Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1904-10-21
ONE DEAD, ONE INJURED
RESULT OF LANDSLIDE IN REAR
OF HOOKER BLOCK MONDAY.
Michael Hopkins Caught Beneath
Tons Of Earth and Crushed to
Death-John Claire Buried to His
Neck and Badly Injured.


Neck and Badly Injured.
A cavern which occurred shortly
before IL o'clock Monday morning in
the rear of Hooker block at the point
where excavation Is being made for
the foundation Of Dunham Brothers
new storage building killed Michael
Hopkins. 81, of Brattleboro, badly in
jured John Claire, also of Brattle-
boro, and endangered the lives of a
score or more OF laborers who were
at work nearby The accident was
due 10 insufficient snoring on the face
of the excavation. which was 62 feet
wide, % feet deep and about % feet
east of the rear of the Hooker block
proper. The work was in charge of
L. l. Kilburn, a Bellows Falls con-
tractor, and everything was in readi-
ness for the beginning of the founda-
| tion wall. The face of the excavation
was shored or braced with five SxS
timbers "a feet long, the lower ends
sunk in the ground about two feet and
the upper ends guyed with iron rods
to "deadmen" sunk in the earth di
rectly back of Hooker block Behind
the three central timbers, which act
ed as supports for the top of an in
cined track, We're number of plank
to keep the loose gravel from giving
way, but the strata of gravel on either
side of these central props was un-
protected except by the other up
rights
Just previous to the accident most
of the men on the upper level We're
working near the end of the retaining
wall which projects from Durham
! Brothers present storehouse. Hop
kins was shovelling in the foundation
| trench about Az feet below the first
| level, and Charles Allaire was near
/ Hopkins using a pick, while two 9TH
er laborers, w. J. Burpee and Thomas
! Campbell were working almost under
the end of the wall. Wesley Ash was
carting the earth away from this
point i'm a wheelbarrow and had just
set the barrow down near the trench
when he heard the foreman call TO
the men to look OUT and saw the
bank beginning to slide. Allaire, who
was In the trench near Hopkins,
called out Get, Mike" and then
swiftly as he could toward the lower
level Hopkins started as soon as he
heard the men call, but instead of
jumping out of the trench ran along
toward the north and was caught and
buried beneath tons of earth. Claire,
the injured man, was on 12-foot lad
der scraping off the face of the exca-
walton when the slide began, Peter
]. Wilson, the foreman, was holding
| the ladder and as soon as he saw
what was happening gave warning.
The force OF the earth threw the lad
der over and Claire was buried near
ly to his neck Mr. Kilburn himself
was on his knees just at the edge of
the excavation when the accident took
place. He was fastening an iron rod
to the top of one of the upright tim
bers, and when he felt the ground
shelving he managed to grasp the rod
with one hand, holding on until the
slide had gone and thereby saving
his life in all probability.
The force of the slide was shown
by the appearance of the large tim
bers, which were snapped in the Gen..
ter as if they had been matches. The
| frame work of the inclined track
from the railroad was forced back
and demolished, and one or two of the
"deadmen" partially uprooted. The
cave-in extended nearly the whole
width of the excavation and back in
the center almost to Hooker block
itself.
AS soon as the accident occurred
Foreman Wilson assembled the men
and called the roll Hopkins was the
only man who could not be accounted
for and as he was last seen in the
trench, search for his body was be-
gun Immediately, the entire force of
S5 men joining earnestly in the work,
Claire, meanwhile, was placed in
charge of DR.. C. r. Aldrich, who
found upon examination that his back
was badly wrenched and that he was
suffering from bruises. Col. C. A.
Miles. who arrived on the scene soon
afterward, told DR.. Aldrich to have
the man taken to the emergency room
of the Thompson hospital and this
was done Immediately
The search for Hopkinss body was
kept up steadily until about 1880
when it was found about midway of
the excavation, just on the edge of
the trench as if he had been caught
by the earth while in the act of
climbing out. The body was in a
partially upright condition with one
hand raised The selectmen at once
gave permission for its removal,
and it was taken to Moran's under
taking rooms. Death was evidently
due to suffocation although there were
numerous bruises and a fractured
collar-bone.
The entire force of men quit work
as soon as the body had been found
and very few of them, with the ex-
ception of the italian laborers. re-
turned to work in the afternoon. The
selectmen gave orders that nothing
further be done until proper precau-
tions had been taken to prevent fur
ther sliding. The cave-in filed
large portion of the upper excavation
and left the ground in the rear of
Hooker block badly cracked. The re-
tanning wall on the north end of Dun
hams store house was also cracked,
and it was feared during the after |
noon that this would break off.