New-York tribune., 1905-12-19
TWO PRISONERS In TUNNEL
AIR NAY DRIVE MEN MAD.
No Hope of Release Until This
Noon-Long Undiscovered.

md q
seen1ed slight chance of the men being reached
before this noon. If then. They have been i'm
,risoned since 5 a. m. yesterday.
The greatest danger to the men is from the
e4ect of the compressed air upon them when
they begin TO feel faint from hunger, and the
,,sakening effects of their imprisonment under a
o,tinuous pressure of almost two atmospheres.
old sand hogs" the tunnel workers are
called say that there is only dubious chance
~ rescuing the men alive, although the officials
- the s. Pierson & Sons Company, Limited, the
contractors, profess to be optimistic. The ''sand
hugs" declare that the first effect of the COM
messed air is to drive man murderously in
cane and that it will be no surprise TO them to
and that the men have slain themselves by the
time they are reached.
Patrick Mcguire, an Irish laborer, met death
indirectly because of the accident He was
found dead in bed at Kleefeld's Hotel. No. 19
Borden-ave. gas jet in the room was open
and gas was pouring from it Maguire's death
probabIy resulted from the eave-in, the gas
mines supplying the iower part of Hunters Point
collapsed at an early hour. Mcguire presumably
did not turn out the gas when he retired, and
uben the gas main was broken by the cave-in
The light was extinguished- When repairs had
been made the gas again poured through the
mines and into the mans room through the open
Jet.
The cave-in occurred early in the morning,
and it was at first supposed that it could be re-
nsired in a few hours No anxiety as to the
safety of any of the workmen was felt, as no
one was known to be in the tunnel at that hour.
n high tide rewtown Creek backed up and ran
over into the tunnel hindering the laborers at
work
The work continued an day, and it was not
until dusk that railroad employe who was
watching the work heard what appeared TO be
some one tapping on iron pipe rising from
The tunnel excavation. He called the yard
master who struck at the end of the pipe above
The ground His tapping was answered at once.
This was repeated three times. and the signals
we're reported to the engineers Of the company,
who at once ordered a rescue party formed.
The work of rescue began around the iron
pipe that led down into the tunnel. A gang of
men with shovels soon had a hole several feet
deep dug out It was about five feet square
Timbers and planks were used to sheath the
hole to prevent cave-in and buckets rigged to
remove the earth. Frequently the pipe would be
raped with a hammer and each time response
came from the imprisoned workmen.
There are four tunnels leading from the shaft
at East and Borden aves. to another shaft at the
river front They had been excavated TO point
close to the second shaft. One OF the tunnels is
above the other three and it is thought that the
enfonbed men are in the upper tunnel. the floor
Of which is for.y-nine feet below the street level,
The rescue party will have 90 excavate shaft
at least thirty-seven feet deep TO reach the top
Of the tunnel There is some rock to be blasted,
and al 10 o'clock last night the compressed air
pipes we're being tapped to supply air to operate
machinery TO be erected to aid the rescuers.
Al that hour the shaft had reached the depth
Of nine feet and the gangs were shifted fre-
ouently.
Tho shaft cannot be excavated to the tunnel
before II o'clock to-day. The iron pipe through
which the signals had come broken early
In the evening. and an effort was made to lower
stin1ulants and food to the men. A wire with
an electric light on the end was lowered through
the pipe and the hammer used to sound the
three signals The answer came back almost
Immediately, but whether the light reached the
nnel could not be learned.
II was reported at first that eight were con-
fined, but later it said that only two men,
both watchmen, in the tunnel Their
names were said to be Carli Frank and Tom
Tony and that both lived in Greenpoint In
Quiry at the Hunters Point police station
showed that no one had been reported there as
missing and there had been no inquiry about
the men entombed in the tunnel.
About thrty-eight feet east of the point where
the imprisoned men are thought to be is an air
lock, which the engineers say will prevent the
water flowing into the heading and reaching the
men. The tunnel shaft at East and Borden aves.
is between the cave-in in East-ave. and the
spot where the men were caught Why they
could not walk back TO the shaft and get out
the way they went in no one connected
with the work could explain. II said that
water in the heading prevented the men reach
ing the shaft.
No one could be found who would explain why
the water was not pumped out, that would
appear TO be a much quicker method for rescu-
ing the imprisoned men than sinking shaft
through the ground ana the top of the tunnel
The cave-in was due to several causes. When
some buildings were down, it is said that
the sewer connections were not stopped up ana
that sewage and water leaked into the ground
near the tunnel until il became saturated and
finally gave way II being "wash-day' in
Hunters Point yesterday, the flow Of waste
water through the East-ave. sewer was un-
usually heavy and the tunnel worknen could
not check it and had to let it flow into the
tunnel The end leading toward Newtown
Greek was stopped up. so that the incoming
tide last night would not cause any more dam
age in the tunnel or increase the danger OF the
prisoners.
to dsa ppear for its fun width and for a half
block north OF Borden-ave. 1t occurred at about
s r.. and within an hour every man en-
ploye5 on the tunnel and living in Hunters
Point OF Greenpolnt had been summoned Work
is rot carried on i19 The tunnel on Sunday nights
and NJ the miners were at nome. lhey re-
spoaded promptly 70 the alarm
The c:.vc-in broke main brick sewer run
ming through East-aYe. and the sewage ana
water rapidly flowed into the deep hole and then
into The tunnel headings. An air pump was set
Up at East-ave. and 3d-sL and pipe run INTO
mantole OF the sewer at that point. Then an
other iron pipe was laid leading from the pump
10 the F3orden-ave. sewer, which is Independent
Ct the t,rci5s, orc The sewage was pumped
by that means and the flood checked, 50 that
men could he sent down clear the way for q
timber foundation to brace up ne frame pulId-
ings on the tunnel grounds which gradually
were being undermined
For two hours the end ot the sewer was