Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-09-06
THE BROKEN BRIDGE,
Further Particulars of the Disaster at
0maha--Statement of an Eye.Wit.
ness,

fhrthef Particulars of the Disaster at
Omaha-.Statement of an Eye.Wit.
ness.
The only eyewitness of the disaster
Is an intelligent Scandinavian by the
name of John Pierson. He said the
tempest first begun about 5 O'Clock, the
wind coming from the northwest with
hurricane force. The lightning was in
cessant and ran In streams of fire along
the iron columns of the bridge. The
ar was filled with hail, which created
an internal din. Ten or fifteen minutes
of this warfare of the elements was
kept up without any injury to the
structure, when a sudden lull occurred.
and the wind suddenly changed to the
northeast. At this iuncture Pierson
came out of the little guard-house, and
says he saw a dense black mass coming.
down the river, which appeared 10 be
balloon-shaped but tapering at each
end. 1t came on with 4 terrific roar.
and burst upon the bridge with deafen-
ing fury.
Before he could regain his little
house the catastrophe had occurred,
and he was prisoner In the debris.
At the moment of destruction he saws
the scene was lit up by a binding glare
of electric light The massive iron
structure appeared to be lifted ND to a
great height above the piers and dashed
to the earth with inconceivable force.
But as the wind carried him over the
embankment before it upset the bridge,
this may have been an illusion. This is
probably true, as he afterward discover
ed that only the telegraph wires had
fallen upon him. He was considerably
bruised about the legs, but not other
wise seriously injured. He says at this
moment the situation was appalling to
him; he could scarcely realize whether
he was dead or alive, and he had some
idea that the end of the world had
come. All the time the lightning was
playing fearful freaks. 1t seemed that
wind, hail and electricity were striving
to outdo each other. When he recov-
cred himself and climbed to the top of
the grade, the dark, whirling mass of
wind and water was speeding away to
the southwest, and the storm had pract-
lcally spent its fury. He signaled to
the watchman on the other end of the
bridge, but received no answer 1t was
about time the early passenger train
should start over the bridge, and the
possibility of another appalling calami-
ty similar to the Ashtabula horror Oc-
CURED to him, and after few more
frultless efforts TO arouse the watchman,
he procured a skiff and rOwed across
the trcacherous river in the storm and
darkness. narrowly escaping drowning
by being dashed upon the piers, and
fiormdering through the quaking quick
sands of the bar under the middle of
the bridge; reached the west shore by
swimming the second channel. He
arrived at the depot only IA few mo-
mcnts before the train was ready to
start. Persons bravery is worthy all
praise, for he risked his life under cir
cumstances of appalling danger, in the
his position would have undertaken.
The storm was witnessed by several
parties in the city, among them IL gen
tlcman who resides on lower Harvey
street. He says the whirling mass al
ludcd to before appeared to sweep down
the river from the north, and in it's
course it carried up solid column of
water, and was, according to his idea,
terrific cyclone and water-spout COM
bined. He heard the crash when the
bridge fell, but supposed it to be thun
der which at that time was bursting in
incessant peals. After passing, the cy-
clone seemed to have spent its force.
and gradually died away in the south
west.
There is no doubt that the bridge was
struck by lightning repeatedly, but that
it was injured by it is not at all proba-
bic, as all the lightning in the country
could be safely carried away by those
large piers running into the water. 1t
was the wind which did it, and its force
was great enough to lift the five or ten
thousand tons of solid iron from its
foundation. The watchman Pierson
says that the upward force of the wind
was sufficient to lift the large stones
from the rip-rapping on the river bank
up to the top of the grade, which is six
ty feet high.-Omaha Herald.