Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-02
CA|SSON SURVIVOR
HELD BLAMARLE
For CATASTROPHE
Prosecutor Mott Orders the Arr
rest of Robert
COrbitt.
HOSPITAL. PATIENT TELLS OF
FASTENING FATAL BUCKET
Action Taken Following Confer
ence with Defective Who
Made Investigation.

Following the admission of Richard
! Corbitt, of New York. one of the four
survivors in the caisson accident that
snuffed out the lives of eleven work
men in the accident at the bottom OF
the Passaic river Tuesday night, that
he was the worker whose duty 1t was
| to manipulate the pin, the misplacing
of which caused the accident. Prosecu-
tor Mott this afternoon directed that
complaint of manslaughter be sworn
out. In the Second Precinct Police
| Court.
This means that Corbitt, who Is In
the City Hospital suffering from con-
cLssion of the brain, will be held under
arrest at that institution until such
time as his condition will permit his
examination at an inquest into the ac-
cident.
Action Follows Conference.
This action by Mr.. Mott followed d
conference in which Judges Ten Eyck
and Davis participated, and which took
place after Detective Sergeant Walter
Godfrey had had a talk with Corbitt
as the latter lay on his cot at the hos
pital this morning.
The prosecutor said he did not think
the case to be one of gross negligence,
but Godfreys Investigation convinced
him that Corbitt's story was one that
should prove of the utmost value In de-
termining the responsibility for the
catastrophe.
The officials assert that 1t is abso-
lutely certain that no defect in the
machinery has been found and that
one of the workmen must have been to
blame for the crashing down of the
heavy bucket which caused the release
of the compressed air In the caisson.
Then followed the inrush of water from
the river bed, drowning all but the four
negroes who reached the man-shaft.
Following Is Corbitt's account, iven
he lay bolstered up in a cot, of the
events just preceding the crash that
released the compressed air in the cais-
son, allowing the water to rush In and
drown the eleven negroes who failed in
their efforts to reach the mainshaft:
Il had the work of fastening the pin
to draw up. the bucket. and there
hadn't been a single hitch. Everything
was all right when l gave the whistle
to hoist her up, and she went through
the first lock without any trouble.
The lower had closed and l went for
my shovel to fill up the other bucket.
and just as l reached for it that bucket
came shooting back into the caisson
like a shot out of gun.
TT was lucky for me that l was near
that shaft, for the force of the air, as
it shot up the shaft, threw me right up
with it,"
How about the pin? Was 1t fast
ened all right?" he was asked.
"Sure that pin was fastened. l had
went through the first door that 1t
was fixed. The way l figure 1t out is
that when 1t got up to the second door
and got stuck the locktender Q don't
know his name, he was new on the
job and just learning) tried to yank it
out and the pin slipped. That's all
know about 1t. l was down below and
can't tell what was going on above"
OF the eleven bodies but five were
removed from the morgue today, but
that of Samuel Boyd will probably be
taken to his home in New York be-
fore nightfall. The bodies taken away
this morning were those of James Jack
son, the foreman in charge Of the cais-
son; James Houston, John Mckinney,
John Reed and William Shanes. There
Is likelihood that the body Of James
Stevens will rest in potter's field. as
his brother-in-law, Charles Wetheral,
the only relative he has, says he is too
poor to provide funeral for him.