The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-17
The Ashtabula Bridge.

49, i
subject of iron bridges generally, and inl
vites the most searching Inquiry into tn
character of that particular bridge ard tn
cause Of its failure.
Such a catastrophe cen but inspire disI
trust in iron bridges, and the public has
right to ask it it was unavoidablc-if it wa
due t. SOM Inherent defect common 10 all
iron bridges, or to clreie5sness or negl
l%iecncei in the construction of that particul
lar bridge.
This IS a very important question and on
that should be settled at once. II iroil
bridges cannot be made safe there should
be no more Of them built if they can
there is no excuse tor the failure Of thd
Ashtabula bridge. And az the matter noUI
stands, those who travel by railroads havd
no reasonable guaranty that q fate similaiI
to hat which befel the ,ictims at Ashtabu
la is not vait'ny for them in turn For hac
it been asked, IN the day previous to III
accident, which Of the many iron bridge
would first break dlwn, thel> il no reason
to believe that that particular one would
have been named.
And the public now asks, which will be
the rcxt?
A good deal las been said and written re.
spectIDg the Asst lbula bridge and the ter
rible sacrifice cf life which its failure coca
stoned, but SO far as we have observed, t
his been of a very vague and unsetisfa,-
tory character.
Opinions Of experts have been given ir
great abundance, but they shed little ligk
on the subject their main dii't being, AZ
psreptly, t, excuse the railroad company
by saying the, in their opinion, the bridge
was a good one, and must have yielded to
extraordinary circumstances.
I;is not particularly inspiring to our
confidence in experts or in their work to
be told, while standing among the ruins of
the Ashtabuln bridge, that they regarded it
a first class bridge, bcthin design and work
menship. To the mind OF the average in.
diyiduel, the proof 10 the other way. He
might hGye been made to believe on the
d0y before the break down, that it was q
first claos bridge. Thinking people will
say, if this was a frat Cllsl iron bridge,
there should be no more iron bridgea blilt;
aud this attempt to bolster up the charnc-
ter of the Ash'abula bridge by opoloeizing
for its failure is an outrage on the public,
and ~, ipet,ft IN CNon-npn cnnco
The testimony Of these experts is that'an
iron bridge can be built so as to be a5so-
lu,ely cafe.
Some Of them say that in case an engine
jumps the track on the bridge, It is impoo-
slble to provide against the consequences.
1t will be noticed how prominently the idea
of Jumping the track on the bridge is kept
before us. This is easily accounted FOR
when W. notice, also, tho effort that is
making to convince the public that ono of
the engines at Ashtlbula Tal Off the track
on the BRIDGE because that would seem to
account for the failure Of the bridge. We
don't propose, in this place, to discuss that
point, and only say, in passing, that we do
not think the.e is any excuse for running
off the track on a bridge.
Let US see what the probabilities are
that one Of the engines did jump the track
in the case in question. Ia order to do
this it is es.ential that we understand clear
lY the position of the train with reference
to the bridge, its length, and the length of
the bridge.
The bridge wa, 157 feet long. The train
consisted OF $50 engines and eleven cars,
making a line of about 725 feet in length.
Mcclure, who was r~uuuiag the forward
engine, tcstides that when his engine was
within two car-lengths of the western abut-
meat he heard something snap, and there
upon he applied steam and ian his engine
across to solid ground. He, also, te3tifes
that he drew the columbia Che rear en-
gine) to and against the western abutment,
when the draw-bar, which connected the
engines, broke, his engine shot ahead and
the "Columbia' went down with the
bridge. Two, csr-lengths is about 1l2
feet. Consequently McGuire's engine had
got on to the bridge about 40 feet. Hlsen-
gine and tender measured probably about
Az feet in length, 1--WE don'i pretend to be
exact az to m-easurements) so that 1t may
be said that at the time he heard the snap,
his engine was the only portion of the train
on the bridge.
Mob idy pretelds that McGlire's engine
jumped the track. Consequently, If the
snap which he heard was caused by the
breaking Of the Bulge, it could not have
been broken by an engine jumping the
track, because there was no other engine
on the bridge n. that moment, except his.
But let US suppose that Mcclure was mis-
taken as to the distance from his engine 10
the western abulment. Suppose 1t WAS
only one car.length. That would allow
room behind HIM on tho bridge for the
columbia that ia, 1t would bring both
engines on the bridge, with tho front end
of the columbia" about 40 feet from the
western abutment. Consequently Mcclure
must have drawn the columbia" that de
lance TO the western abutment.
Now it is not necessary to say to those
who know tho construction of an iron
bridge, that that would have been an i'm
possibility, even though the bridge did not
break down. The testimony shows that
the train was moving at the rate Of about
twelve miles an hour. At that rate the
"COlumbla" would have reached the abut.