1916 East River tunnel blowout

On February 19, 1916 three sandhogs working on the New York Subway – Marshall Mabey, Michael McCarthy, and Frank Driver – were shot through 12 feet (3.7 m) of riverbed and up to 40 feet (12 m) into the air when a hole appeared in a compressed air tunnel they were working on under the East River.

Background

Thirty workers had been working on the construction of the New York Subway in a compressed air tunnel (24 pounds per square inch (170 kPa))[1] under the East River, likely Montague Street.[2] Four workers – Marshall Mabey, Michael McCarthy, Frank Driver, and a man only known as Rottman – were working together removing shoring when they saw earth begin to fall from a hole above them.[1] Driver attempted to plug the hole with a bag of sand, when he, Mabey, and McCarthy were sucked up through the hole, while Rottman managed to escape.[1]

The three men were shot up through the 18 inches (46 cm) hole in the tunnel, and up through the East River.[3] They shot through 12 feet (3.7 m) of riverbed and then into the air atop a geyser "four storeys high".[4] Some witnesses claim they went as high as 40 feet (12 m).[5] Mabey became unconscious during the event, saying "The last thing I remember seeing was the Brooklyn Bridge above me while I was whirling about in the air."[6]

Workers

McCarthy's body was recovered the next day by harbor police, 200 yards (180 m) from the scene. His body was taken to Brooklyn Morgue.[3] He was believed to have hit his head and drowned.[7] Driver, an African-American man who was a "miner's helper" hit his head of the bottom of a barge[7] and died from his injuries soon after.[3] He was given artificial respiration at Long Island College Hospital, but was unable to be resuscitated.[1]

Rottman, who managed to avoid be shot through the riverbed, was bruised and suffering from shock.[1]

Mabey was picked up by a boat,[5] and then taken to Brooklyn City Hospital with a suspected broken leg and internal injuries,[1] and stayed in hospital for three days.[8] He returned to work within a few days.[9] He continued working as a sandhog for another 25 years.[10] At the time of the incident, Mabey was 28 years old with a wife and four children.[11] By 1940, two of his children were also sandhogs.[7]

Tunnel damage

Significant damage was done to the tunnel, and work on it was halted for a few days.[2] The break in the tunnel was located by air bubbled appearing in the river above it.[2] The tunnel was fixed by dumping large amounts of clay on top of the area the bubbles were coming out of.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "SHOT BY GEYSER FROM RIVER BED; Three Workers Spouted by Compressed Air Through 40 Feet of Sand and Water. JUGGLED IN HUGE FOUNTAIN Throngs on Brooklyn Bridge and Shore Fronts See 'Sandhogs' Catapulted Into Air. ONE VICTIM IS MISSING Another Swam to Safety with a Broken Leg, and a Third Dies of Exhaustion. SHOT BY GEYSER FROM RIVER BED". New York Times. 1916-02-20. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  2. ^ a b c d e Frishberg, Hannah (2016-05-11). "Brooklyn Heights Subway Tunnel Cracks, Two Sandhogs Killed". Brown Stoner. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  3. ^ a b c "TELLS HOW IT FEELS TO GO UP IN A GEYSER; Man Shot Through River Bed from Tunnel Was Never Squeezed So Tightly Before. KEPT HIS MOUTH TIGHT SHUT Body of Third Victim Found -- Damage to New Subway More Serious Than Was Thought. (Published 1916)". New York Times. 1916-02-21. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  4. ^ Grann, David (2003-08-18). "City of Water". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  5. ^ a b Walker, James Blaine (1970). Fifty years of rapid transit. Arno Press. ISBN 978-5-87094-231-5.
  6. ^ Reis, Ronald A. (2009). The New York City Subway System. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60413-046-1.
  7. ^ a b c "SANDHOGS: Daredevils by Profession; DAREDEVIL SANDHOGS". New York Times. 1940-10-06. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  8. ^ Brooklyn Historical Society (2019-06-14). "Chapter 3: Marshall Mabey, the Sandhog Who Survived". The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Book (PDF).
  9. ^ a b Barter, Pavel (2015-08-28). "The unknown story of the Irish who risked their lives to build the New York underground". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  10. ^ Fifield, Adam (2003-01-12). "The Underground Men". New York Times. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  11. ^ Griswold, John (2023-05-17). "Bridging the Gap". Common Reader. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  12. ^ "Family Performance: Marshall Mabey, Digging Under A River". New York Transit Museum. 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  13. ^ "Ripley's Believe it or not script" (PDF). Old Time Radio Researchers.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.