Evening star., 1901-08-14
LAKE CRIB HORROR
Nine Men Lose Their Lives at Cleve-
land, Ohio.
DIGGING TUNNEL FOR WATER
Building Over the Shaft in the
Lake Takes Fire.
FIVE BURNED TO DEATH

CLEVELAND, Ohio, August 14.-Fire
early today destroyed a temporary water
works crib two miles out in the lake. re-
sulting in the death of at least nine men,
while two others were probably fatally in
Jured. In addition to large number OF
workmen who were in the crib, eleven 9TH
ers were at work in the tunnel leading
from it two hundred feet below the bot
tom of the lake. AS air which was pumped
from the crib to supply the men working
in the tunnel was cut off as result of it's
destruction, it was at first supposed that
these men had all perished
Subsequently, however, nine of the men
in the tunnel were rescued after heroic
work on the part of their fellow workmen.
1t is now said that two men are still in
the tunnel, but those rescued state that
one Of these, Victor Kaufman of Canton,
is dead
List of Dead and Injured.
Following is list of the dead and in
jured so far as now known: John Martina,
drowned; Mike Snyder, drowned; Arthur
Hasty, drowned; Victor Kaufman, Canton,
suffocated: five men, names unknown,
burned to death.
injured: JOnn Lee, broken Dack, ~. Brad
dock, frightfully burned.
Fire and harbor tugs with rescuing par
ties on board reached the crib soon after
the flames broke out, but when they ar
rived the structure was Seething mass of
flames and all hope of saving it was
abandoned
Men could be distinguished swimming and
floating in the water, shouting for help.
Others were clinging to ropes which they
had hitched or tied to the rafters, but the
burning
the men were stark naked, and one by one
they were falling into the lake. The tugs
circled around the burning crib, picking up
men from the water and meantime playing
heavy streams upon the flames.
Firemen Effect a Landing.
After an hours hard work the flames
were diminished enough so that the fire.
men could climb up the charred steps and
fight the fire from the interior. Then the
horror of the calamity was first realized.
Everything was total wreck. While the
firemen were pouring water on the flames
there was a roaring furnace beneath which
could not be reached. But the fremen
clung to their places and fought every inch
of the way until the fire was under control.
After two hours of hard work five
charred human bodies were found, burned
beyond recognition. Two were in the at
titude of prayer. They must have been
awakened by the fire, but could not escape
They were caught like rats in trap. One
DOuy was burned TO almost nOthlng. All
that could be found of it were a skull and
some bones. The bodies of two other men
lay close to those that were on their knees
and it looked as though they never knew
what happened to them. They must have
been suffocated before the flames reached
them.
AS soon as the five bodies were discoy-
cred the tug Kennedy returned to the har-
Dor at once and notified the coroner of the
discovery. While this was going on Ways
and means We're being devised to reach the
men imprisoned in the tunnel, whose air
supply had apparently been shut off entire
ly by the burning of the compressed air
machinery. AT times it was thought that
voices could be heard down below, and the
life savers and the firemen peered down
with ears intent, but the sounds ceased
again. AT the mouth of the shaft 1T was
like furnace, and the iron work was red
not from the flames. The water that was
thrown on 1t turned into steam at once.
Voice Calling for Aid.
Finally, after a leluge Of water had been
thrown on the smoldering shaft entrance,
voice was heard from the bottom. cali
ing for help:
For Gods sake throw down a rope.
throw down a rope!" a man called.
A line was quickly dropped down the
shaft and as it frightened a shout of tov
went up from those about, for it was
quickly observed that the man at the bot
tom was able to grasp it,
he yelled again to the rescuers to pull
him up. Slowly and carefully he was
raised. His palid face covered with slime.
his staring eyes and heaving chest told of
the horror he had gone through in the
hours he had spent in the tunnel. He was
William Curry of Canton
As soon as he could gasp Curry said:
They are all at the bottom Of the shaft;
hurry upr'
In quick succession seven others uer,
brought up from the foul and sitting air
of the tunnel All were in a most pitiabIe
condition. They reported that two other
men were lying unconscious at the bottom
or the shaft A workman volunteered to
rescue these men and he was quickly low
cred into the shaft
In few moments the unconscious men
were brought up more dead than alive
Two Others May BE Dead.
one, and possibly two men, are supposed
to be lying dead in the tunnel, too far
away from the shaft to be reached.
The tugs that hurried out to the scene
as soon as the fire was discovered succeed
ed IN rescuing no less than twenty men,
who were found c,inging to wreckage and
ropes tied to the burning structure.
The tunnel, which has been under course
OF construction for several years past, and
Is still far from complete, has been the
cause. all told, of the loss of more than
thirty lives.
Four years ago an explosion in the shore
section of the tunnel resulted in the suf-
location Of eighteen men. Two years ago
in similar accident several more men
were killed at almost the same place, and
today's catastrophe adds at least ten ad-
ditional names to the death list.
The fire which destroyed the crib this
morning was due to an overheated boiler
smokestack. The boiler exploded soon after
the flames broke out.
The crib itself was of pine timber, hpilt
up straight from the waters edge. The
men, who were asleep in their hunks,
sprang up to find themselves in the midst
of the flames The boards all around them
were burning fiercely. Down in the shaft
under the lake, eleven men were at work
digging, unconscious of the awful holo-
caust above them until the air supply was
cut off.