Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-11-07
THE aAIrnoAn CALAMITY.


The following extract from the st. Louis
Republican expresses the surprise generally
felt that ! greater number Of lives was not
sacrificed, and also AYERS that the bridge was
apparently sound and secure. When the
frst news Of the disaster came, il was. sup
posed BY m,ny that the bridge across the
Gasconade river was temporary structure.
This superstition was incorrect -
aIf any one before the Disaster had visited
the bridge al Gasconsde, and after due OBJ.
servation ofthe locality, made an estimate
OF the probable loss oflife attendant on the
demolition Ut ten cars densely filled with
passengers, in the manner the catastrophe
occurfed, we venture 10 assert that one hun
dred would have been the lowest number
6xed upon.
The wonder is expressed on very hand
that the loss Of life and personal injury was
not greater than il hns turned out TO be. 1t
was \ fearful scene. Car after car follow
lng each other in lightning like succession,
L seems miraculous that SO many escaped
without the loss Of life, although badly
B u sed or seriously Injured. Great as has
been the calamity to the city and to families.
We ought to fell thankful that, out OF I've
thousand pssse, E re. 80 many should have
failed to receive lasting injury.
When we take into confederation the fall
of thirty feet in front to the bed Of the riv.
er. and the high embankment on either
side Of the track. covered with stone-the
pondcrous cars themselves capable ofgrind.
ing each other into fragments-the wonder
10 increased that 80 few were killed outright
or fatally wounded. There is hardly po-
si,ion in which car could be preciptated
from the track at the point named, that
gives reasonable hope Of escape; and yet
with seven out Of the ten, Of which the train
was composed, plunged headlong down the
abutment, and then others rolled over the
grade, containing five to six hundred pas
sengers, we have only the report Of about
80 killed and so badly injured.
THE BRIDGE.
No examination has yet been made, and
it is ye: too soon to recur to the cause Of
thi. disaster, but we feel we'll assured that
it is one Of those inexplicable cases which
may well defy human scrutiny. II has been
suggested, that the devilish malice Of some
evil disposed persons may have been at
work TO weaken the superstructure and
thus to expose to the hazard Of death the
hundreds Of valuable lives in the cars OH
that day. This much is certain, that Mr..
O'Sullivan himself believed that the bridge
was perfectly secure, or he never would
have ventured that rich freight of life upon
it. He had good reason to believe 50, for
on the night previous, as we had it from his
own lips, he had passed over the road from
the Usage river to st. Louis, with the To-
connective, and he exultingiy said, all was
right. Mr.. O'Su!livan had difficulties to
encounter, in the completion Of this work,
Of which no man not initiated has any con-
ception, and it seemed to be source of
great qualification TO him that he had over
come them all, and that his triumph was ut
hand That he had no fears OF the capacity |
of the bridge to sustain the pressure upon
it, is shown by the confidence with which
he put himselfin the post of danger, on the
LOGON olive itself, a position in which he
was willing to risk his own life, but for the
wealth ofworlds he could not have been in
duced TO endanger the lives of those CON-
mitted to his charge.
The masonry OF this bridge was the work
of Saler, Schulenburg e. Co, and is Of the
most substantial kind. 1t has stood every
test yet applied to it. without damage in
any shape whatever. The wooden super
work-was put up BY
Stone, Boomer 4 Co.. men OF great expert
ence in bridge building in the West, and
whose reputation ough, to protect them
from any imputation Of design 10 turn over
to the Company an imperfect or uni nished
piece Of work. We shall be slow to believe
that they have done so, except upon the
plsinest testimony"