New-York tribune., 1907-09-29
BERoIsM OF OUR TUNNEL WORKERS.

What the actual death rate Is in under river
tunnels would be hard 70 say But TINS Is Ger
tain: il is high that, regardless OF eAi'IilS' eAiS'
companies doing the work resort TO al poSsInIe p
means to prevent advertising the Dangers one
casualty report which the builders >of the BEL
mont tunnels denied is that more than three
hundred lives were lost in boring this tunnei
which connects Manhattan and Br0oklyn' ana
which recently has been completed 1t Is Wen
known that before the McAdoo MANAGEMENT
took hold Of the nile-long tubes under the Hud-
son one life lost for every eleven feet OF
Eunnel.
To enter into details Of some of the accidents
that have overtaken the under river tunneller
would make reading TOO grewsone On one &C
casion before the emergency air lock was
thought OF. entire sniff Of twenty men was
buried alive when the river mud came thunder
ing in while the men stood against the heading
door Of the air lock waiting for it 20 open the
keeper within being too paralyZed with fear TO
take the chances
Similarly grewsone casualties are numerous.
the unfortunates being dug out weeks after
ward. arms and legs and hands and necks
twisted handfuls of hair torn out of the head
and with other dread details common TO those
who are buried alive
But many instances Of heroisna and devotion
TO duty brighten this dismal record. and there
is one narrow escape which is perhaps the most
miraculous and certainly the most sensational
human had. This took place about a
year ago in OF the tubes boring under the
Hudson.
Briefly in the heading OF this tunnel air be-
gan hiss forth, auguring threatening blow
out" The aperture widened with alarming ra-
llCltN ana shere seemed no time 10 throw up a
hreastwork OF sandbags In this emergency
Of the tuaneIlers threw himself bodily
against the fissure What happened just
what happens a san6bag when thrown too
late against rent. Bodily the pressure forced
the msn clear into the fissure forced him up
through the river bed and blew him eighty feet
up through the water. hurting him like human
shell thirty feet into space Though suffering
from the shock, the man otherwise was unin-
iuTed when picked up by passing boat. and
within three DAYS he returned 10 work at his
old stand-A. ". Rolker. in Appleton's.
WHAT Is a MIDSHIPMAN?
By luck, !, for the first time in my life, have
found a plausible derivation for midshipman.
: lt rould appear that in the days Immediately
after the food the vessels very high at
the ends. between which there a deep
waist giving ready means OF passing from
the other. To meet this difficulty there
were employed q class of men. usually young
and alert who from their station were called
1nidship-men. 10 carry messages which were not
subject for the trumpet shout. II this expana-
non holds water. fl, like fore-castle and after
guard and knight heads. gives another instance
Of survival Of norn9nclature from conditions
which have long ceased.
Whatever the origin Of his title. il well ex-
pressed the anomalous and underlined position of
the mdshipman. He belonged. say. to
both ends of the ship well TO the middle.
and his duties and privileges alike fell within
the broad sa wing that what was nobody's bust
ness a nidshipman's When appointed as
such. in later 1gys he came in with the hay-
seeu in mis- hair and went out A. eor a lieu
tenants charge: bur from first to last, whatever
his 1ers2sal progress he continued. as mid