Year: 1867

Sailor r..r..,. .,....r. -..


IFrom the Troy (New York) Times, Oct. 21l


A terrible accident, resulting in the loss
of thirteen lives, took place at the Central
Shaft of the HoOsac Tunnel, on Saturday
afternoon last, at four o'clock. The Cen
trail Shaft is located at point equi-distafit
from the two portals of the tunnel, in a
valley on the summit of Hoosac Mountain,
and is in the shape of an ellipse, designed
primarily to enable the work to be carried
on from additional faces in the center of
tunnel, and secondarily, when the great
bore is completed, to admit fresh air and
light into the work. The distance
from the opening OF the shaft to
the bed of the tunnel below is l.
040 feet, about 700 feet of which have
already been sunk. Arranged around the
mouth of the shaft were series of build
ings, consisting of an office, machine and
blacksmith shop, saw-mill, &C., and also
tanks wherein naptha was confined and
manufactured into gas for the purpose of
Illuminating the work below. Timbers,
with platforms sixty feet apart, were
placed in upright positions around the
shaft from top to bottom, and within these
a bucket supported by wire rope, ascended
and descended the shaft as occasion re-
quired, bringing up the debris from below
and carrying the operatives up or down as
each relief went on or came off duty.


The naptha gas was introduced on Fri
day last-the day before the accident-for
the first time., The contractors had made,
as they supposed, every precaution to
guard against any disaster from the igni-
tion of the dangerous material; but on Sat-
urday at the hour named, instantly and
without the slightest appearance of dan
ger. lighted candle, standing about twen-
ty feet from the tank, communicated a
flame to the gaseous substance, and in a
al 70, fha 1~,,sll
the timbers in the shaft were all on fire.
The men at work in the surrounding shafGs
barely had time to escape with their lives
The engineer, James Randall, made his
way out only after his shirt had been
burned off his back and his person con-
siderabfy scorched. a.i -


At the time of the accident there were
seventeen men at work in the shaft-foul,
of them near the mouth, and the remain
der in the bottom OF the pit. The four es-
capped; the others were all suffOcated. Not
the slightest assistance could be rendered
tuem. The men above had to flee for their
lives: and the only escape for those below
the bucket-waS soon burned, and fell
down the pit. A great and impenetrable
sea of fire rose up between them and the
earth above. Every one of them must
have died a horrible death from suffoca-
tion; = if any long survived the calamity.
they must have been drowned by the vast
volume of water which poured down upon
them upon the suspension of the pumr
and machinery used in keeping the shar .
dry.


Yes erday a sailor named Marshall, at the
peril of his lite, was let down the shaft by
means of a rope fastened to his body, in the
hope that possibly some of the men below
might yet be alive. Previous to his going
down, knowing the perilous character of
his expedition and the dangers to be en-
nnnntaroI from fnn1 air in ba ba No
shall made bis will, and then heroically
descended. He went down six hundred
feet, from which point he was able to see
that the bottom of the shaft was covered
with water to the depth of twenty
or N ore feet, and that there was not
the slightest possible hope for any of the
men in the pit. He then made the signal
to be hauled up, and some feet above en-
countered current of foul air, which rem
dered him insensible. Upon being brought
to the mouth of the sh =, he was still sense
less and scarcely alive, and it was not un-
til after the most vigorous means of res
toration had been applied to his person that
the heroic man was restored to conscious
ness. The tale he then told dispelled the
last hope for the men below.


OF the thirteen killed, only three were
m ried. One of them leaves wife and
seven children. the eld only II years of
age. The families of the unfortunate meu
none of whose names have transpired-
r idad in cabins in the vicinity of the ac-
ciden+ and the scenes of mourning which
succeeded the catastrophe was of the most
agonizing description.


Yesterday great crowds of people from
all portions of the country in the vicinity
visited the shaft, and the greatest excite
ment, as well as sorrow, was manifested
over the event.


The loss of property and the detention
to the work are considerations only second
to the Ices of life. The machinery at the
mouth of the shaft was very valuable, cost
ing thousands of dollars, and was of the
mot elaborate and perfect description for
carrying on the work. The delay at this
point in conducting the great enterprise to
a successful issue will necessarily be very
great.