The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-31
SEWER CAVES KILLS THREE
 Negroes Meet Death on City Work. TATUM STREET THE SCENE
 Imprisoned and Drowned in a Trench. Water Main Adjacent to Ditch Was Burst by Fall of Esrth-Many Negroes Attracted to

l A caye-in of a sewer being laid on Tatum Street between Hall and Jack | son Streets, yesterday morning. caught | and buried four negro laborers. Be- fore they could be extricated. a water
 main. lying within two feet of the
 line of the sewer. which had been broken by the shifting earth. flooded the ditch and drowned three of the
 unfortunates. The other succeeded in
 raising his head above the dirt which imprisoned him and was pulled from
 his position by the foremen in charge of the work. Another negro, after l working his head above the surface was drowned by the rising water be- l fore he could be rescued.
 The dead are: Caesar Jones. aged 22, a brother of l Rev. Ned Jones, a negro preacher of
 Montgomery
 l Thomas Smith. aged about 20. whose home Is in the neighborhood of Union l Springs.
 l John Warren. aged about 25, said to | have come from Georgia.
 The injured man, who escaped SC | narrowly with his life. is Joseph Dor l sey, a native of Matthews Station. who has been staying at the Richmond Ho- | tel
 The accident, which occurred about II o'clock, was the result of earth near the DOtCOm OI the sewer lTSHCn SILL l- ing. Sliding out, it removed the sup port from the six-inch water main ly- | ing two feet south of the trench. on | top of which rested five feet of earth Under the weight, the pipe parted at a joint, turning loose the stream of water l which flooded the ditch and resulted in l the drowning of the buried men. Each | of the dead, when examined by Coro- ner Tice soon after they had been dug out of the sewer which had been their grave, was found to have his lungs | filled with water.
 Many Negroes Gathered Immediately after the cave-in, hun l dreds of residents of the neighborhood principally negroes, gathered about the | trench. interfering with the work of I the rescuers. Many had relatives work | ing in the crew which was engaged in | digging the sewer These crowded to | the edge of the ditch, weeping and wringing their hands. With the excep- | tion of the Jones negro. however, none | of the men caught in the cave-in had 1 friends in the city.
 Terrified at the fall which had buried four of their number, the other negroes who had been engaged in the work of | laying the sewer hung back afraid to enter the ditch to help in the rescue of their companions. The foremen. H. c. Moore and J. l.. Whitley, led in the e1orts to aid the buried men, but the water interfered with their work A 1 telephone message was sent to the wa l terworks to shut off the water from
 the main supplying that section of the | city. which was done-not, however | before the men had been drowned. The
 bodies of the dead were not extricateG
 finally until about 12:30 o'clock In the | afternoon. an hour and a half after l the cave-in occurred.
 | Owing to the excitement which at
 tended the fatality, facts to determine | the responsibility for the accident were | hard to secure. The work was In
 charge of Black and Laird. New Or
 leans contractors. Although the trench was about twelve feet in depth, nc snoring or bracing had been done The sides of the trench were entirely un. supported. and were cut sheer to the
 bottom. The earth at the surface wa
 red. clayey sand. the per centage ol
 clay decreasing with the depth of the
 trench. until at the depth the mer
 were working, the earth was almost
 entirely sand. T. G. Oliver, of the contracting firm, managing the con. | tract, said that in work of the deptt