The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 42

Jv.W 22. yewitnesses Tell Stories offoi JhieFOigin Of IT Ts How They Saw Rescues, Deaths At Cave -In Scene Here's the story of Tuesday's tragedy compiled from interviews of principals made by Akron detectives Peter Rusyn, Walter Danilov and William Sauer: 'We Yelled But Cars Just Kept Right On Going' A GRIM chain of tragedy linked the lives of several Akron-ites Tuesday afternoon on Tallmadge pkwy. Here are eyewitness accounts of that tragedy by key witnesses and participants, as told to Beacon Journal Assistant City Editor Arnold Miller. By JOHN THOMPSON 289 Edgerton ot. We hollered for help until we were blue in the face, but the other ears wouldn't stop.

If they had, maybe those people down in the hole Mrs. Velma Shidler, 47, of the pavement broke off and 605 Wyandot had picked they fell in. up her daughter, Claudia, 10, and a neighbor girl, Janet Wiebelt and fire Capt. Rob K. i I I i 1 1 ert V.

Boss of 5714 Dailey Lewis, 13, daughter of Mr. and Franklin were in jured. Mrs. Ondous Lewis, 595 Wyandot, at Firestone High School. The eirls had attended a Both got out somehow, said Wiebelt.

swimming class at Firestone's could have been saved. Wiebelt said he saw Rotruck pool. Mrs. Shidler was driving ninned near the car and un able to get out. He said a fire home in her 1962 Corvair with the girls in the back seat.

It we pulled them up on a ladder. The officer had the car door open and was trying to get the third person. By that time firemen were there. ladder was extended to a person, whose hands only were visible and this person grasp was 3:15 p. m.

ed the ladder, but couldn't hold SHE TOLD police she was onto it. driving east on the parkway. As she was eoing down the THEN IT started to cave in JOHN C. THOMPSON of hill she saw a hole in the again. 289 Edgerton ct.

said he came pavement in her lane. bv iust after Wiebelt. He said Mrs. Shidler attempted to O'Neil was lowered into the hole first, then Rotruck. We held on to the ropes and tried to pull them up.

We couldn't. We yelled for help from the other cars coming up the hill. they all made swerve around it, but the pavement gave way beneath her and the car dropped into the It started when I and my helper, Jimmy Landis, were coming up the parkway hill in our Summit Drain Service truck. We saw the car coming the other way go into the hole. A welding truck behind the car slid over into the curb.

The driver (presumably John Wiebelt who later was seriously injured) yelled to us for help. We took the ladders and rope off the welding truck. THEN AX 18 or 19-year-old boy (apparently Hugh O'Neil, who is missing) appeared. We don't know where he came from. He went down with a rope that we held.

Then the police officer (Ronald Rotruck) went down. They got a lady and a girl out of the car there was O'Neil, said Thompson, removed the rope around his opening. The car's rear window broke waist and tied the Lewis girl U-turns and went back the other way. It all could have been avoided if those people out when the car struck bot to a ladder and she was hoisted to the top. Then, the second cave-in occurred.

THOMPSON said it was hadn't done that. When we first started there was no water in the hole. Then the water seemed to come from nowhere. It filled in so fast we couldn't do anything. Those people who turned their cars around and wouldn't BOWERY ST.

BUILDING COLLAPSES AS CANAL SURGES BELOW O'Neil who grasped for the Construction Worlters Itvsaivd tom and she saw Claudia sliding out the broken window. MRS. SHIDLER tried to grab Claudia, but the girl kept sliding away. She grabbed the Lewis girl and pulled her into the front seat. Then assistance arrived (Mrs.

Shidler didn't know who it was) and helped her and the Lewis girl from the hole. John Wiebelt, 34, of 2541 Newton is believed to have been the first witness on the scene. He was driving a pick-up truck when he saw the hole I help pull them up, they weren't another girl in the car and women, they were men. It ul ItoM'iio Pair ladder. He said Rotruck was near the car, in mud and water to his waist.

Helpers on the pavement were tugging on Ro-truck's rope trying to lift him free. According to Thompson, Rotruck said: "I can't move." Then he slipped beneath the car. Charles R. Sims of Hollywood, visiting his father, II. D.

Sims of 120 Beck told the same story as Canal Flood Slices Off Building, Carries Away Cars; Bridge Closed in the street. He stopped and looked in seeing a car and its We Tried To Lift Officer, But He Saife' By JAMES LANDIS 793 Weber av. along the banks, eating away dirt and undermining supports occupants. on the bridge. In the process it washed Shri tiers Strut away three cars in a City parking lot along the canal south of Bowery.

