Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-03-28
THE
TUNNEL ROOF.
Workman Employed in the East
River Tunnel Had a Novel
Experience.
CAME To SURFACE.

NEW YORK, March 2S. ~ Blown
4rmgh The bed OF the East river,
through twenty-five feet of water and
high into the air from an explosion Ill
he subway tunnel. which is to connect
Manhattan and Brooklyn, Richard Gre
ran a workman of Jersey City, not
,uhytlfyod to tell the tale, but is practi-
ally uninjured.
rho accident was one of the most re
marknblc ever recorded, and Cregan's
.sraue is considered little short of mi
aculons. This is the story he told of it
am hour after the accident when he
WAS overcoming the shock he had suf-
,rrad at his home.
II have bcCl working in tunnels for
he last seven years, and | w heard
IF any such thing happening to any
body he said. Il was in the head
compartment all by myself, and there
was Il big air pressure to keep the dirt
from falling down from the roof and
to keep the river from falling OF top of
MS.
suddenly ! heard 4 hiss. and | knew
what il meant all right. | shouted to
the other compartments, but II wasn't
very loud. my heart being in my throat.
| don't believe it was much more than
I loud whisper. but they heard, | guess.
| started to run toward the noise, pick
ing III some bags as l did to stop the
leak.
1T was in the up river wall. and |
stuck the bags into the hole. hut |
couldn't do anything with it. l
worked hard. but when | saw the hole
getting bigger | knew it was hopeless,
and | started TO run | thought maybe
| could get into another compartment
before mine was flooded.
THE next thing / heard was Il horri-
bic crash. looked back, and the whole
river was coming in.
Then | was suddenly caught and
lifted straight up 10 the roof. a big
hole was scoopcd out right in front of
my face almost, and then | was going
up through seven or eight feet of mud
and rock.
Il was perfectly conscious all the
time. | remember clawing with my
hands in front of my face. trying to
keep the rocks away.
Then | hit water. and | guess there
was twenty-five feet of it easy. | shot
Up through that fast and went up fully
twenty feet in the air.
r "Nlen | fell back | began swimming
around and yelling, and after Il few
minutes Il boat anne out and picked
me up.
Il had heavy clothes and boots on
and Il hat. and | had II dollar bill in
enc pocket. | didn't even lose my hat.
and | had il on when | was picked
up
Cregan is Il man of thirty. about five
feet four inches tall and strongly built.
lie wore Il big bandagc around his
head and had q cut on the left side
of his face. lie said that he was
bruised about the body, but he did not
seem to b" materially the worse for
his remarkable experience.
I'VE have to take our lives in our
hands i'll this sort Of work" he said.
I'VE expect risks. but this was the fun
niest thing that | ever heard of"
What happened was this: When Gre
gan started to II Il great mass of
earth caVed in and tons of water rush
ed into the compartment. This acted
like Il great piston, forcing the already
compressed air into one end Of the
compartment. The restraining walls
were not sufficiently strong to resist
this force and we're literally puncturcd
from the inside. the outruSh of the air
drawing Cregan up through the Secth-
ing hole as if he were sucked up
through an inverted whirlpool.
Part of the tunnel was flooded and
and Others We're injured ny the shock.
Engineering men say that an accident
so remarkable has never happened he
fore. In other instances Of a cave-in
of Il tunnel, even the bodies of the vic
tins have not been recovered.
The explosion occurred at tho, mid
river end of the Brooklyn section. about
fifteen feet beyond the pier line. Al
that portion of the work will have to
be done oven again.