New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-12-10
G AF|RE UNDER BROADWAY
Caisson Workers Stagger to
Sidewalk with Clothes Ablaze.
ALL BADLY HURT; | MAY DIE
Human Torches from Guaranty
Trust Foundation Startle
Thousands in Street.

Seventy-fve feet under the hurrylhg
crowds of lever Broadway six men bat
tied fos shSr lives yesterday morning
againd' fire fed by the oxygen that is
liberated when the air presses with
weight of twenty-one pounds to the
square inch.
II was only for minutes that they
struggled vet one was so badly burned
that he via probably die and two others
will spend days. if not weeks In the
Volunteer Hospital
Meantime 10 one Of all the thousands
I'D above knew of their peril until they
crawled out of the caisson where they
had been working on the foundation OF
the new Guaranty Trust Company
Building, at Broadway and Liberty
street. and fell with flaming clothing on
the sidewalk.
Andrew Donovan. Of No. 30 Amity
street. Brooklyn is the man for whose
life little hope is held out at the hospi-
tel II was said there last night that
his burns were what are known as 'third
degree" while two of the other men,
William Smith, Of No. 152 Marcy ave-
nue.. Brooklyn, and Harry D. Wood OF
No. 90 West 1C1st street, escaped with
second degree burns. The other three
men were treated at the hospital and
allowed to return to their homes. They
were Thomas Cosgrove. of No. 1870 But
Ter street. Brooklyn; Andrew Lono-
braner. Of No. 10 Carroll street Brook
lyn, and Thomas Nicoll, of No. 26S AIMS
lee street. Brooklyn.
The caisson in which the men were
working is known technically as joint
ceisson. sunk TO connect the great walls
Of concrete which had already been laid
by the larger caissOns. The spaces be-
tween these walls are scarcely more
than four feet. necessitating the con-
struction Of miniature caissons for the
work between them. These joint Gals
sons are the only ones in which wood Is
now used. according to the foundation
company which is employed on the job.
Smith. foreman of the caisson crew,
md Donovan were digging at the bottom
Of the shaft when the fire started To
burn. Nobody seems to know exactly
what started ii, but the conjecture is
that one of the men put down his cam
die for a moment against one of the
wooden beams. and that the excess of
oxygen in the compressed atmosphere
made it flare up like so much finder. 1t
happened that Wood, superintendent of
the entire work. was inspecting the
caisson at the time At the first sign
of the fire he clambered down the ladder
that led TO the lowest lock and helped
the threatened men in their efforts to
escape
With him went Cosgrove and Lone
braner. while Nicoll, the airlock tender,
stuck to his post until all had climbed
or been hauled into the higher section.
1t was too late then to prevent the
flames from pouring through the lock,
and when he, too, Joined in the des-
perate scramble toward the upper air it
was through sickening smoke and flame
that relentlessly climbed faster. Each
man gave every help that was in his
power 10 his comrade, though, and at
last the street level was reached. Dom
ovan and Smith fell to the ground un-
conscious. A hurried call brought the
ambulance from the Volunteer Hospital,
and the fire was extinguished in a few
minutes by flooding the caisson without
calling on the Fire Department for aid.