Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-07-26
ABANDON ATTEMPT RECOVER BODIES F IN TUNNEL No Hope Felt That Any of Men Trapped Beneath
 Lake Erie Alive. EXPLOSION COSTS
 LIVES OF 22 MEN Recover Bodies of Ten Who Suc- cumbed While Attempting to Res- cue Workers in WaterwOrks Tun-
 mel Five Miles from Shore.


 ficials Investigating the waterworks tunnel disaster, which cost 22 lives, late today ordered ail attempts to reach the bodies of F men in the tunnel abandoned unril tomorrow. Tests of the gas in tho tunnel showed that it was highly explosive, and the officials feared seco1d explosion.
 An attempt will be made to pump cut the gas, so that the work of re- covering the bodies may progress.
 All hope that any of the 12 men trapped in the tunnel are alive was abandoned tonight.
 Ten bodies, those cf members of two rescue parties which tried to reach the doomed men but themselves :uccumbed to the deadly gas were recovered today. Eight injured men. also members of rescue parties, will recover.
 Rescuers believe the tunnel caved in after the explosion, and the re- maining victims are buried under tons of mud and may not be reached for days.
 Trapped Under Lake.
 The dead include workmen who were trapped in the tunnel when g; s' exploded and members of two rescue parties who attempted to save the men first trapped.
 Of the dead eleven were in the force trapped by the explosion. None of these escaped. The first rescue party consisted of seven men. Four of them perished and three were sav- ed The second rescue party com prised eleven men. Six of thes,. lost their lives and five escaped. The first rescue party accomplished nothing. The second saved one of the first re- lief expedition. No one has yet reach ed any of the original men caught in the workings. Of the eight rescuers who got out alive two died later. The overcome by fumes who did not go into the tunnel.
 A third rescue party entered the tunnel at S:3O and brought out alive Gustave c. VanDuzen, superintendent of waterworks construction, who had headed the second relief force. VaM- Duzen may die from his experiences. The tragic fate of the rescuers in the first and second instances was due to the fact that they worked with out oxygen helmets, which were un- available. Of those rescued who aft erward died no pulmotors were at hand for use in attempting to save them. This lack of rescue apparatus was roundly condemned by the rescu- CTS, and Mayor Harry L.. Davis today promised to conduct d rigid inves l. gation into this shortcoming as well as into the catastrophe itself.
 The third rescue party was equip ped with helmets which had been as sembled, but nearly II hours had elapsed following the explosion be- fore sufficient equipment to fit out the third rescue party was at hand to permit descent into the tunnel.
 Cause Undetermined.
 The cause of the explosion has not yet been ascertained. It is supposed that some workman struck pocket of gas with a pick or possibly gas collected in the tunnel and became ignited by an electric spark.
 The tunnel was equipped with electrically driven machinery for eX- cavating.
 The party of il workmen who were caught by the explosion entered the tunnel o'clock last night. The work has been carried on in three shifts. This force was in charge of Harry Volkes, as shift boss. First intimation of the disaster came when William Dolan, lock tender in the air chamber at the entrance to the tun- nel, heard the dull boom of an eX- plosion. This was about 9:30 p. m. Dolan was thrown against the door leading from the air chamber into the tunnel This loor was jammed by the blast and deadly fumes poured out of the tunnel, almost overcoming Dolan. He finally managed to close it, and then releasing the high pres sure from the air chamber he opened the door leading to the crib above and gave tho alarm to men at the surface of the lake.
 Rescuers Overcome.
 Foreman John Johnson summoned volunteers and led the first rescue
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