The sun., 1905-12-19
THREE MEN IN TUNNEL CAVEIN
Italian Watchmen supposed to he I'm.
prisOned I'm Long Island City.


Following a serious cavein at the Long
Island City terminal OF the Pennsylvania
Railroad yesterday morning, gang Of men
was set to work in the afternoon pumping air
into chamber Of the tunnel where three
Italian laborers who are missing have
sought refuge.
The men, there are three, are in sort
Of chamber which should be air and water
tight, but which may not be as a result Of
the cave in. They are alive, as they signal
constantly by rapping on the pipes, which
at the same time are keeping them alive
by pumping air into them.
To reach the compartment in which the
men must be shaft 40 feet deep is being
sunk. 1t is being run down with haste, and
every foot and inch has to be shored In
every direction to see that the men sinking
it are not buried by a cave-in Of the sides.
Eight feet of what is claimed to be the
hardest concrete in existence will have to
be broken through. This alone is giant
task that will require careful handling.
Dynamite will have to be used and then in
very small quantities..
There are two doors to the chamber,
one used as an entrance and exit, and
a smaller one higher up, which Is used as
an airhole. When the cavein occurred
the sewer water began to flood the tunnel.
All yesterday afternoon pumps were being
run to prevent the water from reaching the
higher door.
The cavein occurred at the mouth Of the
shaft where the main entrance to the tun-
mel Is to be, on East avenue, between Bor-
den avenue and Third street. A part of
the street about so feet long and about 80
feet wide sank suddenly into the tunnel ex-
cavation. Water mains and a big sewer
main were broken by the fall of rock.
The cave-in was first noticed about 3
o'clock, when the centre of the roadway
on East avenue settled suddenly. 1t was
not very long before the entire street from
sidewalk to sidewalk had gone to fill the
great hole that had been made at the en-
trance shaft.
Several of the buildings used by the
tunnel men, such as the machinery build.
ing, which contains the machinery used
for hoisting purposes; the Toulouse and
the house where the men keep their cloth
ing were undermined by the cavein, and
only by the narrowest margins were they
prevented from sliding into the tunnel.
The main trunk of the sewerage sys-
TEN passes through East avenue, and
the great break in it causes an enormous
volume of water TO flood the tunnel An
ATTEMPT was made to shut it off, but Supt.
James johnson OF the sewer department
issued an order forblddlng any blocking OF
the line.
TUNNEL cAvEIN AT wEEHAwKEN-oNE DEAD.
Part Of the roof of the Pennsylvania
Railroad tunnel under the Hudson River
caved in at Weehawken yesterday afternoon,
instantly killing Sidney Jacobs, a negro
workman employed b., the o'Roprke Con
struction Company. The accident took
place near the river front. The police
we're unable to find out whether it occurred
under the river or underground. All in
formation was refused at the tunnel office
in Weehawken.
A rock weighing 400 or 500 pounds en-
bedded in sand fell and crushed Jacobs
on the floor of the tunnel. The sand closed
in, completely buryng him. The body
was dug out by tunnel laborcrs and carried
up the shaft. 1t was sent to A. j. Volk's
morgue in Hoboken.
One Of Mr.. Volk's assistants said last
night that the dead mans clothes We're
dry. They were covered with fine sand.
Jacobs lived at 424 Union street, Union
Hill He was 2S wears old.