3 Workmen Entombed When Trestle Gives Way on Barge Canal at Lyons

(Special to the Democrat and Chronicle)

Lyons, Aug. 29. - One man is dead and two are seriously injured as the result of a trestle giving way in this village tonight, shortly after 7 o'clock, precipitating a donkey engine and four dirt cars down a 15-foot embankment. The name of the injured man is Peter Zoster. The names of the other two could not be learned.

The accident occurred at the Geneva street crossing, on the Barge Canal construction work. The contract at this point is held by the Great Lakes Construction Company. Dirt and rock were loaded as the cars from the excavation for a lock and drawn to the trestle, where they were dumped over the embankment.

The train was standing on the trestle and the men were shoveling the dirt off the cars. Two cars had been emptied and the workers had started on the third when suddenly the trestle, which was constructed of wood, gave way with a crash and precipitated the train down the embankment. The men went down with the train and were buried from sight by tons of earth and rock.

A gang of men was hurried to the spot as soon as possible as soon as possible and worked frantically to rescue the entombed men. Zoster was the first one reached. He was immediately taken to the Lyons Hospital, where the physicians worked over him for some time to bring him to consciousness. Ht was finally announced he would probably recover, although his recovery would be slow. His injuries for the most part were confined to the head and shoulders.

In the meantime another workman had been unearthed after a considerable amount of earth had been removed and a car which pinned him down had been hauled off him. He was taken to the office of Dr. E.W. Carr, where it was found that his head and shoulders were also painfully bruised. His number is 676.

The third man was buried so deep that it was some time before the rescuers came to his body. Dr. C.A. Killip worked hard to bring him to, but his efforts were fruitless. The body was taken to Bayheim's undertaking rooms.

No one could be located who knew the dead man's name as he had just come to this village recently. The Coroner has been notified and an investigation will take place.