Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-14
BOILER BURST.
Water Works Crib in Lake Fire
 Destroyed To-Day.
foRTY-FlvE PERSONS THERE

Five Dead Bodies Have Already Been
 Taker Out-Eighteen Were Rescued.
 Who Had Jumped Into The Water
 Several More Arc Imprisoned In
 The Tunnel and 1t Is Thought They
 wll t'crisL
 Cleveland, c, Aug 14.--A fire fol lowing an explosion of boiler destroy e1 the water works crib five miles out i1 Lake Erie early this morning. There were forty-five persons in the place at the time. Five bodies have been re covered Fourteen men are imprison- ed b the tunnel and it is believed they hat perished. Others saved themselves by humping into the lake and were picked up by tugs which were attract ed by the blaze of the burning struc- ture. It is known that three of these were drowned Eighteen men were res cued from the water and brought here.
 A few minutes before 3 o'clock a boiler in the crib exploded with terri fic force. One gang of eight men were at work in the tunnel beneath the lake
 
 crib at the time. As soon as the ex- plOsiOn occurred one of the gangs above the water started down the ele- vatOr to get the working gang out, but on the way down the power operating the elevator gave out and they were cut off with their companions.
 In a few minutes the remainder of the party in the crib discovered that II II About twenty-one men and one woman were hemmed in by the burning crib, which was of wood and was filled with infiammable material Too terri fled to dress they were forced back step by step to the waters edge by the advancing fire They were without boats, and three miles from shore. Soon the flames forced them into the water and gathering any piece of wreckage possible they jumped into the lake. There was not even a ledge around the crib for the imperiled peo- pie to cling to, and they were floating near the burning crib screaming for help when the tug Sprankle reached the scene. The tug was in the harbor when the fire was first seen and though it went at full speed to the burning structure the building had burned to the waters level when it reached there.
 Captain H. Thorne of the tug J. R. Sprankle said he found the lake in the vicinity of the fire swarming with men. They were all naked and were swimming about in the water almost exhausted He says that he saw at least on man throw up his arms in despair and sink
 Captain Thorne and his crew rescued eighteen of the men and brought them to Cleveland
 Daniel Hartman was one of those brought in on the Sprankle- He said that the first intimation of anything wrong was the terrific explosion which awakened him and the others
 "A fearful panic followed he said, many of the men rushing from their beds and throwing themselves into the lake I ran from my bunk and looked around and soon saw that the crib was doomed. The fire spread so rapidly that there was hardly any use fight ing it. It soon got too hot for me and I jumped into the water"
 Later Foreman Van Hartman, who had returned to the crib on the tug which rescued him and his fellow workers. went down into the tunnel shaft a depth of 120 feet. A rope was tied around his body. so that if he should have become overcome by smoke he would have been drawn to the top. He was down in the shaft for fifteen minutes and said the men in the tunnel were alive. for he claim ed that he could hear them answer his calls.
 The tug immediately returned to this city to get storage electric batteries so the bottom of the shaft can be lighted and the rescue of the fourteen men inn prisOned in the tunnel can be effected
 Nine men were subsequently taken frcm the tunnel shaft alive.