IN A SYPHON

Hokitika Guardian, 16 November 1932, Page 7

IN A SYPHON

SLIDE INSIDE PIPE

A TERRIFYING FALL

SAN FRANCISCO, October 20,

Dashed hundreds of feet down a mountainside, through the inky blackness of the interior of the huge Grapevine syphon of the 1.0. s aqueduct, J. 50 miles north of Lo. Angeles, sixteen workmen engaged in cleaning and painting the- interior of the syphon were injured, -several • seriously, in .one of the strangest accident? on -record - in the world.

The victims of the occurrence were rushed to Lois An gel eg in ambulances, after a wild ride through 1 the .mountains of Southern California, and it ibelieved all will recover.

A sensation, of terror, made more horrible by the fact that the- electric lights wer© out a moment after the terrific slide started, was described by the victims., ‘One man, just starting t D work at a point more than 800 fe-et from the bottom of th© giant pythonlike syphon, and higher than hig fel-low-workers, lost his footing, «lid against this comrades farther down the mountainside and started a wGthihg twisting avalanche of -shouting and screaming men. When the bodies of the first victims came to -a stop, the other men came thudding and piling against and oil top of them. “It was terrible-—we thought we were going to -be killed, all of us J One man thought ho was dead when we hit the bottom 1" Although etill shaken by the experience-, Le© Wise, .45, a painter, gave a graphic description of the -stirring happening. “We had entered the syphon and were -starting work when someone at the top slipped,” he said. “He bit a man working below him, and the two came Mi ting down on th e rest, knocking us about like a bunch of ninepins. W-e started ■sliding, too. We tried to stop ourselves by catching at. rivets and hanging on to each otlh-er. It was still slippery and wet from the mos s and the water that had been drained off, and we went fast. Some of the men were hollering, som© wore cursing, some were -screaming.

“We realised it' was a 'long way to the bottom, and that we all would b' badly hurt, if some of us or all of Wt were not killed. We would hit those big rivets that would catch and tear our clothing and skin, and bounce off them and keep on going down. We gained speed ' every moment. 'lt was awful—a'long time, it seemed, waiting for the bottom and not knowing what might happen there. W© must have been ‘going forty miles an hour when we hit the bottom. It was a terrible scramble then, everybody moaning and yelling. Rome of us were trying to help the others. Several were unconscious. One man yelled out and thought, h©' wa© dead. 'My God—l’m killed,' he yelled. Even in all that trouble it seemed a little funny. It took us about ten Or fifteen minutes to get together, and it seemed two or three hours before we all g°t out, Some of the fellows on the top heard the noise and got help to us,"