By BRUCE McINTYRE Hundreds of downtown spectators watched in mounting suspense Tuesday as the overflowing Ohio Canal ate away at the supports of a large building along the Bowery st. bridge. The climax came at 4:25 p. m. as one side of the building collapsed with a roar, a cloud of dust and a shower lin Construction Co.

is doing for the City, preparatory to erection of the municipal parking garage on the old Quaker Oats property. The box-like chamber designed to carry the water was partially blocked and couldn't hold the flash flood even with the help of two by pass pipes. As a result, the water raced of sparks from broken electrical wires into the raging canal. About two hours before, a mammoth cloudburst had-sent tons of water crashing down the canal bed, just half block west of Main st. AT THE Bowery st.

bridge, it hit the start of the canal enclosure project which Ruh- NEW YORK UP) About could hear the people scream Mr. Thompson and myself SEVERAL RLHLIN work 22.000 Shriners paraded for seven hours on Fifth av. Tuesday with fezzes, bands, camels, trick vehicles and noise to the girl and we pulled her ers were stranded on an "is up. We started to pull the lady WIEBELT took two lengths of rope from his truck and a 40-foot ladder. Some passers-by stopped to help him.

He lowered the ladder into the hole, but it did not reach the bottom. He then tied a rope to the ladder and let it down. A man stepped forward, said Wiebelt, and offered to go down in the hole. The volunteer was Hugh Michael O'Neil, 19, of 376 S. Rose according to identification left out when the wall started giv ing in.

We got her up. lng down in the hole. I was getting ready to go down there when this kid (presumably O'Neil) ran up and said "I'm going down there." We tied the rope on him and he went down. Then the policeman went down. THEY GOT the woman and We got the officer to tie the rope around himself.

We tried Musi Like Quicksand' land" near one of the bridge piers and had to be hauled onto the bridge with ropes. Four feet of water filled the adjacent basement of the Akron Savings Loan Bldg. The bridge was, closed to traffic. Meantime police and firemen evacuated everyone in to pull him up but we couldn't. He was up to his waist in water and sand and he was sinking.

the girl out. They tied a rope TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY JULY I -26 behind. the building along the bridge 2a a one-story structure built O'NEIL WAS lowered to the HENRY on "stilts" over the canal. 'Dirt Kept Covering Screaming People' By POLICE SGT. VINCENT BLANCO 1577 Artman av.

The call was about 3:25 p. m. I was there first, just a V--, car. Patrolman Ronald D. 5 The building is occupied by MORGAN a bar, an optician, a hearing 1 Rotruck, 28, of 525 Pauline then arrived on the scene.

Wiebelt said Rotruck took off his shirt, gun belt and cap and also was lowered into the hole. 'Then Wilier fame" 'Someone's Still hi Car On Bottom' By CHARLES MARSH City Sewer Dept. Employe The car was upside down on the bottom of the hole. The young fellow (O'Neil) got the woman and the girl out and Both O'Neil and Rotruck had ropes tied around their waists. WIEBELT was not clear on whether O'Neil or Rotruck little before Rotruck.

I r'i to the hole to see what we had. I saw Rotruck at the edge VINCENT BLANCO aid service and the office of optometrists T. N. Adams and K. E.

Leonard, which is on the canal side and bore the brunt of the damage. AS AWESTRUCK spectators watched, the "stilts" began crumbling. Pieces of cement began falling into the water. The floors sank. Loud cracking noises sounded from the building as beams broke.

It was evident the building had only minutes left, "IS I vi- rescued Mrs. Shidler and Janet Lewis. of the hole and I ran back to my car to radio for help. At this point only one lane of the street had caved in. When I got back Rotruck had a rope around him and was in the hole.

Another fellow was with him I don't know who. THE FIRE DEPT. came and He merely said the woman and girl were brought up from down. The water was over the the hole by ropes. car and the policeman's head Wiebelt did say Rotruck re na ra V- Sgt.

(Vincent) Blanco was turned to the car and propped but no one knew what would a door open, apparently try 'Policeman Was One Of Bravest' By FIRE CAPT. ROBERT BOSS 5741 Dailey Franklin Twp. Patrolman Rotruck was one of the bravest men I ever saw. His actions were above and beyond anything I've ever seen. i lowered a ladder into the hole.

they were hurt real bad. The woman told us there was someone still in the tar. The officer went down and then the bank caved In. Dirt was up to his waist. Then the water came.

