The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-10-22
CRUSHED BY
FALLING ROCK
WoRkMEN BURIED IN RAPID
TRANSIT TUNNEL.
CAvE-IN CAUSED A PANIC
List of Killed and Injured BY the
Accident-Section Boss
Arrested.

~ ANOW 1Olh, wv. We A1CA C1O
killed an two injured this morning
when an enormous mass of rock cav
ed from the side and roof Of the
Rapid Transit tunnel, in course of
construction on Broadway, about in
the line of 164th street in this city.
The dead are:
PETER O'HARA.
TIMOTHY KELLEHER.
JOHN GORONSKY.
PATRICK MADDEN, foreman of
muckers.
LUIGI GINIFE.
The injured are: Donencio De Pie
tro, and an Italian laborer, name I'M
known.
The section of the tunnel where the
cave-in occurred is 105 feet below
the surface. A shaft leads to the
tunel and from the shaft headings tx
tend north and south each being about
700 feet long. The accident occurred
in the south heading of the tunnel
about $40 feet from the shaft. Gang
of 20 rock drillers were working in
the extreme south end of the heading
and about so feet from the end a
gang made up Of 20 muckers and fore
man were removing debris produced
by blasting.
Without warning a mass of rock,
SO feet long, II feet wide and ten
feet high and weighing about $50 tons
fell with a tremendous crash directly
where the muckers were working, al
most closing the tunnel and creating
a panic among two or three hundred
men at work in other sections. Great
clouds of dust filled the whole exca-
walton.
The frightened men, most of them
Italians, in wild excitement and find
ing themselves cut off, as they thought
made wild efforts to escape, their cries
adding to the confusion and horror.
Before long, however, all made their
way to the street and the work of
\ rescuing the muckers was commenced.
At first it was supposed that at
least a dozen men had been buried I'M
der the debris. Word of the accident
spread quickly Inc soon an anxious
crowd gathered around the shaft,
scores of men and women crying and
wringing their hands while the res
cuers worked with tremendous en-
, ergy to reach the entombed workmen.
De Pietro and the unknown Italian
were not buried under the mass of
rock and were the first found.
When the rescuing party began to
remove the rock they found the man
gled bodies of O'Hara, Kelleher and
Goronsky.
The bodies of Madden and Daife
were buried under a mass of rock
which could not be moved and they
could not be extricated although they
were in plain sight. It was the work
of hours to drill holes and charge
them. At 2:45 in the afternoon the
charges were fired with the result that
the body Of Foreman Madden was
removed piecemeal. The next blast
uncovered the body of Dante.
Mr.. O. v. Powers, senior assistant
engineer in charge Of the contract
said that the fall of rock would in nc
way interfere with the safety of the
tunnel.
Tonight it was said that the fallen
mass of rock has been blown tc
pieces and that no more bodies have
been found and it is not believed any
more lives were lost.
Owen BLY,, section boss, who was in
charge of that portion of the tunnel
was placed under arrest. He was
later taken to Harlan police court
and remained to the %coroner's office
where Coroner yucca paroled him I'm
til tomorrow.