Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1883 — A DEATH TRAP. [ARTICLE]

A DEATH TRAP.

Eight Men Killed by the Fall of a Blast Furnace Near Syracuse, New York. The Unfortunates Buried Beneath Sixty Tons’ Weight of Brick and Iron. (Dispatch from Syracuse, N. Y.J A terrible accident occurred at the Ododi dagalron Company’s blast furnace a milei west of this city, in Geddes. For several : weeks the furnace has been unused, it being . out of repair. Joseph Dawson, wnn a gang , of men, has been engaged for several days in removing the inner and fire-bricks frdm the arch, leaving only the outer course standing The foreman considered this course entirely secure. Without the sb'ghtest warning the arch caved in, burying the workmen beneath it in a mass of bricks, mortar, soot and ashes. An alarm was at once given, and the men at the mill set at work with a will Ito remove the victims. In less than an hour eight bodies were token from the ruins. ' Several hundred people were at the scene. ■ Sons, daughters, arfd wives wept frantically 1 as the bodies were removed. People gath- ' ered in knots in the village of Geddes or. hurried to the scene of the casualty. Business was almost entirely suspended in the village, and the place looked as if stricken by a panic. It was fully five minutes after the collapse before the dust cleared* away sufficiently so that the debris could be viewed. The weight of the falling bricks was so great that they were forced out of the openings in the furnace and crowded several feet into the space around it. The gang of eight men were lining the inside of the furnace, which is sixteen feet in diameter and sixty feet high. A small scaffold was across the furnace at hight of eight feet from the ground. It was said by Mr. Gere, manager of the compaily, that it was known that the lining of tne upper part was in a dangerous condition, and that he warned the men before they went in The 1 fellow-workmen of the dead men said that i it was not known that the lining was in a j dangerous state. Without warning the linI ing of the upper part gave way, and sixty tons of brick fell upon the men The sound ; of the falling mass was muffled by the iron walls and there was no crash. A great cloud of dust blew out from the doors of the furnace, tilling the factory. Men knew their fellows were inside that iron tomb, but their eyes were blinded by the clouds of dust, and it was several minutes before they could grope their way inside the furnace. With hoes and shovels they began work, and after digging near half an hour and throwing out a mass of bricks about four feet deep, they found the bodies They we e crushed and broken Their faces were covered with dust, which had settled into the cuts and wounds made by the falling bricks, and their hair and beards were filled with the yellow powder. While the men Were busy throwing < ut the debris they were frequently importuned by their friends to leave the p ace at once, as they were working in imminent danger every minute. They paid no heed, but worked on with a will More bricks were liable to fall at any moment The fall of one brick from such a height would kill a man outright The news of the tragedy spread from the blast furnace to the homes of the men-who were killed. Women and children wailing and crying hastened to .the furnace. The limp, shattered bodies were carried out by men whose faces were stern and set and laid on the bare ground. Sobs filled the air as, litre so many sacks, the bodies were lifted into wagons and driven through the village. At the little cottages women stood with aprons to their eves, and even the little children stopped playing. The excitement) among the employes and many outside laboring men was intense. The loudest' and most open threats were heard to shoot both: Manager Gere and the general foreman, who were both present. The impression pre-, vailed among these excited men that they were criminally negligent in allowing the men to go into the furnace to work in the condition in which it was. The police were called in to quell any disturbance.