The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-10-20
FIVE men CRUSHED
UNDER TONS or ROCK
Sudden Gazing In the Rapid
Transit Tunnel,
DRILLING FOR "A BLAST
Without Warning an Immense Mass
Fell on Workmen
BLASTING TO RECOVER THE BODIES
The Entire Mass Of Rock Blown to Pieces. The
Section Boss Placed Under Arrest. Later
the Coroner Parolsd Him
Until Today
DRILLING FOR "A BLAST
BLASTING TO RECOVER THE BODIES
(By the Associated Press.)

New York. Oct 1S-Five men were
killed and two injured this morning when
an enormous mass Of rock caved from the
side and roof of the Rapid Transit tun-
mel. in course of construction on Broad
way about the line of 164th street in this
city. The dead are:
PETER OHARA. 35 years old.
TIMOTHY KELLEHER, so years old.
JOHN GORONSKY.
PATRICK MADDEN, foreman of the
Muckers.
LUIGUI DANTE 25 years old.
The injured are:
DOMENICO DE PETRO, taken to the
hospital with scalp wound and broken leg.
An Italian laborer, name unknown, in
jured about the left foot.
The section of the tunnel where the
cave-in occurred is los feet below the
surface. shaft leads to the tunnel and
from the shaft headings extend north and
south, each being about 700 feet long.
The accident occurred in the south head
ing of the tunnel about $40 feet from the
shaft. gang of twenty rock drillers
was working in the extreme south end OF
the heading, and about fifty feet from
the end, a gang made up of twenty muck
ers and a foreman was removing the
debris produced by the blasting
Without warning the mass of rock sixty
feet long, eleven feet wide and ten feet
high, and Weighing about $50 tons. fell
with tremendous crash directly where
the muckers were working, almost closing
the tunnel and creating panic among
the two or three hundred men at work
in other sections. Great clouds of dust
filled the whole excavation. The fright
ened men, most Of them Italians. in wild
excitement and finding themselves cut off,
as they thought. made wild efforts to es-
cape. 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 COM
menced.
At first it was supposed that at least
a dozen men had been buried under the
debris Word of the accident had been
quickly spread and soon an anxious crowd
gathered around the shaft. Men and wo-
meen were crying and wringing their
hands while the rescuers worked with tre-
mendous energy TO reach the entombed
workmen.
De Petro and the unknown Italian were
not buried under the mass of rock and
we're the first found
When the rescuing party began to re-
move the rock they found the mangled
bodies of O'Hara, Keleher and Goronsky,
The bodies of Madden and DANTE were
buried under masses of rock which could
not be moved and could not be extricated
although they were in plain sight. 1t
was the work of hours to drill the holes
and charge them. At 2:45 in the after
noon, the charges were fired with the
result that the body of Foreman Madden
was removed piecemeal. The next blast
uncovered the body of Dante.
0. V. ". Power, senior assistant en-
gineer in charge of the contract, said
that the fall of the rock would in no way
interfere with the safety of the tunnel.
Tonight it was said that the fallen
mass of rock had been blown to pieces
and no more bodies had been found, and
it is not believed any more lives were
lost.
Owen Bly,, the section boss, who was in
charge of that portion of the tunnel. was
placed under arrest. He was later taken
to the Harlem police court and remanded
to the coroners office, where Coroner
yucca paroled him until tomorrow.