The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-08-15
1ERTH FACED THESE
MEN ON ALL SIDES
Five Cremated, Four Drowned and Three Or Four
Suff0catcd at Cleveland
FrghuI Predcament of Gang Of LabOrers at Work on
a W2terwOrkS Crib.

hunks sprang up 20 find themselves
in the midst of the flames The
boards all around them We're burning
hercely. Down in the shaft, under
the lake, eleven men were at work
digging. unconscious, until the air
. supply was cut of, of the awful hOlo-
caust above them.
Mayor Tom johnson expressed
( great Indignation today when he
/ learned that no boat or life preseTvers
were provided as a safety measure by
I the contractors at the crib He de-
/ clared that the case would receive the
/ closest investigation, and those found
guilty Of criminal negligence il the
matter would be prosecuted to the fun
extent Of the law
Late this afternoon Plummer Jones
/ OF Warren, o.. an employee of the
tunnel contractors and one Of a party
{ Of Tescuers who descended into the
shaft TO look for the missing men. was
/ overcome by gas and expired within a
few minutes. His body lies ia the tun-
mel seVenty-fve feet from the bottom
: of TIE shaft. and is covered with water.
When the fire and harbor tugs with
rescuing parties on board reached the
crib the structure was a seethiug mass
+ Of flames and all hope of saving it was
abandoned. Men stark naked could be
distinguished swimming and floating IN
/ the water shouting for help. Others
/ were clinging to ropes which they had
tied to the rafters. but the flames were
I burning the ropes away, and one by
one the men 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.
Horror IF the Calamity.
After an hours hard work the flames
were diminished enough to permit the
/ fremen to climb up the charred steps
ana fight the fire from the interior.
{ Then the horror of the calamity was
/ first realized Everything was a total
{ wreck. While the fiTemen were pour
I ing water on the flames there was a
Z roaring furnace beneath which could
. not be reached. But the fremen chung
/ 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 We're found
( burned beyond recognition. Two were
in the attitude Of prayer They must
I have been awakened by the fire bur
! could not escape. They We're caught
/ like rats in trap, One body was
burned TO almost nothing. All that
could be found OF it was skull and
some bones. The bodies OF two other
men lay close TO those that were on
t -il knees ana IL looted as though
they never knew what happened To
them. They must have been sUhOcated
before the flames reached them.
As soon as the five bodies were 1uund
the tug Kennedy returned tc the har-
Dor at once and notified the coroner of
the discovery. While this was going
on strenuous efforts were being put
forth 70 reach the men imprisoned in
the tunnel. whose air supply had ap-
parently been shut of entirely by the
burning Of the compressed air machin-
cry. At times it was thought that
voices could be heard down below and
the life-savers and the hrenen peere6
down with ears intent but the sounds
ceased again. At the mouth of the
shaft it was like a furnace. and the
iron work was red hot from the flames.
The water that was thrown on it turned
into steam at once
Drawn Up From Depths.
Finally. after a deIuge Of water had
been thrown on the smoldering shaft
] entrance. a voice was beard from the
[ bottom calling for help.
For Gods sake, thrown down a rope,
I throw down a rope" a man called
A line was quickly dropped down the
( shaft and as il frightened a shout of
! joy went up from those about, for it
. was quickly observed that the man at
. the bottom was able TO grasp it. He
I yelled again TO the rescuerS to pun him
+ up. Slowly and carefully he was raised.
His pallid face, covered with slime,
his staring eyes and heaving chest,
told of the horror he had gone through
; during the hours he had spent IN the
. tunnel He was William Curry of
7 Canton.
/ As soon as he could gasp, Curry said
/ They're all at the bottom of the shaft.
/ hurry up
+ In quick succession seven others were
brought UP from the foul and stifln,
/ air of the tunnel. All were in a most
r4tfsble condition. They reported that
/ two other men were lying unconscious
I at the bottom Of the shafe- A work
man volunteered to rescue these men.
and he was quickly lowered into the
! shaft in a few moments the uncOn-
: scious men were brought up more dead
than alive.
one and possibly two men are sup
+ n0sed to be lying dead in the tunnel
/ toe far away from the shaft to be
+ reached
The TUGS that hurried oUt to the
scene as soon as the fire was discoV-
3 cred succeeding in rescuinS no less
than twenty men. who were found
cIinring to wreckage and ropes tied To
the burning structure.