The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-15
TUGS SENT TO THE SCENE
PICKED UP EIGHTEEN MEN WHO
HAD JUMPED INTO THE WATER.
Others Caught Like Rats i'm Trap
and Suffocated or Incinerated-
Two Indianapolis Boys Safe.

crib two miles off the Cleveland harbor,
early to-day.
Dead So Far as Known
ARTHUR HASTY, drowned; body re-
covered.
MARK SNYDER, drowned.
ARTHUR HASTINGS, burned.
PLUMMER JONES. suffocated.
JOHN MARITIME. drowned.
JOHN KOWOLSKY. drowned; body re-
covered.
FOUR UNIDENTIFIED MEN, burned.
Injured So Far as Known
JOHN LEESE, probably a broken back,
o. .BRADDOCK, burned about hands and
face.
CHARLES SMITH. overcome by gas in
tunnel.
DAVID KELLY. rescuer, overcome by
gas.
Still Imprisoned in Tunnel
VICTOR KAUFMAN. Canton, probably
dead.
JOHN ENGING. probably dead.
ADAM KEST. probably dead.
The names of several men who live iii
other cities and who were rescued by Cap
tain Thorne, of the tug Sprankle. follow:
LEWIS MILLER, Indianapolis
JOHN WALKER Indianapolis.
j. CRAWFORD, London. Ont.
HARRY lL.ER, Akron, o.
WILLIAM MAVOY, London Ont.
LESLIE WOOD, Meadville, Pa.
ALBERT BERRIMAN. Cincinnati.
VICTOR WYLAND, Michigan.
Twenty-six men obeyed the order of Man
ager c. c. Van Deusen when the flames
broke out and took refuge in the water
on floating pieces of wreckage. Four of
them lost their hold upon their frail floats
and sank beneath the waves just as help
reached their comrades.
RESCUED EIGHTEEN.
The crew of the tug j. r. Sprankle heard
the fire whistle blown from the crib and
the tug raced to the scene from the har-
bor. She picked up eighteen of the survivors
who had drifted to the west of the crib
on their floats of boards and wreckage.
Van Deusen and three of his men were
hanging in the water from a two-inch line
suspended from the crib. Just as the line
was burning away above the mems hands
a yawl boat from the barge Wilhelm,
manned by two men, dashed into the veil
of heat and smoke that enveloped the crib
and rescued the four men on the rope at
the risk of the boatmens lives The men
picked up in the water were brought to the
city on the tug Sprankle. They were naked,
exhausted and badly burned. Many of them
were cut by falling timbers.
Fire and harbor tugs with rescung
parties on board reached the crib soon after
the flames broke out but when they ar
rived the structure was seething mass of
flames and all hope of saving 1T was
abandoned. Men could be distinguished
swimming and floating in the water shout
IL
which they had hitched or tied to the
rafters but the flames were burning the
ropes away, while the men were stark
naked, and one by one they were falling
into the lake. The tugs circed around the
burning crib, picking up men from the
water, and meantime playing heavy
streams upon the flames. After an hours
hard work the flames were diminished SO
the firemen could climb up the charred
steps and fight the fire from the interior.
Then the horror of the calamity was first
realized. Everything was a wreck. While
the firemen were pouring water on the
flames there was a roaring furnace be-
meath which could not be reached But the
firemen clung TO their places and fought
every inch of the way until the fire was
under control.
CHARRED BEYOND RECOGNITION.
After two hours of hard work four bodies
were found burned beyond recognition.
Two were found in the attitude of prayer.
They must have been awakened by the fire.
but could not escape. They were caught like
rats in a trap. One body was burned to
almost nothing All that could be found of
it were a skull and some bones. The bodies
of two men lay close to those that were
on their knees and il looked as though
they never knew what happened to them.
They must have been suffocated before the
flames reached them. AS soon as the four
bodies were discovered the tug Kennedy
returned TO the harbor at once and notified
the coroner OF the discovery
While this was going on ways and means
were being devised TO reach the men i'm
prisoned in the tunnel whose air supply
had apparently been shut of entirely by
the burning OF the compressed air machin-
cry. AT times IL was thought that voices
could be heard down below. and the life
savers and the firemen peered down with
ears intent. but the sounds ceased again
At the mouth OF the shaft il was like "A
furnace. and the iron work was red hot
from the flames. The water that was
thrown on to il turned into steam at once
Finally after a deluge OF water had been
thrown on the smoldering shaft entrance. "A
voice was heard from the bottom calling for
help.
Throw down a rope. man called.
A line was quickly dropped down the
shaft and as il frightened "A shout of iov
went up from those about, for IL was quick
Iy observed that the man at the bottom was
about to grasp IT, lie yelled again TO the
fuily he was raised. His palild face COW
cred with slime. hif staring eyes and heav-
ing chest. told of the horror he had gone