Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-04-13
A TERRIBLE FATE.

Pinned down by his foot by two tons
of lead in the darkness and silence of
~ feet of water at the bottom of the big
reservoir Of the Jersey City Water Sup
ply Company, at Boonton, n. j., a
diver has lain since 2 o'clock Monday
afternoon. At intervals during the "a
hours of his imprisonment he signaled
to the men at the air pumps or the shore
of the reservoir, letting them know
that he was still alive. The last signal
was received at go o'clock yesterday.
The movements of the signal line grew
fainter and fainter, and finally ceased.
While it seemed certain last night
the man was dead, after suffering ter
rible agony for hours, the men at the
air pump on the raft still pumped away,
with the forlorn hope that they were
still giving him tAe breath of life while
he was unconscious. .,, -, go - 80
The efforts of skilled rescuers, includ.
ing four divers and other experts, aided
by scores of landsmen, to save this one
mans life we're ceaseless for about 80
hours, and we're almost unparalleled in
the history of marine danger.
Every wrecker device known to the
most experienced diver, if it could be
brought into use in this emergency, was
tried, without avail.
The big reservoir, with stone dam 80
feet high at its southern end, was COM
pleted few weeks ago, and some 20
acres of its total area of l20 acres was
flooded with water. At the base of the
dam is series of six-foot pipes connect
ing with the aqueduct that will convey
the water beneath Watching Mountain
and across the Valley of the Hackensack
to Jersey City, Each pipe is fitted with
water gate, and last week the gate OF
one of the pipes broke, and it became
necessary to close the mouth of the pipe
and stop the flow of water in order to
repair the gate. To do this a ball OF
lead and wood nine feet in diameter was
constructed and sunk at the mouth OF
the pipe for the purpose OF having 1t
rest in the mouth of the pipe and close
it.
When the ball was sunk last week 1t
failed to rest as designed, and on Mon
day Billy, as the driver was known,
was sent down to adjust the valve
He was cautioned to be careful of being
caught in the enormous suction caused
by the flow of the water into the big
six foot pipe. He descended into the
70 feet of water over the pipeat O'Clock
Monday afternoon. For an hour he
worked before any signal Of trouble was
sent aloft by him.
At 3 O'Clock he pulled the signal rope
frantically for the men of the pump crew
to pull him up.
Instantly all their power was exerted
on the life lines attached to the divers
suit, but they could not bulge him. The
diver signalled again and again for help,
and repeated efforts to bring him to the
Snrface we're made.
Convinced that the case was hopeless
with the crew then at hand, Superinten-
dent Blake telephoned to the headquar-
ters of the water company at Boonton
and asked for aid.
A special train was secured at the
yards of the Lackawanna Railroad at
Hoboken. Two expert divers were pro-
cured and brought to the reservoir in all
speed.
With an electric lighting apparatus
one of these divers descended and found
that the great ball of lead had slipped
into place suddenly and that the divers
foot had been caught between the ball
and the edge of the aperture leading into
the pipe. The second diver went down
at once and an effort was made by the
two to dislodge the ball. Their puny
strength was as nothing, and after hours
of work, at short intervals, with rests be-
tween, they conveyed the knowledge to
the imprisoned man Of the hopelessness
of his condition and went to the surface.
At intervals the two divers descended
and tried to help the poor fellow.
Finally they became exhausted and
two other divers volunteered to en-
gage in the hopeless and perilous task.
They reported it was impossible to re-
sist the suction of the water within 10
feet of the mouth Of the pipe, eneum-
bered as they were by their armour aud
tools.
They described the doomed diver as
living on his back on the bottom, with
his left foot securely pinned beneath the
ball of lead, whose whole weight rests
upon it. They said that the man must
have dislodged the ball by his FIRST
efforts Monday and been drawn under
meath it by the suction at the same
time. They reported that they thought
the doomed mans leg might have
been broken and that his suffering was
probably greater than can be imagined
Worlds Fair, ST. Louis, NO.
ay-Noyember, 1904.
~, occount of the above occasion, effective
nril d. 1904, the Southern Railway VII
Mace t1n sale, daily, tickets at extreme
" i low VI rates from Alexandria, Va, to -
Louis Mo. ami return, via Charlottesville, y
/ r. n n - - 4 .,,;a,vilia and Southern Kali