The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-02
Two Men Killed Outright
FOUR OTHERS INJURED
ONE HAS SINCE DIED.
A Prize Fight the Cause.

Will TuluOE thaI thc o'iuS@ e'Sio9S
Wheeling Greek, at the foot Of Sixth
street, had fallen, and that four or five
men had been killed.
On reaching the scene OF the acct
dent we learned that the bridge had
fallen, and that Joseph Cline and
Thomas Colaghan had been killed;
that Charles Coyle had his skull broken
his arm bone fractured, and two fingers
broken. He has since died. Joseph
Haage, leg broken in two places; Al.
bert Elliott, ankle broken, cuts in his
head, and wrists injured; and George
Akers, seriously injured internally.
The facts OF the accident, as near as
we can get at them, are as follows:
About noon, yesterday,two men called
Martin Burke and Thomas Costello, as
the names were reported to us, went up
on the cut road on Chapline hill, just
above the Crescent mill, to fight out
some grievance. They fought with
their fists for about an hour without
cessation. They then drew knives and
continued the fight, cutting aid hacking
each other like couple Of butchers.
The fight was plainly visible from Sixth
street, and great number of persons
told us that they could see the knives
cleaning in the sunshine. After watch
ing the progress Of the fight from
distance, about a dozen young men
started to go across the bridge ard up
the hill to see it and stopit.
They started down Sixth street on a
pretty fast walk, checking their gait on
the bridge, knowing its insecure con-
dition. Two of the party, John Newlin
and Edward Dick, passed over in safety.
They had hardly got off of the sus'
pended portion Of the bridge until one
of those following, to brighten the
others, commenced to shake the bridge
by movement of his feet The wires
sprang up and down two or three times,
when the cable on the west side of the
bridge parted with loud crack, letting
the men fall down about forty feet on to
the rocky bed of the creek, now almost
entirely dry. A cry OF despair went up
from the doomed men and started all
the people in the neighborhood, who at
once devined what had happened.
Cline, Colaghan, and Charles Coyle
struck upon their heads. The two
first had their necks broken, anil were
killed outright.
Charles Coyle lived in an unconscious
state until o'clock last evening when
he died from the effects of his injuries
An ante-mortem examination showed
that he wa. injured on the left side of
the head. The fracture embraced the
frontal bone as far as the super
cilary ridge. The greater portion
of the temporal bone was driven into
the substance OF the brain, producing
great oppression there. Many Of the
broken bones were removed by DR..
Baguley, assisted by DR.. Weisel, and
those that were depressed and not
broken off were elevated. His left
forearm was broken at the wrist joint.
The others, with the exception OF
George Akers, were as comfortable as
could be expected last night. Akers
complains about his breast, and it is
feared that his internal injuries are bad.
A young man named Yahrling, who
was on the bridge, grasped the cable on
the east side, and was thus enabled to
swing himself safely to the bank.
A man who started to run down to
the bridge with the Others was stopped
by his wife, who asked him where he
was going. On being Informed, she
begged him not to go, saying that she
had dreamed on Saturday night that
the bridge had fallen, and she was
afraid he would be killed. While he
was laughing at her Tears the fatal acct
dent happened.
In a few moments hundreds of people
were gathered at the scene Of the acct
dent, and the unfortunate men we're
conveyed to their homes.
The bridge has been unsafe for six
months or more. The cablethat broke
had only FIVE unbroken strands of wire
in it and they were so nearly rusted
through that they were liable to part
at any time. DR.. Baird reported the
condition of the bridge to the City Coun-
Gil and managed to have it closed up by
the order of that body, though bis fears
were ridiculed and his proposition to
close the bridge was holly contested by
John Clator, who said that for $3.50 he
could make it az safe as Market street
bridge. Fortunately DR.. Bairds mo-
ton prevailed and it was boarded up,
although the boards were torn off in
half an hour afterwards. This action
on the part of the city will relieve her
from liability for damages and respon-
sibility for the accident
The bridge was built many years ago
by the then owners OF the Crescent Iron
w o~f,s tla u =