New-York tribune., 1878-01-18
AMONG TIE WRECKS.
CLEARING AWAY THE RUINS AND SEARCHING

| visited the wrecked railroad bridge to-day, some of
them coming by train and wagon from places forty
miles away. The country people seemed To look
upon it a sort of gala day, and fCcked to see tie
sight with infinite Zest and relish. Their
wagons overfoWed the accommodations OF
tho village, the tayerns the church sheds
and tho fences all bearing an abundant
| crop of curious old cOnveyanccs of the
past as well as the present There was little food
for a morbid appetite at tie wreck, however OF
truth, less tragic catastrophe, involving the death
| and woundng of so many seldom has occurred.
Every element of picturcsqueness OF weirdness was
| lacking in this horror. 1t simply butchery.
! The properties of the scene were heaYlly-laden
railroad train; weak-lOolng bridge, little
moro an ten feet above the ice OF the river aud
| bitter cold, windy Winters night, with a bright
moon shining above. There were no dizzy heights
frcm which the train lcapcI and there were no
iurd flames OF burning cars to add horror to the
scene. The fral bridge simply sank down beneath
its too heavy load, which had just enough mOmen-
um TO crush the locomotives and four cars to sPln-
ters, and drown, crush and mangc the hapless VIC
| tins within
The clear, cool head of Superintendent Mac
| Thomas of the Hartford, Providence and Fishklll
Rlroad, who had supervised the work of recover
ing the bodies, was greatly needed yesterday. Al
! though large gang OF men were at work, they
| stood greatly in need of n leader, and
| the small amount of work accomplished was
carried forward in desultoIy way, very
| dishcartcning To those who feared that they had
| friends buried beneath the fallen ear. Superin-
! tendcnt Jones, to whom is ascribcd the blame
for the disaster, was on the ground during
tho day, but paid little attention to tie
! work OF the wrcckers. Indeed the apathy
of the Connecticut Western officials concerning
q s,rf
among the suif fcgs and their friends VINO declare
that Outsiders have far done most of the work.
Ono cause Of this apparent apathy = doubtless dne
10 a lack Of funds the part ~ the nnu"ky rlil-
road, whose financial Affairs a. III rsh;ihl state
| of chaos.
| The chief WORK to-day consisted in dragging ,hc
| two perpendicular cars ont OF the way ot the one
under them. IL was accomplished, aftcr several
hours OF manmnUing, hy means of a complex ar
/ rangcncLt of tackle and chains. aud - loco
motive upon the eastern approach TO the bridge.
team OF four WAS employed In
rcscuing bridgc-timlers, and dragging them to a
place Of safety, and n number of men spent the day
u7cscuirg the ron rods used for binding tho tim
hcis together while others collected into neat piles
the valuable PORTIONS OF the wrecked engines. Tic
! mpic important task Of clearing mp all douht, on
,Ae sub,,c, of killed. persons vas lelt to the
sweet viii of the !ook,r,-ou, who proddcd
| amoncthe dcbFi, of the tccscopcd Car with long,
slender hooks; fishing up u number of shoe which
| had been torn oil m the course Of rescuIus the
wounded and dead
! During the day tho crowd wondered and climbed
all over and through the wreck unchecked the peo-
RE helping tncm.clycs to whatever they fancicd, 10
/ take away rs ulcmcntocs of the sad event. Among
the most vigorous and searching of these petty
| da!, were largo number of women VINO oadcd
themselves down with al SORTS of treasures, rom
! cornicc or piece Of gildel edeng to Il paIr )f car
cushions.
! As one notes how utterly demolished the ears
aud engines no wonders at the comparative lihinu-
nty suffered by the passengers How II IL that any
one could have escaped age-more than that, m
! hurt-from either of the two locomotives or
! from the worst-wrcckcd ear is truly marvellous.
The foremost engine lies wrong side up in
the mud a mere trunk, literally stripped of every
thing except the bare boiler and driving wheels.
Snokc-stack, cow-catchcr. cab are not to be
| found; yet the fireman was almost unhnrt.
| From the midst Of mass of splnt-
| crs and broken rods and dIsloca'cd seat,
was pointed out to mo the place from which Mrs.
| Emma Case, Of Barkhan,,cd. was taken ont with
only few bruises. so il is in innumcrabe in
| stances. Where iron rods wcrc snapped asnnder
| and hugo beams were crushed, human beings es-
capped with few slight bruiscs and dncking.
| There is scarcely doubt that the theory of the
accident, as published IN lHE TRIBUNE to-day, Is
the true one. There are only two ways of putting
! quart of beer into pint cup: by forcing 1t IN and
bursting the cup or by dividing it and putting in
| pint at IA time Superintendent Jones chose the for
mcr raltcrnatiyeand suffered the natural consequence.
A specially unpleasant feature of his case is that
| he is himself Il practical bridge builder,
| and was formerly in the employ of a. ID. Briggs X
| Co.. the builders of this very bridge. As for the
stories alOat concerning rotten bridge. they are
none oi them true. made very close and caielul
examination OF the tmbers, every ono OF which Is
perfectly sound with the exception of slight
local indications Of sap rot. IL is true that the
| timbers are composed of yellow pine and
are IA brittle matches. but the argument III favor
of white pine Tor bridges does not alter the theory
of the disaster Two of the railroad commission
ers Messrs. Bacon and Woodruff made minute ex-
animation Of the bridge and the engines besides
examining several witnesses in an informal way, III
the light OF the various views advanced. They de-
cided that the bridge ought to have been strong
enough to bear the train, but was nOt-al Of which
is highly satisfactory.
In conversation with Commissioner Woodruff yes
terday he said that the regular examinations by the
State Board carefully made, the iron beng
tested by blows from hammer, and the tlmbers by
means of an anger The present board is composed
Of farmer. lawyer and a civil engineer. Mr..
Woodruff said that the examination OF bridges de-
served the attention of adisnct and separate board
With respect to the present misliap he thought 1t
owed its cause to q broken rod or "bolt" by the
heavy weight Neither the iron nor the wood in the
bridge were of the best, according to his opinion.
No more certain evidence than this can ever be OBJ
tanned. 1t will never be known exactly where the
first break occurred it is none the less certain that
the bridge capable of sustaining any ordinary