Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-21
FIRE FOLLOWED BY EXPLOSION
OF POWDER AND DYNAMITE
TRAPS WORKERS IN TUNNEL
OF CHICAGO CANAL.
INJURED MEN
FIGHT RESCUERS
JUMPING INTO ICY WATERS or
LAKE MICHIGAN WITH CLOTH
ING ARLAzE MANY ESCAPE THE
FLAMES.

Chicago, Jan. 20.--Twenty-three men
lost their lives today In a fire which
destroyed the intermediate crib. q
mile and a half from the shore in
Lake Michigan. Forty-seven suffering
from burns and cuts were rescued.
This statement Of the casualties was
made by George w. Jackson, whose
firm Is constructing an intake tunnel
under the lake. The dead are sup
posed to be imprisoned in tunnel
under the crib. Death might have
come either from smoke, fire or an
explosion of dynamite stored, or by
the shutting off OF the air pipes. Lit
tie hope is expressed that any of
them escaped, although this cannot be
known until the wreckage blocking the
entrance to the bore is removed.
The crib Is temporary structure
erected in the construction Of new
tunnel into the lake for the ultimate
purpose of adding to Chicagos water
i supply. The crib was used as head
quarters for supplies and living quar-
ters for the men. The wooden ma
terial used in the crib made 1t the
easy prey of fire. Powder and dyni-
mite used in blasting were both stored
there. Ordinarily from sixty to
seventy-f1ve men were employed. A
suspended tramway connected the
crib with the shore and immense
buckets suspended from a heavy wire
cable worked by machinery carried
supplies to the place.
| Icy v,+er NnIv Eecana
When the explosion and flames
came an attempt was made by few
daring spirits to reach the shore In
buckets, but the motive mechanism
failed to work and the attempt was
abandoned. When the explosion took
place twenty men were at work in the
tunnel, few moving about the crib.
while many were asleep In the
hunks. The flames Immediately
broke forth and the only means OF
escape lay In jumping into the Icy
waters of Lake Michigan. The tug
Morford stationed on the shore i'm.
mediately started through the fields of
ice for the crib, and upon reaching
that structure, the crew met a sight
that made their hearts fairly stop
beating.
; Injured Fight Off Rescuers.
Frantic victims OF the fire, their
hair singed off and skins blackened,
were struggling in the water and ice.
Some Of them fought against their
; rescuers, only to sink unconscious on
the deck when forced aboard the tug.
; When everybody in sight had been
; taken aboard, second muffled explo-
sion was heard, probably marking the
snuff1ng out OF more lives in the tun.
mel under the crib.
Tug Captain Describes Scene.
when neared the crib" said Capt.
Johnson, Il saw number of men.
their clothes ablaze, run out OF the
blazing structure and jump into the
: lake. Others rapidly twisted ropes
about anything they could find, to pre-
vent being drowned, and jumped into
the water. Others used boxes and
,, pieces Of timber as life preseryers.
when we got within fifty feet Of
the crib we began throwing out ropes
and life belts to the men In the water.
"a Some of the men fought us, others
! !, were so cold and stiff from their icy
baths that we had to reach over and
: drag them in. Upon reaching the
crib we found a dozen or more men
! huddled together on far section OF
: pilings which had not been reached
= by the flames, crying for assistance,
when we bumped against the
structure some Of the men jumped
aboard, but others were SO unneryed
: we had to climb out and drag them
r aboard. Still others crawled from diff
q ferent parts of the crib with their
/ clothing ablaze. Finally when we
$ could see no more injured, we depart
: ed for shore. We had forty-fve men
9 aboard, twenty-six of whom were In
I jured."
q More Bodies Still in Wreckaae.
At 80 this afternoon a telephone
message to Fire Marshal Horan stated
that twenty bodies had been recovered
} and that 1t is estimated an additional
|. twenty could be seen scattered among
the wreckage in the shaft leading
ltrom the crib down to the tunnel.