Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-05-15
CALAMITY.

seem TO nave reached CQ6lI "ObL dtIOClOub
climax in the frightful accident at Dixon, Ill,
on Sunday, the 4th inst. The patent iron
bridge which spans the Rock river at that
point was crowded, shortly after the MONDAY
hour, with between three and four hundred
people to witness the solemn rite Of baptism
by immersion. The unsubstantial structure,
too feeble to bear this weight, suddenly gave
way, and the wretched ~assemblage was pre-
cipitated into the deep stream. Once in the
swift current there was but little hope for
those who were unable to swim, and deaths
appetite was glutted with an unknown number
of men, women and children. A dispatch to
the Chicago Times gives the following particu-
lars of the horrible affair :@ $50
3 AT 1:30 p. M, to-day CMay A, between three
and four hundred people were gathered upon
the city bridge over the Rock river, to witness
the baptismal ceremonies in progress, in the
river, when there was a sudden crash, and, in
an instant, the bridge gave way, carrying into
the river its precious freight of human lives.
The current at the bridge is deep and strong,
and swollen by the recent rains to Hood
height, in which the throng, that but an in
slant before was full of life and happiness,
thrown pell-mell with carriages and teams in
their midst, were literally swallowed up. Some
of those near the abutment had the presence
of mind to leap from the falling bridge at the
first warming of danger, and, lightin IN the
few near the shore were saved the rest were
carried under by the wreck of the bridge and
swept away by the swift current. The ap-
palling spectacle for a moment paralyzed the
spectators, who in a great measure, owing to
the lack of boats, ETC., were compelled to be
helpless witnesses of the death of their wives,
children, and friends. The horrors OF the
among the drowning human beings of the
horses attached to two buggies and a wagon
upon the bridge when it fell. The affrighted
unfortunates under water aud literally swim
ming over others. The horses all reached
shore. -
Up to Monday morning forty bodies had
been recovered In, the prevailing excitement
there is no means of ascertaining with any
thing like accuracy the number rowne
Even the number of residents OF this town
who are lost or missing cannot as yet be ascer-
tanned, and numbers were in attendance from
n~eighboring towns, and several it is reported
from Chicago. The losses of life ID variously
estimated at from rs to $50, and the proba-
bilities are that the latter figures are nearer
the fact. e.--
The north span of the bridge gave way first,
pulling all the others with it SO quickly that no
chance of escape WAS offered except to a lew
whom was Edward Patrick, of this city, who
saved himself by jumping from the bridge.
The bridge was. an iron structure of the Irues-
dale patent, and of the same style as that
which broke down at Elgin ON a 4th of July a
few years since, and was altogether too light
in construction to be safe even with less weight
upon it than at the time of the disaster Its
NSAy hRPSoAAhSo "oo d. -~
of its fragile character and an awful respon-
sibility must rest upon those who built such a
terrible trap and upon the authorities who per-
mitted its use.
The escape of q little child of John Wads-
worth, of this place, was almost miraculous.
The little one ffoated down the stream almost
to the railroad bridge before 1t was rescued.
The child will, it is believed, recover.
Mr.. James L. Camp, and Mr.. Fowler
and his wife, by tremendous exertlons, escaped
from the falling bridge. These were near the
south end, and a young girl, daughter of L.
n. Hasedepting, who was standing near them,
and was carried down by the fall, dragged her
self up out of the wreck to the shore end,
clinging all the while to the hand-rail.
john Eustace, who was ON the bridge in his
buggy, was saved by the horse, which swan to
the shore, after which Mr.. Eustace did some
good service in aiding others to escape, from a
watery grave. :
four persons, two, of them ladies.
DIR. c. J. Reynolds, who happened to be on
the bridge at the time and made a narrow es-
cape himself, saved at least two human beings
from drowning
William Shilcock. brought to the shore five
people, all of whom, but for his courageous
efforts, must have been lost.
Henry 7. Noble, whose wife sunk before he
could reach her and was lost, saved the life of
another lady, a Miss Smith.
In addition to those recovered, five corpses
were seen to float down the stream, q number
must have been caught by the under current,
and still more must be fast in the wreck of the
bridge, which carried them to the bottom of
the river. A number owe their escape to the
fact that, owing to the crowding on the bridge
Just before it fell, they we're unable to obtain
q view of the baptismal ceremonies from that
point, left the bridge for the river bank. Hor-
ror-stricken crowds throng the scene of the
disaster and watch the river below the bridge,
while hundreds. as though laboring under a
horrible fascination, gaze vaeantly at the dis
terted corpses thus far brought ashore. Hun
dreds, too, are searching for wives, sisters,
children. or friends, and the frenzied anxiety
of parents, husbands and relatives of the
missing is terrible to behold. Yet the awful
work of fishing up the corpses, and of hunt
ing among the driftwood in the eddies for the
upturned faces of dead men and women, con-
tinues. .--
There were a number of remarkable escapes
of children, of whom there were not less than
so on the bridge when it went down. One
little fellow, about 10 years old, was caught
by both feet in the rigging of one of the spans,
and had one of his legs broken. He managed
by sheer strength to pull one of his boots off,
tearing the sole off in the process, and then
coolly taking out his knife, ripped the other
boot from the foot of the wounded leg, and
| then, crippled as he was, swan ashore.
Two little girls, sisters, were standing side
by side, and went down together. AS they
reached the water the eldest caught the other
by her dress with one hand, with the other
chung to a portion of the iron work, and chung
fast to it, up to her neck IN the icy water, until
they were both taken off by a boat.