OCR Text |
Show FACE DEATH ! FIRE AND WATER Dynamite Used in Construction of 1 Tunnel Under Lake Explodes, 1 Causing Fifty Deaths. Building In the Lake a Mile and a 0 Half From Shore Is Burned, the (I Occupants Being Forced to Plunge Into Icy Waters. I Chicago. Fifty-thrco workmen are- 1 dead as tho result of a flro on Wed- B ncsdny that had its origin In a pow- 9 tier vault attached to tho lntermo B dlato crib In Lnko Michigan, used In 9 tho construction of a now water tun- 1 ncl connecting with tho south side ot 1 - tho city nt Sovcnty-thlrd street. I Nlnety-flvo workmen wcro employed In tho crib nnd in tho connecting 1 tunnel at Uie time of tho flro. I The tunnel was being built by tho I Georgo W. Jackson company. Tho Q first section of tho tunnel starts from iho shore. Tho crib, a mile and a hnlf out, marked tho beginning of tho second section being built still further into the lnkc. Tho two sections had not Joined each other as yet. Tho superstructure of tho crib was a barn-like building of two stories. It I was surrounded by a narrovr platform cr pier. Under It a shaft of steel and iJM concrete, about twenty feet In dlam- ifl' fcter ran down ono hundred feet whero ,V tho tunnel proper began. Normally there woro from seventy-five to ninety -, men employed, working In thrco shifts of eight hours each. A tramway, consisting or strong stcol cables from which hung buckets, gavo physical connection with tho Hhoro. There wns also a telephone. In aummor tho mon wero taken to and from their work by the tug Morford, but In winter this wns Impossible. Tho mon wero housed In tho crib and took their meals there. Supplies woro sent out by tho suspended trolley. So far as known, tho explosion hnd Its origin In a small powder houso nbout 100 yards from tho crib struc-turo struc-turo built on foundations resting on tho bottom ot tho lnkc. Tho detonation, muffled as It waa by tho crashing of floating ice against tho crib, simply aroused tho attention of workmen, nnd It wns not until tho heat of tho flames and tho stifling smoko penetrated tho so-called "living "liv-ing room" of the crib and tho tunnel beneath tho waters of the lako that . tho full Import of tho disaster dawned upon tho llttlo colony of workmen cut off nlmost completely from assistance Tho Ico mndo It Impossible for big JTM vessels to reach tho burning building, tut n small boat was placed In service ser-vice to carry tho Injured to tho tug nnd rescue thoso who had plunged Into tho lako. After several hours of work, thlrty-nlno thlrty-nlno workmen wero rescued. When tho flro tug Conwny had succeeded In quenching tho flnmos, fifty-three bodies bod-ies hnd been cnrrled to tho shoro nnd placed In morgues In south Chicago awaiting Identification. 0 |