The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-11-02
TONS OF COAL
Brooklyn, N. Y, Gas Man is Wedgea
in Bunker.
For Oyer Five Hours Four Policemen,
Two Firemen and Two Volunteers
Worked in Danger of Their Lives.

New York City.-Buried alive for
five hours and q half, at a depth of
thirty feet, with the crushing weight
of 500 tons of coal over his head and
shoulders, John Gullcs had a remark
able escape from death in the mam-
moth coal bunker of the Kings County
Gas Company, at Fifty-ifth street and
First avenue, Brooklyn.
The chute in which Gulles was en-
tombed is E-shaped and built on 4
sharp incline, the broad end Of the V,
which is about fifteen feet across, lead
ing to the big storage bins on the Sec
ond floor Of the company's building.
while at the point at the bottom are
two small trap doors through which
the coal is taken in to feed the gas
furnaces. The upper end of the chute
is controlled by 4 bigger trap'door un-
ming right across.
This door was opened at about Q
o'clock in the morning in order to fill
the chute, but after Il few tons had
passed through there was 4 jam.
Gulles, armed with a ffteen-foot pole.
tried to prod it clear in vain, and ut
last he jumped down into the bin.
Suddenly the whole mass moved and
he was swept through the door.
The chute, which is about fifty feet
deep, has sloping sides, and it was
owing to the steady gliding movement
thus impaired to the coal that the man
was not overwhelmed by the first rush.
Struggling desperately. he managed to
climb up and up the shifting mountain,
but fast rs he climbed the coal slipped
from under his feet, while the noun.
tain grew bigger and bigger. Time and
again there came a pause in the black
avalanche and Gulles worked his way
laboriously. toward the top; but every
time the movement Of the coal under
his feet released the block and 4 fresh
stream came down. At last a heavier
slide than usual surged down and
buried him up to his waist, and though
his hands were free he could not stir.
Had the doors at the lower end Of the
chute. been open the steady suction of
the shifting mass must have carried
him down and buried him as hopelessly
as in q quicksand. Fortunately they
remained closed. Even as 1t was, the
coal gradually banked up around and
oyer him. till at last it was only by
folding his arms above his head that
he was able to keep a space IN which
to breathe.
Upon the frail support Of two small
shutters, upon. which rested his feet
and at the same time checked the flow
Of coal down into the pocket depended
his life while four policemen, two fire
men and two volunteers fought the
avalanche Of coal thirty feet above
his head for five hours and 4 half.
For every %shovelful the toilers cast
away another took its place from the
mountainous heaps on ali sides Of the
little band. Mome1tarily 1t seemed as
if with one great sweep from all sizes
the rescuers would, share the fate Of
the man thirty, feet below.
For them there was no escape except
by the same. means they had entered
the pit-a rop dangling from the rail-
road track, 100 feet in the air. 70.
While Father Goldrlck, of st. Mich
tel ., WdS dlllDS " uOtnlhiotC2ENb thS
buried man, whose cries could be plain
~ heard, and a physician, from the
Norwegian Hospital prepared to give
medical aid, the ,rescuers tore at the
huge mountainsof coal which now and
then buried them to the waist.
When the task seemed most hopeless
and the cries of Gulles became less
frequent lumber and horse blankets
and sacks were thrown into the pit to
stem the flow Of coal. Only after the
fourth hour had passed was the coal
restrained and a space of fifteen feet
square cleared to the bottom Of the
bunker. When this was fenced off,
with solid banks Of coal thirty feet
high on all sides, the head of the buried
man came into sight. '.
Fresh timber, lowered down in fear
and trembling lest the coal slopes
should overwhelm the little band OF
rescuers, were placed across the mouth
Of the pocket in which Gulles was
buried. Then one Of the scuer
pushed head first into the pocket,
placed q flask Of brandy at the lips
of the half conscious victim.
"On, LOru! WulSpeTeu 1ulleS, 10 Io-
liceman Dougherty placed the flask to
his lips, II can't stani this much
longer"
Down Oh their hands and knees, the
rescuers, their lives depending on the
security of the frail timber embank-
ment, dug the coal with their hands
from around the body Of the man until
they had his arms free and could pass
a rope under them.
A wild cheer rang out from the
watchers on the platform at the ends
of the bunker. as hauled by the eight
rescuers hauling on the rope, Gulles
was dragged from his prison. A
n~inety-foot ladder lowered into the
little pen by members of Hook and
Ladder Company No. Ga completed the
rescue.
All hauling upon the rope, the little
band of rescuers, so blackened and
bruised in their five hours and q half
fight with 4 mountain Of pea coal that
they were not recognizable, crept up
tba ladder half ORA pnino GuIleS in the