Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-08-22
FIVE MORE MEN DROWNED
IN THE CLEVELAND TUNNEL.
EXPLOSION OCCURRED At EIGHT
O'CLOCK TUESDAY NIGHT,
NIT No WORD WAS
RECEIVED
TILL YESTERDAY MORNING
MAYOR JOHNSON INTERPRETERS AND
MAY ANNuL THE TUNNEL con-
TRACT.

CLEVELAND, o.. August sl.zl,ive
more unfortunate crib labOrcrs were
strangled to death in hole No. J. as the
result OF an explosion at s o'clock last
night. Two others were blown out of
i the shaft, and % more spent he night
in a vain attempt to get help from
shore. This makes l5 lives that Cleve-
/ lands famous water tunnel has claimed
within a week
As the result of the explosion. Ave
more lives were lost as follows:
Ray Treadshaw.
James Williams.
Daniel Higgins,
James Dallincourt
John Bert
| Crib No g. five miles from shore,
and two miles beyond crib No. ., whore
nearly dozen lives were lost week
ago was the scene of the latest acci-
dent The work of sinking the big In
take shaft at this point WAS completed
yesterday. and the five workmen were
engaged in digging tunnel in the di-
rection of No. crib when the fatal
explosion occurred.
A gang of nearly forty men was on
the intake crib, Ave miles out in the
lake in charge OF Foreman Johnson.
The shaft had been sunk to the tunnel
level and the work on the tunnel just
started
The shifts change at 8 p. m, but the
night gang was few minutes late in
starting down. Four men had gone
into the lower lock at the foot OF the
steel shaft. 90 feet below the level of the
water. Three more men were In the
second air lock about half way up, while
about 10 others were preparing to go
down. Another crowd was lowering
material into the shaft under the direc-
ton OF Foreman Johnson.
story Of the Disaster.
The first tug in from the crib brings
n brief interview from Foreman John
son. who liz in charge of the work there
In substance the story Is that four men
were in the lower air iock and three
men upon a staging half way up the
shaft. Two explosions came almost
simultaneously All the men in the
lower lock we're drowned and one oil
those on the staging was thrown on
fell TO the bottom and was drowned
The other two men were thrown pros
trate upon the staging but did not fall
from it.
The explosion shut off the electric
lights and the signal wires and the two
men lay stunned by the explosion and
stupefied by gas until this morning,
when they were brought in. They VIII
live.
There were 30 men in all at work in
the crib but only seven were down IN
the shaft. All at once there came
muffied roar from below, followed by
another louder and sharper. The nor
ror stricken men on top saw parts OF
the great steel shaft rise out or the
lake and heard the water rushing IN
| They heard the screams or comrades
down below, quickly smothered into
faint. inarticulate gurgles by the IRE
sistible torrent Of water.
A moment later they found two OF
| the men who had been in the mlddie
/ lock. lying unconscious on the GRID.
'rhev had been blown straight out or
the shaft and were by some strange
freak, almost uninjured
The steady rush of water into the pit
below told plainly the fearful death
that was the fate Of those poor chaps
left below. Then came a night OF awful
horror. Despite the fearful warning
| given the contractors and the city
| when ten OF these same poor fellows
| comrades were burned to a crisp or
| strangled in the water because no
means Of escape had been provided, not
! a single life boat, not even a raft was
| on the crib. There were few Ire
| preservers, but the men could not get
TO land. five miles away on life pre-
| servers.
! signals Useless.
Quick as fash the men remembered
that Kest and Eugene had spent six
| DAYS in the death hole at No. 2, and
had then been rescued. Though every
mind cane me same thought: They
NAV vet be alive," But the shaft was
blown out and with it the light on the
tower went down. The iron cage, OF
course. would not work Help, II hui
man help were to avail, must come
| from the city
But the city might as well have been
900 miles away for the poor wretches.
| driven half mad with terror and
| anxiety. looked across the moonlit
waters. It was no use. Rough signals
were improvised and hoisted into the
| air Blankets, pieces OF clothing-any-
thing that might attract attention,
were soon being waved madly in the
J air The little whistle used to call the
workmen in and out shrieked its call
| in vain.
1t is supposed that the men digging
! struck a vein OF gas which was ignited
by a spark made by workman's pick.
Heavy iron Orders and machinery
weighing more than hundred tons,
were forced out of the shaft by the ex-
plosjon. The crib was wrecked.
! So great was the destruction wrought
by the explosion that 1t will probably
+, be weeks before the damage can be re-
paired and the bodies of the unfor-
! tunate workmen recovered.
! James Williams, who lost his life in
! last nights accident. was one of the
| men who so heroically entered the tun-
J mel after the accident OF last week
! at crib No 3, in search of victims of
| that disaster Plummer Jones, who at
| that time descended into the shaft with
! Williams. was overcome with gas and
| died in the tunnel.
| Mayor Johnson visited the scene of
the accident early to-day, and immedi-
ateIy upon his return, ordered all con-
struction work on the tunnel stopped
until every safeguard shall be provided
! for the safety of the men.
! The mayor said that in his opinion
the city was now justified in taking the
work out OF the hands Of the contrac-