The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-05-16

little fellow, about IS years old. WAS cau,h,
by both feet In the iron rigging Of one OF the
spans and had one Of his legs broken. lie
managed by sheer strength to pull one of his
boots of, tearing the sole of in the process.
and then coolly taking ont his knife, ripped
the other boot from the foot OF the wounded
leg, and ,hen, crippled rs he was, swan ashore.
" little girls. sisters, were standing side
by side. and went down together. Az 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 on by a boat.
STATEMENT OF AN EyE-wIrNEss-TuE SCENE
UNDER THE WATERS.
Jacob Armstrong, Il young man who went
down with the bridge. but escaped by being
penned between the falling lattice rods sepa-
rating the roadway from the sidewalk. thus
relates his experience: II was on the center
OF the span between the abutment and the
shore when the bridge went down. As the
whole thing went under water a woman fell on
me, and some one caught hold of me. Just |
then the sidewalk gave way and | slipped
through. The iron railing had gone lower
down than the wooden sidewalk. and AZ I
fell through Ii sidewalk I struck the rail-
ing. There was a little space of three feet in
size, through which l managed to crawl. and
thus got beyond the homework. This is what
saved my life, for the trellis-work OF iron rods
fell over and crushed many of the people. 80
mar they could not get free. l had kept nv
breath as l fell, and also | had nv ewes open
II the time. ! saw Il fearful sight As / WAS
struggling. Under water there were women
ma Children and some men, all striving 10
'lutch hold OF something to rave themselves.
some were held tight between the fallen iron.
md could not FREQ themselves Others had ;
'ot clear and were frantically wrestling with /,
lea'h' Iheylooked like dark objects wrestling ,
pout. Some poor fellow caught hold OF me. A.,
would have dragged me down. only q
managed to set free and began striking ont =
ith my right hand. For some time | could !.
iaAe no progress. l swan a little way and !,
led to touch bottom, but could not. / got :.
ito q big hole that is just there. and sank. :
! rising again l saw a woman drowning. an :,
ifehtly going down for the last time. Swan
her and pulled her out. A man in a boat
ok her. l do not know who she was. There
AS a man named Kendville who had lost his
nc, and was swimming around. He tried 70 .
uch bottom, but was scared. / called tohim !"
"a helped pull him ashore. / was in water 81
ute a while, and did all / could. Another
IN named Frank, from Dixon. went through to
I'll me, and also helped to save some other ",
=,
The scene under the water was described as us
ribie, the whole mass Of $50 o. 200 persons III
ing engaged in IL grand. awful struggle tn
lie. 1t passes imagination to pic. ure the hi
frors OF that %subaqueous fight. the grimness il
which was not lessened by The frantic str,r- !.
s OF the homes attached to buggies which o
re thrown of the bridge to make Their way "
shore. Young Armstrong, ra'sed on St. 10 tee
Dr. and at home IN the wster, shuddered AZ mi
spoke OF its CHA .ly horrors. Mcv I Wi
or see such a sight again good God :" alb
his closing rema, l.. ~,