Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-28
MEET WITH NOxIOUS GASES
Workmen Employed in Low Area
Conduit Nearly Overcome.
MANY THEORIES ADVANCED
Old Story of Attempt by Lawless
Gang to Loot the Treas
ury Recalled.

A deep underground mystery is Ddmlng
construction men who are building the
low area service sewer from the new
Riggs, at 18th and G. streets, to the
main trunk line, at Pennsylvania avenue
and 18th street. What they have come
upon they do not know. and will be
unable to determine until thorough ex-
ploration is permitted by the subsistence
Of what they regard as noxious gases,
which nearly overcame several workmen
this morning.
They may have penetrated the roof OF
municipal tradition. intrepid and enter
prising bandits projected under the Treas
ury building years ago, with the purpose
Of looting its treasure.
A workman laboring at Pennsyl-
vania avenue and 10Th street. twenty
feet under earth, in a shaft of the deep
pit which is to carry the great sewer for
the office building, found the end of his
pick go through q stratum of packed
gravel into apparent nothingness. As
he was digging in foot of yellow ooZe,
his eyes could not aid him in determining
Just what had occurred. The muck
spouted in jet four feet high.
Affects His Head.
He tried to continue his work in the
OPAQUE fluid that fast displaced the mud,
but found that his head was becoming
light He could detect no odors worse
than he had been smelling, for his was
not a sweet-scented job at its best. Work
men alongside him also suffered light
headedness.
Construction Foreman E. s. McLaugh-
lin, who is experimenting the work for
the contractor, w. F. Brenizer; Z. Z. Bad
en- inspector of construction for the mu-
nicipal sewer department, ana Z. II
Brooks, an electrical contractor, VINO
were nearby. discussing the progress of
the work, hurried to the spot when IN
formed that the men were unable TO Work
in the pit.
Foreman Mclaughlin, skeptical at first.
went into the pit, but found 1t almost
impossible to breathe. he came out and
ordered the workmen to the surface.
What can be seen from the street level,
looking down into the pit. gives llttie
clue to the mystery. In the center OF the
big hole, about twenty feet below the
surface, is a pool Of dirty yellow water
about three feet wide. The surface OF
this pool is intermittently agitated by a
DulSallOu 1TOIu Tic CCiilCA ~ SAiO SNoSS'
Pulsation Caused by Gas.
The pick penetrated the gravel stratum
about 8 o'clock this morning The puisa-
ton. which the construction men believe
is caused by gas coming to the surface
as it is displaced by the water or un-
derground seepage flowing into the cav
ity, has kept on at the same speed and
oyifa
and Is continuing.
Foreman Mclaughlin VINO mas nao
much to do with construction WORK III
Washington for years. has never encoun-
tered just such phenomena at any uhle.
He is by no means certain, but thinks II
possible that a cavity, thoroughly tlgnt'
and filled with gases formed by decaying
matter, has been penetrated ana thal
the flow of gas will continue until IL Is
all displaced by water
On this theory the possibility is tenabie
that a section of tunnel, built deep
under ground, and closed at both ends
perhaps by the collapse of earth, mas
been converted into such cavity Inc
natural geology Of Washington oHers no
similar case of a natural pocket In the
knowledge of these underground workers
Unauthenticated Story Recalled.
A story that had wide circulation,
wears ago, frequently reprinted. and en-
nhatically denied and affirmed, relates
the stupendous undertaking OF gang u
Ia wless men to loot the United States
Treasury of the millions In goio' siNef'
bullion and currency in Its vaults.
a tunnel, according to this account, was
to be dug several feet below the level or
the Potomac river. from the river ana
under the Treasury. with Its terminus
rising to a higher level after passing the
Treasury building. in some house nearby
which could be used by the pano as
Headquarters and base of operations.
Upon the completion Of the tunnel water
was to be let into it. boats were to navl-
pate underground to a point under the
Traasury where the building was 10 De
broken into with the aid or nlgh ex-
nlosiyes. the wealth transferred 10 the
boats. the boats to escape ny t!e rINel e
and the tunnel to be closed after them TO
nrevent discovery of the means OF ey-
nloitation. The robbery. as far as written
history develops, was never accomplished
The possibility that pocket OF naturai
gas has been dlscovered cove inrsstirators 20 of
supposed fields of gas in nearby Mar iailo
coi,nties AS no similar assumed eNi-
dence of natural gas IN TINS lmiheuiat1 t1
vicinity has ever been prousn. " hsh''
this theory has only feeble support.
Theory Of Compressed Ar.
Superintendent of Sewers Philips be-
leves that the phenomenon can be ex-
planned He hazards the opinion that
water at drainage level has become thor
oueh,v saturated with air under compress
sion, and that the workmen have sud
denly removed the pressure and that the
air is being released.
He does not believe that gas is being
exuded from the earth. He explains that
the air under compression contained In
the interstices between molecules of wa
ter has been fed upon by protozoan life
in the soil. and that the oxygen therein
has been exhausted materially.
AS about % per cent oxygen is the
oualification of pure air. and ! per cent
less Is 4. serious menace to life. the de-
| nudinc of the oxygen to below 3 per cent
under the peculiar conditions under earth.
he concludes, would naturally make a
| CONDITION under which men could not
work in a narrow shaft filled with steril-
4 ICED air.