Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-07


Them.
In order to ascertain with certainty the
| truth of the many rumors that are afoat,
l in reference to the condition Of the bridge
| at the wreck on the Nashville and North
| western Railroad, We got on train yes
terday morning and went to the scene Of
1 the disaster. We went without prejudice
| and shall state honestly the results of our
| observation;
We found about one hundred workmen
engaged in clearing away the debris, and
| putting up a new structure, which will be
| ready this morning for the passage Of
| trains.
The bridge Is known as the Howe
| Truss" of two SCANS, ninety-six feet each.
| The center pillar and the end abutments
are solid ASHER masonry, to ali appearance
| perfect and in good condition. There is
no visible defect The wooden superstrue
ture was built by the United States military
authorities in the summer of 1864, and Is
conse 1ently about seven years old. The
timbels used, except the cross-ties on the
track, was white pine, brought from Oleve-
land or Chicago. The eastern span WIS
entirely destroyed by the recent accident
at the place, while the western sran still
remains, and is in proper line, with the
Gambler or arch perfect. In the ordinary
wear of such bridge, the invarible indi-
cation of giving way or decay is manifested
in the sinking of the Gambler or arch, re-
sulting from the weakness or
decay of the chords which
are the strongest timbers, and sup
port the rest Of the superstructure. The
timbers of this standing span showed no
outward signs CT decay, except in enc
brace and lennon, which were unimport-
ant. We examined it critically, cutting
and probing. which disclosed q perfectly
sound exterior.
On reaching the point where the eastern
span broke from the western, we found
the timber5 thus broken, though exter-
nslly sound were in some cases filled
with a rotten core. This observation sp-
plies also to all the large timbers Of the
broken span which we saw and examined.
Not one of them but was rotten In the IN
terror, vet they have sound shell OF from
| one 10 two inches thickness on the outside.
We account for this singular phenomenon
upon the suppo,ition that the timber was
| cut in the spring when the sap was up,
and while the outside dried and seasoned,
| the inner sap soured and caused the rapid
| and premature rotting within. This Is
sustained by the fact that all the small
| timbers used for bracing, with the excep-
| tons mentioned above, were sound That
| the decay was premature and rapid in this
case, we have the fact that the ordinary
life or time upon which timber is free from
dangerous rot, is-in white pine 10 years;
| yellow pins, IL years, and oak years.
This bridge, therefore, being but Z years
| old, had, in the ordinary course Of things,
three years Of reliable service.
But this was not really the case. The
bridge timbers proved to be rotten as we
have described, and did actually break and
precipitate a precious cargo Of life to des-
| truction. 1t turned out to be as the Coro-
| ner's Jury stated-'that the timbers COM
posing said bridge we're so rotten, as to be
unfit for the passage Of an ordinary psssen-
| ger train"
Yet, while this is undoubtedly the fact,
We unhesitstingly-aftera careful and pa
tent examination, having bored with an
| auger into timbers appearing sound or the
outside and proving rotten within-and
| which gave no indication of unsoundness
by percussion-acquit the officers of the
4 road of all blame. They discharged, in
our opinion, thei- whole duty, ard used
every dill gence and precsution required,
by ordinary care and prudence to preserve
| the read against this calamitous accident.
| Less than three weeks ago Maj. Lands,
| General Agent; Mr.. Smith, Superintendent
| of Bridges, an expert who has spent his
| life in the bridge business, and 10. P.
| Kelly, Supervisor of the road, went over and
inspected carefully every bridge and tres
tie from Chattanooga to Hickman. L.
| @. Morris, Resident Engineer, q gentle
man of large experience and high character
| in his profession, having been In charge Of
| railroads for more than twenty years,
passed over the road about one month
since, and says he examined carefully all
the bridges constructed of white pine and
found them in coed shape. Su,
peradded to this, Supervisor Kelly travels
over his division of the road, from Nash.
vile to Jacksonville, twice each week, anG
who has spent twenty years in the bust
ness. carefully examined this bridge or
Saturday evening last, and found no stretch
| of chords, and the Gambler or arch perfect
Tha defect was a hidden one and not sus
pected. The bridge had sustained every
strain that had been put upon it up to the
fatal moment of the catastrophe which ha'
brought mourning and sadness to 80 many
hearts. Only a few hours previously Il
had safely passed loaded freight traiE
with q 80 ton locomotive, and was to the
officers of the road, who look after suct
thinga, above suspicion.
The accident is one which has cast {
deep gloom over the whole State, and one
that every citizen deeply deplores. Yet II
our efforts to dissipate that gloom, injus-
tice should not be done to men who's
whole course of iife has been marked by
faithful and conscientious discharge o
every duty devolviDg upon them IN thei
se,ersl situations Sorrow for the deaC
should lead to no unjust condemnation o
the living. No reasonable precaution
| could have averted the disaster. heithe
sight nor sound gave any intimation Of tn
rottenness of the timbers, and could W
discover on the part Of the officers Of tn
| road any failure in using ordinary care an
foresight, no one would condemn then
more severely or pursue them more relent
lessly than ourselves. The tendency o
the age is to sport with human life, an
this tendency we believe to be increas
ing. Stringent laws should be ensctei
and vigorously administered until publ
carriers are made to feel their weight, an
the responsibility they are under to use Al
ordinary prudence, circumspection al
forethought in avertipg such dire catastro
| r1hea