The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-05
THE DEAD. Charles B. Read. John Rul1l. Mrs. John Ruhl. RESCUERS WHO NARROWLY,
 ESCAPED. Simeon Pease. ..s Allen Jennings. DeVer H. Warner. -. James Prescott.

Three are dead, Charles B, Read, secretary and treasurer of the D. M. Read Co, John Rull, cafetaker of the Read farm. and the latter's wife, Mrs. John Ruhl, the result of being overcome by poisonous acetylene gas fumes, last evening, at the Read sum mer home, in Greenfield Hill. A leak had been discovered in the pump house where the deadly gas was gen ,erated.
 Four others, DeVer H. Warner. treasurer of the Warner Brothers Go, County Commissioner Simeon Pease, Allen Jennings and James Prescott, the latter chauffeur for Dr. I. DeVer Warner, frisked their lives in an effort to save the others.
 Mrs. Ruhl had gone to save her husband; Mir. Read to save the Ruhis, and the four other rescuers in an ef- fort to save the other three.
 Last evening, about o'clock, trou- ble was experienced with. the pump, which supplies the water for the Read house. The day previous the engine was run too long, by. MT. Ruhl, and the packing was burned our. About ' o'clock, MT. Ruhl was told that the pump was not working right, but was instructed not to bother with the plant until the next morning. When he left the Read homestead he went in the direction of his own home. About an hour later, Mrs, Ruh1 appeared at the Read home in quiring for her husband. It was not five minutes after she went away from the Read door, with the infor- nation that her husband had left about an hour before, that occupants of the Read home heard a piercing scream.
 Itl is quite probable that Mrs. Ruhl went at once to the pumping station and there, at the bottom of the pit, discovered the body of her husband Among others to rush out of the home, was MT Read Servants saw Read followed the woman, hurried in to the pit, came out, and entered again.
 County Commissioner Simeon Pease with his two daughters was passing nearby, in his auto, when he was hailed by servants of the Read house hold Allen Jennings, a we'll known Greenfield Hill farmer, was in the To- cality at the sama time. Ordering the servants to phone to as many physicians as possible, both men rushed to the mouth of the pit.
 The pit is. reached by twelve steps, about seven feet under the ground. | house. Here is located the apparatus which brings about the generation. through perculation, of the deadly acetylene gas, carbon and hydro gen compound. The gas is produced by the action of water on calcium carbide, in the same manner that gas is generated for auto lights. Most of the houses in the neighborhood are lighted with acetylene. 7.
 MT. Jennings and Commissioner PeaSe descended the narrow stairs Io- gether, growing weaker and weaker as they neared the pit bottom. Tn the pit they stumbled across the through the action of the deadly fumes, to lift the bodies. It was with great difficulty that they as- cended the steps. Again MT. Jennings and Commissioner Pease made an at tempt to reach the bodies. This time stuffed them into their mouths. Again they were compelled to re- treat and as they were helped by eager hands out of the mouth of the pit both men staggered, and were compelled to lie upon the lawn to recover.
 In the meantime Dr. Martin V. B. Durham, a Greenfield Hill physician arrived and administered to the wants of Mr. Jennings and Commissioner Pease. Both men were very weak.
 MT. Jennings was the first to rally and, regaining his strength, again plunged into the pit, though pr. Dun ham and others attempted to hold him back. He, however, shook them off. Residents from the other sum mer homes began arriving and iend- ing whatever aid they could. Among the number was DeVer H. Warner. On his arrival, Jennings was in the pit Bending over the pit rescuers heard