The age-herald., 1901-08-15
FIVE BURNED
 FOUR DROWNED OTHERS HURT Horrible Result of the Burning of WaterWOrks Crib at
 Cleveland, ], BODIES ROASTED TO CRISP Tug Boats and YawIs Went to the Res cue and Saved Many Persons 
 Who Were Clinging
 to SSpie' -Iit
BODIES ROASTED TO CRISP

Cleveland, O., August 14-Five men were burned to death. four were drowned one and possibly four were suffocated and several injured as the result of fire which destroyed temporary waterworks crib two miles off the Cleveland harbor early today. The dead are, so far as known: YAk-
 Arthur Nasty. drowned. body recover ed.
 Mark Snyder, drowned.
 Arthur Hastings, burned.
 Hummer Jones, suffocated.
 John Martin, drowned.
 John Kowotsky, drowned, body recov- cred.
 Four unidentified men burned.
 The injured so far as known are:
 John Leese, probably broken back, fa- tai; O.. Braddock burned; Chas. Smith, dead John Enging, probably dead; Adam overcome by gas; David Kelly, rescuer, overcome by gas; still imprisoned in tun- mel; Victor Kaufman, Canton, probably Rest, probably dead.
 When the flames broke out twenty-six men took refuge In the water on fiose. ing piece of wreckage. Four of them lost their hold upon their frail floats and sank just as help reached their comrades
 The crew of the tug PJ. R. Sprankle hear dthe fire whistle blown from the crib and raced to the scene from the har- bzor. She picked up eighteen of the sur vivors. Manager Vandusen 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 yaw .sat from the barge Wilhelm. man salsV .zo men. dashed into the veil of heat and smoke that enveloped the crib and rescued the four men at the risk of the boatmen S liveh. The men picked up in the water were brought to the city on the tug. They were naked, exhausted and badly burned. Many of them were cut by falling tim bers.
 Crib Total Loss.
 The crib is total loss. It was a frame building 200 by 50 feet. the sides sheathed with. iron. It contained valuable ma chinery. The crib and machinery were the property of Smaller & Schninglau. contractors. Their loss will be $2O0 OOO.
 Fire and harbor tugs with rescuing parties on board reached the crib soon af ter the flames broke out, but when they arrived the structure was a seething mass
 
 abandoned.
 Men could be distinguished swimming nd floating in the water shouting for help. Others were clinging to ropes which they had hitched or tied to the debris 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 circled around the burning crib, picking up men from the water and meantime nlavinR heavy qfr the flames
 After an hours work the flames were diminished enough so that the firemen could climb up the chared steps and fight the fire in the interior. Then the horrors of the calamity were first realized. Everything was a total wreck.
 | While the firemen were pouring water | on the flames there was a roaring fur | mace beneath, which could not be | reached.
 l The firemen clung 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 were found burned | beyond recognition. Two were in the attitude of prayer. | They must have been awakened by the | fire, but could not escape. They were caught llke rdlS III a trap. | One body was burned to almost noth- | ing. All that could be found of 1t were | skull and some bones. The bodies of two other men lay close | to those that were on their knees and 1t | looked as though they never knew what | happened to them. They must have been suffocated before the flames reached | them.
 Cause of Fire. The fire which destroyed the crib was | due to an overheated boiler smoke stack. The boiler exploded soon after the flames broke out. The crib itself was of pine timber built up straight from the water 8 edge. The men who were asleep in their hunks sprang up to find themselves in the midst of the flames. The boards all around them were burning fiercely. Down in the shaft under the lake eleven men were at work in the beginning. unconscious, until the air supply was cut off, of the awful holocaust above them. Mayor Johnson expressed great indig- nation today when he learned that no boat or life preservers were provided as a safety measure by the contractors at the crib.
 Late this evening Hummer Jones cf Warren O., an employe of the tunnel contractors and one of party of res- cuers who descended into the shaft to look for the missing men, was overcome by gas and expired. His body lies in the tunnel seventy-five feet from the bottom of the shaft, covered with water. David Kelly, another member of the res- cuing party, was overcome by gas and Is in precarious condition.