Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-20
DIE IN ROARING FIRE
ON ICY LAKE WATERS
Continued from First Page

attempt was made by few daring spirit:
to reach the crib in the buckets. The
motive mechanism failed to work. The
attempt was abandoned.
When Capt. Johnson. after what seemed
| to him an interminable trip, reached his
goal scene worthy the brush Of Dore
greeted his eyes.
Frantic victims of the fire. their hair
singed off and their skins blackened, were
struggling in the water and ice. Some OF
them fought against their rescuers, only
to sink unconscious on deck when forced
aboard the tug.
/ When everybody in sight had been taken
aboard a second muffied explosion was
heard. probably marking the snuffing out
of more lives in the tunnel under the
crib.
when 1 neared the crib" said Capt
Johnson. Il saw a number of men, their
clothing ablaZe, run out of the blazing
structure and jump into the lake. Others
rapidly twisted ropes about anything they
could find and jumped into the water TO
prevent them from being drowned Others
used boxes and pieces Of timber as life
preservers.
Frozen Men Helped Aboard.
when we got within fifty feet of the
crib / slowed down the engine. We be-
gan throwing out ropes and life belts
to the men in the water. Some of the
mel found us.
Others were so cold and stiff from
their Icy baths that we had to reach
over and drag them in. They were taken
to the boiler room. where they were kept
as warm as possible.
Meanwhile we kept drifting closer to
the crib. There a dozen or more men.
huddled together on a far section of the
pilings which had not been reached by
the flames, were crying for assistance.
When we bumped against the ruined
structure some Of the men jumped
aboard. Others were SO unnerved we had
Still others crawled from different parts
of the crib with their clothing ablaze.
"One of these we were compelled to
throw into the lake in order to extingush
around him and dipped him in the water
and then pulled him back aboard the
tug.
'It was while we were doing this that
the second explosion occurred. l backed
the tug away. We could see no more
injured and departed for the shore.
1--WE had forty-tive men aboard, twenty
six of whom were injured
''By the time the Morford had started
on the return trip three other tugs had
pointed their noses toward the scene of
the tragedy.
Pathetic Scene on Shore.
"A scene of desolation and sorrow oc-
CURED on the shore. The families of
many of the men working at the crib
lived in the vicinity. Men, women and
children cried and sobbed Historically in
frantic anxiety for those out in the lake.
Several women tainted.
Mrs. Frank Nolan. wife of the foreman
in charge of the underground work at the
crib accompanied by her young daughter,
made a pathetic figure as she stood with
the crowd on the pier at list street.
20, my God! Tell me If he Is dead or If
he is safe; / cannot live she cried
again and again.
Like many other women, Mrs. Nolan
was clad in the thinnest of house gar
ments. They were quickly covered by
the heavy coats Of sympathetic men.
Mrs. Edith G. Miller, wife of another
foreman, tainted on the pier and fell to
the ice below. She soon recovered con-
seriousness, however, but refused to leave
the place.
In the throng on the pier were former
employees who had worked at the crib
They stated that the crew working in the
tunnel had in all probability been killed
The exit from the tunnel into the crib
was partly blocked by wreckage even I'M
der normal conditions. After the fire tug
had quenched the flames firemen began
pulling away the debris to ascertain con-
ditions in the tunnel.
A telephone message from nearby crib
at 1 pm. stated that twenty bodies had
been recovered from the tunnel. The re-
port added that there were more bodies
at the bottom of the shaft.