The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-16
and had inured the visitor to the regular

and had inured the visitor to the regula high pressure beyond.
 A small door midway in the furnace face was now opened, disclosing an fro chamber some twenty feet by ten dtte at the end with compressed air pumpin brakes. and at the sides with fardies Q low iron pipes. Into this crawled sixtee of the party. their curiosity strusglin with doubt. and doubt in turn with ap | prehension.
 The Ordeal Begins.
 They disposed themselves. crouching or l the low pipes. their knees midway t. their chins. The door slammed. The en gfneer turned a crank, setting loose 1 deafening thrush of compressed air Int ordeal had begun. It lasted in actuaiity for some four minutes at most. but tt each of the two parties of sixteen | seemed an eternity Slowly. gradually came a tightening of the ear drums smiling faces froze half way. The tight. ening increased tili 1t seemed to man, that boiling oil was being poured intC their ears. Pinch your nostrils. keey your mouth shut tight, and make as If tt exhale through your ears," was the en gineers' advice.
 sixteen fingers and sixteen thumbs were pinching tho nostrils of sixteen appre. hensive noses. In q few moments the painful ache in the right ears would re. lax. and soon if would revive and the Jeff escape, but only for the moment. Soon eight deaf, aching men, in mocking yet. low overalis. faced eight deaf fellows, af. fictede in the same way. and vowing ir their heart of hearts, for few words were spoken, that 1t was organized conspir. Lacy, cursfng their fooihardiness. asking AhAr Alxtt~ -xrau At.nSn GN.~h~ eyes unconsciousiy wandering in the df. rection of the door Foreheads were soon gemmed with moisture, and the hand oi one convulsiveiy opened and shut. Only the engineer at the, throttle was smiling now. By his placid features he might have been sitting by his own freside. us- tening in serene contentment to the sing ing of the kettle on the hob.
 A bare thirty feet overhead, In nature's sunlight and out of doors. and separated by only few layers of ,briiS and silt and good salt water. ferryboass. lighters and tugboate (with. maybe, a huge ocean greyhound) piled sedateiy to and, fro. un- conscious of any life or human turmoil beneath their gliding keels.' With pain. full sfowness the minutes crept on.
 How much longer" cried some one. Twill 1t iastf'
 Like Raw Recruits.
 As e raw recruit having his first taste of powder watches furtiyely his fellow, asking that he shall be the first 10 fiy the white feather so in the airiock one shut-in- watched another, his eyes invit- ing that one to take the opening step. A, last. when the tension seemed at it's high est, "Aii over," cried the engineer. Again the crank came into play, another swift, strong rush of air-an outrush this time and the outer door of the airlock was flung open.
 One by one, stiI half deaf and bathed m perspiration- from tip to toe stxteen men in moclxing yellow oiiskins crawled out into the further tunnel, their experience to be duplicated by each of the two parties which came next. They reflected that they had more or less suffered tor lures in the chamber while the air pres sure was being raised to 21, and reas- oned that out here in the central reach of the tunnel, where 21 was the average the painful pressure would be the same Here the use of ths airlock become al once apparent. The air. while still at q pounds pressure, seemed entirely normal the earache subslded and, save for deaf. ness, no one felt the worse. Try tc whistle,' suggested some one, and the feat, until attempted, seemed simple enough. The whistler of the party triec
 
 a few disjointed notes. The voices o fellows though but a few feet away came as from distanee. The rest of thu journey was made afoot. the tunnel wld enlng hugely as the walk continued. Through Two Feet of Water. Floundering at times through two fee | of water, within walls coated with ooz. | slime, caused by condensation, crawllni on hands and knees through the door of open ''locks," the need of oilslsins an, arctics had complete vindication. Tn party had lnsenslbiy passed beneath tn river Into New York State. It was whii eighty feet from the New York shore l where President McAdoo was standInI before the famous shield expoundinl | the unique engineering difflculties tha had been overcome, that one of the par | ty, his body contracted pitifully, fel down on the floor of the tunnel. He wa | assisted to his feet only to fall again Dr. Loomis hurried to his aid, and i'm mediately took him upstairs and out where 1t was not long before he revived Moving on hands and knees through tn shield cavity, up a second freight eie | vator, and the New. York airlock wa reached Here the process of accustom ing the, party to the reduced normal pres | sure of fourteen and seven-tenths pounds the pressure of the outer air, was attend ed by no discomfort.
 Outside in a room on level with wes Street. a light repast was served. Pres ident McAdoo talking of the difficulties encountered. Engineer Jacobs giving tn, rollcall of honor of those who had tough with him in the long struggle agains nature, including Assistant James Bra dy, little two by four" After a speecE from Dr. Loomis and the dean of tn, newspaper men present. the party dIs persed, some little deaf. but all SC cretly proud of their eventful afternoon much of 1t spent from eighteen to sixty five feet below the river bed,
 To nonor the memory of Emilio .castAlar