Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-07-26
|NEN1Y. men
DIE IN WATER BORE
Explosion Near Cleveland Results
in Loss of Life.
FUMES KILL RESCUE PARTY

FUMES KILL RESCUE PARTY
Intrepid Band, Eager to Save Their
Comrades, Are Themselves Victims
OF Disaster = Pulmotors Bring
Many From Jaws of Death.
Pittsburgh, Pa, July ga party
of trained rescuers from the Pitts
burgh station of the bureau Of mines
left here today for Cleveland to as
sist In relief work in the waterwOrks
tunnel They took with them the GUS
t0mary equipment of mine rescue ap-
paratus. II. M. Wolflin, engineer in
charge of this division, ordered the
minesrescue car with it's entire crew
to hurry from Barnesboro, Pa, to
Cleveland with all possible speed.
Heavy Toll Taken by Death.
At least dozen Of the men died in
stantly when workman's pick pune
tured a pocket of gas in the ten-foot
tunnel and spark from electrical
machinery set the vapor off.
Five other men were killed when
they went through a compressed air
lock into the blackness of the tube in
an effort to rescue the men trapped.
A second rescue party of II men
were trapped in the death tube and
only two Of these came out alive.
Sixteen men were in the tunnel
when the explosion occurred. OF these
only one was saved by the first rescue
party of seven, of which three Gid not
reappear. A second party composed
Of IL volunteers was then lowered
through the shaft and all are believed
to have persisted. Several men who
( came in contact with the escaping
7 fumes were dragged out Of the dam
ger zone and pulmotors used in eff
forts to revive them, while helmets
were being rushed out from shore in
tugboats to be used by rescuers.
Efforts to ascertain the exact num-
u Der of dead were baffied because some
4 of the injured who were placed on
fore reaching hospitals, while others,
who at first were thought to be dead,
Il were brought back to life with the pull
I motor.
Twenty Known to Be Dead. r
Cleveland, o., July 26.-At least
twenty men arc known to be dead and
dozen injured as result Of an ex-
4 plosion of gas in water works tunnel
under construction between a pumping
station on land and an intake crib
five miles out in Lake Erie late last
night.
The men were working fifty feet be-
low the bottom Of the lake, which is
seventy feet deep at that point placing
them 120 feet below the surface. They
were LOO feet shoreward from the
crib. The explosion came as the tun-
mel workers broke through gas vein
with their picks and shovels and the
fumes ignited from electric sparks.
The night shift had returned to work
last night after three days lay-off
because gas fumes had been discov-
cred and tests were made to ascertain
the safety of further work.
Although suspicious odors had been
noticed for several days and work had
been halted the men were permitted to
enter the tube without helmets or other
means Of safety.
Vain Effort at Rescue.
At eight O'Clock last evening eleven
men descended the shaft. An hour
later workmen on the surface detected
gas and attempted to signal the men
in the tube Receiving no response
they sent rocket signals into the air
TO attract lifesavers on shore, there be-
s1ng no other means of communication.
1t was almost midnight before aid
reached the scene and then rescue
party was quickly formed which made
the descent. Of this party Of eleven
rescuers seven succumbed to the
: fumes, the original eleven having per-
ished.
After the first rescue party had met
Z the same fate as the eleven workmen,
no more men would volunteer to aid in
the rescue work until helmets could be
procured There was considerable de-
lay in getting helmets and not until
after daylight to-day was the rescue
work taken up hv men properly
equipped to withstand the deadly
vnpor.
Ten bodies were brought to shore on
tugboat at 10 a. m. today. Nine
more are known to be in the tube and
the, rescuers are digging their way
through the debris to bring out the
remaining bodies.
The identified dead:
S. Fl. vOKEs, assistant superin.
tendent Of tunnel.
THOMAS CLARK, !.
8. M. WOODS.
w. LAHRSTEIN. ~
ARCHIE TURNBULL. Il
STEPHEN HAYS.
JOHN FLYNN. i
JOHN MACKEY.
81 sg JUSTICE AFRO. j
FRANK REEP. i
LOUIS JAPPIsOLLI. 4
w. YEONIAN.
HARRY HATCHER.
Senator Demands Report.
.Washington,AJuly Ex-senator Jones
Of Washington introduced a resolution