Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-03
ONE MAN KILLED, ANOTHER
INJURED
Scores Of Laborers Have Marrow Es.
cape From Death When Walls
Of Excavation crumble
and Fall

ana centennial street, was instantly
killed yesterday morning at 11;25
o'clock by the collapse of the ditch in
which he was working.
Andrew Joksich, who was at work
with Radulovlch, was seriously injured
by the falling walls Of the ditch, but 1t
is believed that he will recover.
When the accident occurred there
we're about twenty men in the ditch.
or these all escaped uninjured with
the exception Of Radulovich, who was
killed. and Joksch. Joksich was lean
ing over Raduovich, who was on his
knees driving a stake. Thus no time
was given the unfortunate men in
which to escape.
As the wall of the ditch, which was
at that point about eleven feet deep.
began to crumble upon them, the two
men started to run to the forward end
of the excavation. JoSSich succeeded
in getting almost clear, but Radulo-
vich stumbled over a. timber and fell
face down, when the mass of clay fell
upon him and smothered him.
Tell Contradictory Stories
An abandoned gas pipe line ran a
few feet back from the point where the
break occurred. This, however, was
not known by the foreman who had
charge of the work. From the appear
ance of the break 1t would seem that
where the dirt had been removed for
the gas pipe the earth had settled until
the brittle clay could no longer bear
the weight
J.. A. Bristow, the foreman Of the
work, who was in the ditch when the
accident occurred, said that the walls
were properly braced and shored, and
that no one could have foreseen the ac-
cident. Andrew Joksich, the laborer
who was injured, stated that there
were no braces in that portion Of the
ditch where the accident took place.
Tom Carter was on the excavator
when the accident took place and his
statement in regard to it was as fol-
lows:
IT was on the steps of the machine
when 1 saw the dirt slide in on the
men. / stopped the engine and blew
the death whistle This called all the
men at work to the ditch, where they
dug out the bodies of the two as quick
ly as possible"
Injured Mans Statement
After the accident Joksich was taken
to the receiving hospital but he refused
to allow the police surgeon to do any
thing Tor him except to give him
drink of whisky. His friends sup
ported him and he was taken to the
Slavonian boarding house on College
street, where he now is. He seemed to
be in great pain and according to the
statement of DR.. Quint may have been
seriously injured internally.
Dan Zotwich who lives at the Slavon-
ian boarding house, stated that before
Joksich lapsed into Inconsistencies he
made the following statement: There
was no bracing at the part of the ditch
where the cave-in occurred. The earth
fell in so quickly that we had no time
to escape, although we tried. I was
bending over RaduloVich and he was
on his knees driving in a stake. When
we heard the dirt begin to rattle down
we started to run, but he fell and was
crushed while 1 by standing upright
managed to escape alive.
''There were braces in some portions
of the ditch but none were at the point
where the caye-in occurred"
E. C. Alsop, president of the company,
stated that although he had been a
constructing engineer for fifteen years,
this was the first time that any ser-
GUS accident had happened to any of
the men employed by him.
1t is believed that the huge pile of
dirt which the excavator threw out and
which was massed only few feet back
from the edge of the ditch might have
caused the accident, owing to the
enormous pressure exerted by 1t.
Some of the eyewitnesses of the ac-
cident expressed themselves in regard
to the caVe-in.
Says He Foresaw Accident
w. B. Flower of 23S South Olive
street said;
81 was there when the cave-in oc-
Cured. I had been watching the work
several minutes before the accident
remarked to a bystander that it didn't
look safe to send men down into a
ditch like that with soft earth on each
side and no timbers or braces to pro-
tect them The dirt taken out by the
excavation was thrown up on the side
of the ditch and was not shoveled back
to make any margin. The weight Of
that dirt and the jar of the passing
cars must have caused the slide
"All the snoring timbers in the ditch
We're put in after the men had been
buried. The snoring in there now isn't
in the part where the men were buried.
Tt was put in afterward. L wouldn't
have gone into that ditch for any
amount of money. I could readily see
the danger"
Men Shrek for Help
l. D. I1dJlicS VI IL 4NOIll OIllO SlIteL
was also watching the big excavator
just previous to the accident.
'The screams of those men were
awful" said Mr. Haynes. 81 shall
never forget it. Some one called my
attention to the lack of protection for
those working not ten minutes before
the tragedy. 1 had turned to go away,
but had scarcely gone two hundred feet
when I heard the men screaming for
help. / turned and ran back. The soft
soil was sliding In at the bottom. The
workers were first pinioned by the feet
and then steadily buried, the dirt ris-
ing like the tide. Those heavy snoring
timbers bracing the ditch now were
put In after the men had been buried"
Saw No Snoring Tlmbers
E. b. Valentine of 1406 East Seven
teenth street said: 81 was driving by
when the accident occurred. l had mo-
ticed the way the work was carried on.
/ saw no snoring timbers previous Ia
the accident and don't believe there
were any The crane on that excavator
was not extended so as to clear the
ditch enough and the pressure Of that
dirt must have exerted some influence
m fha dirt haICxu -