The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-10-03
# # # + i II Il
- - Digging New
1T Tunnel ~ ~
II # r i: r: Il +
sHE New York city rapid trans
it tunnel, which has already
cost S21,000,000 and twenty
four human lives, is exactly

AOhA lives. IL eAdtlIN
three-lifths completed accord
ing to statement of progress Just is
sued from the office of Chief Engineer
Parsons.
The work of building this great sub
way was contracted for 10y John Il.
Mcdonald, the price to be paid him be-
ing S30,O00,000. The work was then
sublet in sections by Mr.. Mcdonald,
and the tunnel building has gone for
ward under number of firms and in
dividuals, each having one or more
sections to construct.
There have been only two notable
disasters to call attention to the dan
ger to life involved in the great I'M.
dertaking. On Get II. 1901. five men
were crushed to death uuGer tons of
rock in the deep tunnel at one Hun
bred and SiNty-fourth street ana
Broadway. On Jan. ~ las seven per-
sons We're killed by the dynamite cx-
plosion at Forty first street ana Park
avenue Here and there Il man has
! been killed from time to time but at
| tention has not heretofore been called
! to the impressive total of twenty four
lives sacrificed during the two years
/ since active work was begun
! 1t is estimated that the task will oc-
cupy another year at least. If the per-
centage Of deaths keeps up in ratio
twelve more deaths must he recorded
before the tunnel is completed This
is matter which is constantly in the
! minds of the contractors and engi
neers. and every fatal accident teaches
lesson and leads to the adoption of
new precautions to safeguard the
! workmen.
But the human element is always
present to upset the wisest calculations
and most carefully laid plans, and no.
body can tell when something will oc-
cur that will bring disaster.
Detailed reports of every accident
along the line are received ut the office
of the chief engineer There are now
hundreds of these reports on file. COW
ering the case of every person injured,
whether employed on the work or not.
Several times there have been narrow
escapes from appalling disasters.
The men in charge of the work are
of the opinion that they have been for
tunate thus far in reducing the peril
to life and limb to the minimum. They
say that after millions of people have
been walking. driving and riding in
street cars for two years on the brink
of an excavation extending for miles
through the city and thousands of men
have been employed in hazardous I'M
derground work the wonder is that the
list of victims is not much longer.
One of the greatest sources of dan
ger in the work has been from dyna-
mite. 1t has been necessary to eXca-
vate 100000 cubic yards of solid rock,
and for months the contractors have
been using one and half tons of
dynamite a day for blasting. This in
itself constitutes menace which
makes the engineers and contractors
SILVER.
With the exception of the persons
killed by the Park avenue explosion
nearly all the victims of fatal acct
dents in the tunnel have been men en-
ployed on the work. The latest fatal
ity, however, called attention to a new
source of danger. Edward Morris, a
chauffeur, was running an automobile
at Forty-thrd street and Seventh ave