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Show I j TWENTY-TWO MEN : (Workmen Trapped in Water- j works Tunnel Five Miles J Under Lake Erie. ! 'RESCUERS LOSE LIVES j ; Men Succumb to Deadly Gas ; Explosion Probably Caused By Striking j Gas Pocket. l Cleveland, Ohio, July 25. Twenty- j j Wo men are dead and half i dozen H i ' jothers dying as the result o an ex- t J nilosion of gas in a waterworks tunnel j j ffivo miles from shore underneath 1 1 Lake Erie last night. Tho dead In- ' j ; 'elude workmen, who were trapped in Hj "f1 the tunnel when gas exploded and Hl j j tmembers of two rescue parties, who ! . vattempted to save the men first trap- Hj 3ed. Hj h Of tho dead eleven were in the l ' force trapped by tho' explosion. None J j -of these escaped. The ' first rescue l,j f party consisted of seven men. Four y of them perished ,and three wero j l saved. The second' rescue party com- ) prised eleven men. Six of these lost y ; their lives and five recovered. The Hi i i first rescue party accomplished noth- i ing. The second saved one of tho , I I first relief expedition. No one has i yet reached any of the original eleven caught in the workings. Of tho eight m ) rescuers who got ou alive two died j ' jl later. The others may die. Two men E: were also overcome by fumes who H,: I , did not go into the tunnel. 1 Third Rescue Party Enters. 1 j A third rescue party entered the H'' ' tunnel at S:30 and brought out alive i:'1 Gustav C. Van Dusen, superintendent 1 j , of water works construction, who had Hr I headed tho second relief force. Van 1; . Dusen may. die from his experiences. ' I J One body was also brought out by the H ,l third rescue party. This was a mem- :, ber of the second rescue crew. It fj had been supposed that Van Dusen ' had perished. The tragic fate of the rescuers in i .; the first and second instances was I due to the fact that they worked with- ;j jl out oxygen helmets which were un- 3- available. Of those rescued who aft- Ii; , erward died no pulmotors wero at hand for use in attempting to resusci- i! 1 tate them. This lack of rescne appar- , atus was condemned by the rescuers j ' and Mayor Davis today promised to H: conduct a rigid investigation into this L I , short coming as well as into the ca- ' I tastrophe itself. ' Helmets Late In Arriving. 1 , The third rescue party was equip-1 equip-1 i ped with, helmets which, had been as- HJI Eembled, but nearly eleven hours has fj elapsed following the explosion, be- J fore sufficient equipment to fit out 1 : 1 the third rescue party was at hand to j i permit a descent into the tunnel, j Cause of Explosion. , i The cause of the explosion has not 'j ! been ascertain. It is supposed that : some workmen struck a pocket of gas Hj' -with a pick or possibly gas collected Hfl i in the tunnel and became ignited by HJ an electric spark. The tunnel was H equipped with electrically driven ma- s! ; chlnery for excavating. t i The party of eleven workmen who j were caught by the explosion entered , the tunnel at 8 o'clock last night I ; The work has been carried on in three Hfj i shifts. This force was in charge of Harry Volkes as shift boss. First in-timatlon in-timatlon of the disaster came when Jim Dolan, lock tender in the air ) chamber at the entrance to the tunnel . 'heard the dull boom of an explosion. H' This was about 9:30 p. m. Dolan was thrown against the door leading from the air chamber into the tunnel. This door was jammed by the blast and deadly fumes poured out of tho tun- , nel, almost overcoming Dolan. He fi- H ' nally managed to close it and then re- Hj! ! leasing the higher ipressure from the HS ' air chamber he opened the door lead- Hlj ing to the crib above and gave the Hf alarm to men at the surface of the lake. 1 Volunteers Summoned. Superintendent John Johnson sum- Hl moned volunteers and led the first rescue party of volunteers down the I elevator and into the tunnel. One ! hundred and fifty feet from tho bot-torn bot-torn of the shaft they began to stum- hie, crumple and fall overcome by fl fumes. Dolan, who had resumed his post in the air chamber, rushed after ( i them. He saw a trash of light in the I f dafkness. It proved to be Johnson's I : flashlight which he still grasped 0 where he had fallen. Dolan dragged j ' him to the bottom of the elevator j ' shaft and went back. Almost dead I ' himself he dragged Peter McKenna ; to safety. Then he collapsed. Oth-1 Oth-1 ' ers from the crib took, the three up I ; the elevator and they were placed aboard boats which had been attract- 1 d from shore by rockets. 1 It was two hours later when Van I 'Dusen, who had been summoned from I his hom'e by telegraph, organized the Hj 1 i isecond party on shore and went to 1 ! the crib. With his men he , descend- H ted into the tunnel. His men found I iMIchael Keogh of the first rescue I Iparty still alive and dragged him out. They went In again only to suffer the J laame fato which had befallen the first H' I .party. Finally four of them managed I !to stagger back to safety. The oth- I ers did not comeout until the third I 'rescue party was organized and went after them. It was then that Van Hl Dusen was brought out B It became known today that work l In tho tunnel had been suspended H8 'three days ago because gas was Hl ifound. The men sent into the tunnel I last night went to worm Believing x.no 1 gas had been eliminated. "Wo should never have gone into I the tunnel last night," said Dolan to- I :day, "We never got a report from 1 the chemist whether the place was 1 safe and clear of gas but they said I It was all right for us to go." H I Scene of Horror. Hj if Mayor Davis and Chief of Police u Rowe went to the scene of the horror in a tug early today. U The construction job on which the Ijl loss of lifo occurred is being done ( by the city with direct labor. It con- jl, slsts In building a tunnel with the Hl j vaterworks in Lake Erio known as JU Crib No. 5, to the new filtration plant HI being built at West Fifty-ejghth ; Ijl jEtreet This tunnel will carry water jl to the filter plant, now Hearing com- fl pjlotion, which will filter the water Bji u'fl!pyBP.t j' t " " "" r'"rr"i supply of what is called The West Side Section of tho city. Crib No. 5 is five miles from shore. The tunnel has been constructed between the shore and Crib No. 4 which is two and a half miles from shore. The section on which work is being done is between Crib3 4 and 5. Fifteen hundred hun-dred feet remains to be completed. Tho men who wero first trapped were working 1700 feet toward the shore from Cri No. 5. The lake at Crib No. 5 is 60 feet deep. The tunnel is 170, feet under the surface of the lake and ten feet In diameter. An elevator shaft leads from Crib No. 6 to the tunnel entrance. |