana Is one obvious condition. Some
So; nave INTERVIEWED for the case of
1Iel4uhl IS the first in which the
a1r Oh subsistence, always theoreti-
soril teeoIulzed, has been realized to any
t519 extent. What will be the result
amy uuloftunate POsen town cannot be,
rt "egfee, foreSeen, because the eX-
SOM, lhe underground reservoir or
spo,1 I'll me supply of water cannot be
tps.rt Already the town is practically
sBIts oleu, Tor, while the disastrous re
SDbg+Gt., q us yet, confined to one area, the
para.,, rs, naturally, are in dread Of a
0rb''55 collapse, either coming suddenly,
has 81 frees, as the work of destruction
-. lar taken place.
towrH ul oe remembered that a Dakotan
aHt Gu lew months ago, an unpleas-
tufa sIlence of something of this ma