The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-31
FIGHT UNLER RIVER.
TALTiN GETS FRICTU RED SKILL
FROM HUNG ARIAN.
They Fought With wrench and shovel In
Third Lock Of Belmont Tunnel -Four.
teen Men Cheered Them and wouldn't
Lei Foreman Interfere Man Way Die.

A fnish fight between n Hungarian and
an Italian. armed with "A monkey wrench
and shovel, took place late yesterday
afternoon in the third lock of the Belmont
tunnel from East Forty-secopd street,
I 900 feet from the Manhattan shore and
IS8 feet below the surface Of the Fast River.
The& fellow workInen looked on calmly
while the men mauled each other and
fercely interfered when the foreman tried
TO stop the fight. When the police finally
got there one Of the combatants was
stretched out on the bottom Of the lock
unconscious.
The particulars Of the fight reached the
Fast Fifty-hrst street station house when
Michael Schulsky, the Hungarian. of s7l
First avenue. was locked up for felonious
assault, and the Italian, Santo Mazzalio,
had been sent to Bellevue Hospital to have
a fractured skull cared for. Ambulance
Surgeon Rogers. who examined Ma2zalio,
said hc had small chance To live.
Il was through the efforts of Jose phi
Maura of 237 West Sixty-eecond street,
the negro foreman Of the sand hogs working
in the third lock, that the police were finally
summoned. and from him the details of
the fight were obtained. Maura and his
assistant. Joseph Fanto, were detained AT
the station house for some time,
Maura said that while he WAS busy in the
second lock he heard a great cCmmotion
in the third, which is the eXtr me end OF
the tunnel work ~ present. He hurried
there and saw Schulsky swinging a m onkey
wrench with powerful strokes against
Mazzalio's head and body, while the latter
was trying 20 protect himself with his
shovel and getting in a jab with i when
he could. The force of laborers in the lock,
half Italians and half Hungarian, had
fomed in a ring and each faction was
cheering one Of the fighters.
The forr nfan jun ped into the centre ~
the ring at once n tried to force the
ccmbatants away from each other. I'm
him and adv Used hin to stay in the adjoining
lock until the fight was over. Maura then
hustled to the emergency telephone, called
ND the engineers room in the first lock.
near the Forty-sccond street entrance 10
the tunnel, and yelled:
There's a big riot in the third lock
Send out all the cops yo'i can n d
Messengers were sent scurTying around
the neighborhOod for policemen. and finally
Wetzel, Tobin n Swanton VI the East
FiftS first street station house were rounded
No. Being impressed with the urgency Of
he call, the Cops shot into the tunnel with
out waiting to ave their lungs tested OF
asking about the amount Of air pressure in
the third lock. Thew made their way with
difficulty to the last lock. where thew found
all the sand hogs except two working away
as though nothing had happened. MAJ
zalio Law unconscious. while Schulsky sat
near him. wiping the blood from half a
dozen cuts on his hands and face.
After they had telephoned the engineer
10 send for a Bellevue ambulance, they
started 10 carry Mazzalio out to the shore.
Maura advised them that the man would
probably be dead when they went out If
thew left the air pressure too rapidl". They
then waited until Ambulance Surgeon
Rogers Of Bellevue arrived. At his orders
they carried MazZalio slowly from one lock
to the other. the pressure diminishing
GRADUALLY. until DIR. Rogers thought il safe
10 take the man into theo open air,
Maura tried TO find ON what the row was
about, but the Huncarians and Italians
wouldn't tell him.. Schulsky's cuts were
dressed before he was taken to the police
station.