Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-05-14
The Dixon Disaster.

For days after the late fearful bFiig'
disaster e Dixon n, the town wore
sad and fuseral aspect; abe iolhag oI
bells. the constant passing Of professions
Grape on many doors, and the almost tOia
suspension Of business proclaimed the ter
rible affection that had como upOniis peo
pie. Almost every fauily in the villag'
/ is ir mourning; for where The family cir
Gle is yet uubroken, there are dearfIiendi
TO grieve Tor. Thoss lost we're mostly
romen-uives, mothers, young WomeI
and bright young girls-WhCm al the val
Ia qers knew aud loved. IL is a genera
grief. SDd one that will not be 50 quickly
or easily !argOIten.
According to the most reliable data
thus far obtained. tL'rc were probably nc
more than $50 rcrsocs ton the bridge
and OF these large proportion were won
en- aud children. or tins nuh.ber moro
than one-half were rescued, and tn -
capcs in some instances werS simply mn
acuious. The river was quite high, even
for this season Of the year, aud its deep
est aud most dangerous place, ranging
from II to 80 feet in depth, is under the
span that precipitated the people into the
water. The iron.work Immediately fell
upon the struggling mass below, crushing
aud mangling those who we're not thrown
beyond lis reach. Some bodies fOated
down stream, and were picked up along
the shore. Many were taken cut dying
or dead, or we're cxtriea,cd frcm the
wreck, and others are still held down up
on the rivcr-bcd by the tangled mass Of
debris. The work Of recovering missing
bodies was proceeded with as fast as pos
nble, but the character Of the bridges
rendered it very difficult to
pull it apart, so as to release the corpses
which could BE- felt beneath,
The bridge was commonly regarded as
a weak one, and the possibility Of an ac-
cident occurred to many. The old bridge.
tender warned the people that they were
ovnr-crowding the structure, and several
of the more prudent left it for terra frma
only few minutes before The crash.
The bridge was of the Truesdoll patent,
the inventor being Mr.. l., Il. Truesdcll,
formerly of Springfield, Mass. II was a
double truss, GEO feet long, so feet from
the water. aud consisted Of five spans
about 1872 feet long, and 80 feet in width
at the centre. The abutmcnts we're sub.
stantial but the iron work always seemed
frail. The superstruciuro had always
been suspected Of being unsafe, and COM
mittces from the City Council, and cx-
perts, had several times examined it ard
pronounced it unstable. A bridge of the
same patent was erected at Elgin, H.,
and fell in 1868, Mr.. Truesdel rebuilt
1t, and on the 9th of July, 1869 while it
was crowded with spectators witnessing
race In the river, it gave way, and 100
persons were thrown into the river. Sew
eral of these died from the injuries re-
ceived. There are a number of bridges
of the Trcusdoll patent in the Eastern
States.
The town has only 5000 inhabitants 4,
and the affection has fallen very heavily
upon it. Rev. Mr. Pratt. the baptist
clergyman who was officiating at the hap
tism on Il a. day, is descril ell as COM
pletely broken down by his weight of sor-
row. He manifested great courage at the
time and succeeded in saving six lives:
Hc has some injuries, and suffered much
from exposure.