The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-04-14
Three School Boys Killed When
Tunnel Caves In.
Boys Go to Cave North of Pot
win to Spend Day.
TRAMPS RESCUE THE BODIES
Coat Hanging on Bush Is First
Clue to Accident.
Several Cave-Ins Have Occur
red Before, Says Report.

Three boys. members of the Holy
Name school. were buried alive Thurs
day afternoon when a tunnel along
the banks of Ward creek, north of
Potwin. caved in.
The boys were: Ralph Mackey, IL,
son of Mr.. and Mrs. Thomas Mackey,
Tenth and Frazier avenues; Raymond
wiss, Is. son of Mr.. and Mrs. Louis
Wiss, 131 Clay street. and Edward
Stader 12, son of Mrs. Margaret
Stader, a widow. 1892 West street.
The bank where the caNe-in oc-
Cured was honeycombed with tunnels
and had been used by boys Tor
more than a year. The accident oc-
CURED sometime between noon and
O'Clock. 1t was discovered by five
tramps who were camping near the
scene and who had been talking to the
boys just before noon. With the as
sistance of other men who were at
tracted to the scene, they dug the
bodies from the earth and sand.
Found by Tramps.
Because it was Holy Thursday there
was no school at Holy Name and the
boys went to the cave in the morning,
taking their lunches and intending to
spend the day. The tramps. Emilio
Errante and Dan Errante, of New
York: Sam Oates, of Anderson, Ind:
Claud Jacobs. of Frankfort, Ind, and
Henry Blechman, Indiana, met the
boys at the cave about IL O'Clock in
the morning and talked to them until
noon. when they repaired to their own
camp, a few hundred feet distant. Re
turning about o'clock they found
that the tunnel had caVed in and the
boys were nowhere to be seen. A
coat hanging on a nearby bush con-
vinced them that the boys had been
caught in the cave-in They immedi-
ately started to dig and were soon
Joined by other men who assisted
them.
Covered With Three Feet of Earth.
The Wiss youth was found first
under three feet of earth. Mackeys
body was found in cross-cut tunnel
only a few inches of sand having pre-
vented him from escaping. He nae
been holding his watch in his hand
when the cave-in occurred, and il is
believed he was preparing to go home,
as he had promised his mother that
he would be home early. His was the
only body which showed evidences OF
a struggle, and it is believed the other
two boys were killed almost instantly
by the crash
The Mackey boy is survived by two
brothers, Harold and Augustin- The
Stader boy is survived by a sister,
Helen, S years old
The caves. five or six in number
are located on the north bank of
Ward creek, between the Rock Island
tracks and the river, and approx
mately on a line with Broadmoor ave
nue. Some of them are large enough
for small boy to stand up in and in
some cases they. are connected by tun-
nels dug several feet deep in the bank
Caves Built Years Ago.
The earth is very sandy and while
damp will hold very wen. but in the
process of drying out the loose soil
falls in almost at a touch The caves
have been constructed over the course
of several years by various boys from
the Kenwood and Auburndale neigh
borhoods. but apparently were not the
work of any particular organized ;
group. Several have caved in before,
but without the disastrous results
WHICH attended the accident Thurs
day.
Coincidence From Boy Scouts.
Letters of coincidence on the deaths
of the boys are to be sent to the pa
rents by the Topeka Boy Scout coun-
Gil. The council will also offer TO
supply n guard of honor of uniformed
Boy Scouts at the funeral.