He was stuck in the mud. FIREMAN (John) Fox went ing to find Claudia. go first. calling for more help. I couldn't see the young fellow at all.

Then the policeman (Rotruck) went under. $1.10 Tu" so-Evn- 3V 5 jr Sun. tvtl. 7:10 So. 1 Sun.

Mat.n 4S WAIMM, OHIO IX 4-1177 But the sides kept giving way. Just as he did, said Wie When the collaspe came, It was on the west side only. The It was covering up the people belt, another cave-in began and then water started to fill They kept screaming. The fireman was grabbing his rest remained, highly hazard ous. It was to be demolished perhaps today.

hand but the water too deep. Rotruck started going down. the hole. WIEBELT said he was TICKETS ALSO ON SALE AT Poltky't Dtpl. Store Ui your Pol-tky'i Charg Account, also at Moy-fiowir Travol Buroau ond Start.

Toll-FrM call to Warroa lox Office, Dial 253-1331. Phono and mail ordart promptly filltd. No one has since been al 'Sides Kepi Caving It started for me just as lowed on the bridge or in the A fireman had hold of his hand but couldn't save him. Someone got the mother and daughter out. standing on ths edge of the hole with some liremen when Truck Company No.

1, which building. I head, was coming back from another fire. We got the call to go to the cave in. IN FACT, the flood merely hastened a job the City would mim have to undertake soon. The damaged building was to be torn down as part of the Cas the ladder so we pulled him up.

The sides of the hole were crumbling and another man (Wiebelt) fell in but he had hold of a rope and we got him out. Then more of the road gave way and I fell into the hole, too. Luckily I was holding a rope that was attached to a truck. MY MEN started to pull me up, but the rope frayed and then broke. I started sliding cade urban renewal area.

'Firemen Pulled Me From Mud, Water' By FIREMAN C. J. "JOHN" FOX 3130 Klages Tallmadpe We threw a rope to Patrolman Rotruck and he tried to pull himself up, but he couldn't. 'e put a ladder down. We Consensus of City engineers is that the bridge is severely damaged, perhaps beyond re EXCLUSIVE DRIVE-IN SHOWING WHEN I COT to the crevice the water was eight or nine feet deep.

It was swirling and bubbling like a whirlpool. We threw down ropes and then the ladder and John Fox went down. The policeman was just barely visible. The water was surging into the hole at thousands of gallons a minute. And there was heavy sand pouring in, too.

It was a terrible mess. I took off my gun and was going to go into the hole but the firemen and Wiebelt (the welding truck operator) went in. I RAN BACK to call for an ambulance. When I was coming back the other lane collapsed and the firemen and Wiebelt went down. The people said it was too late; that Rotruck had been sucked into the sewer.

The other men got out somehow. The water would come up and then back down in the hole. Inside it was like quicksand. It was a situation where every doggone minute meant a life. down into the whirlpool but they threw me another life it is unlikely that you will experience in a lifetime all that you will see in.Tir line.

A big knot in the rope pair. It will remain closed indefinitely. Most of the finished portion of the canal enclosure seemed undamaged, although Ruhlin lost some equipment and a number of forms which had been installed preparatory to pouring concrete. Damage to the Akron Savings building has not been assessed, although some air conditioning equipment in the basement reportedly was lost. snagged on the jagged edge of the crevice and the rope nit rnvm FOX GOT a leg lock on the wound around my neck.

They threw a ladder down ladder and grabbed Rotruck but couldn't hold him. Then Rotruck went under. CAnPETDAGGEDS and finally pulled me up on rox was completely ex- that. The edge of the road hausted. He couldn't climb smashed my foot.

A' Worst Rain Was In 43 Officially, Tuesday's violent mid-afternoon storm which hit Akron will go into official U. S. Weather Bureau records as dropping just one-tenth of an inch of rain. That's how much fell at Akron-Canton Airport where the Bureau is located. Worst concentrated rain on official records here is 4.20 inches which fell in one hour on July 7, 1943.

thought ho had it but something kept sucking him down. I went down the ladder. I grabbed his arm and the upper part of his body but I couldn't pull him up. Something had him pinned or was pulling him. I ('Ol'LI)N'T see anyone else down there.

The water kept rising and the sides kept caving in. Rotruck was limp by then unconscious. I still couldn't budge him. The water and mud went over his head. The other firemen pulled mo out.

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