The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1879-12-30
Last NIGHTS Dispatches.
FOREIGN NEWS
SCOTLAND.
rhe Terrible Accident-FuI1 Particulars
of the Horrible Affair

OF the Horrible Affair
/ LONDON, Dec. .29.-l0 am. The mana
ger of the North British Railway teIe
graphing from Leuchars at o'clock thi
morning, says several large girders alon,
with the train from Edinburg were nre
clpltated into the river last night. Their,
we're nearly 300 passengers besides tn,
companys s servants. all of whom are;ha
lieved to have persisted.
! A dispatch from Edinburg saws a norton
OF the bridge which fell consisted of sew
eral large super incumbent girders. Al
the central and navIgable portion of thf
| river, which averages from forty to forty.
| i've feet IN depth, the train would fal
| about eighty eight feet before reacbinp
the water. Some time elapsed before the
nature Ofthe disaster. was ascertained. The
damage to wires on the bridge and The
| badness OF the weather interfered with the
TRANSMISSION of news, and it Is unknown
whether the glrders were blown down be-
tore the train entered The bridge or were
carried away with it, and it will probably
never be ascertained, as there are no sur
yivors. The bridge was only open for
traffic 10 May. 1873. 1t was considered n
triumph OF engineering skill. It was about
two miles long and had IS spans, the wld
est OF which was 245 feet. At the highest
poiot it was l30 feet above high water.
NEW IORK, Dec. pa special from
Dundee says: The appalling catastrophe
OF last evening has thrown the city into a
state OF frantic excitement and the neigh
borhood of the fatal bridge is thronged
with horror stricken visitors. Not soul
escaped who was on the ill-fated train.
The gsllantry of Jas. Roberts, locomotive
superintendent OF the North British Rail-
way, OF Dundee, and station master Smith
10 venturing out on the bridge is highly
commended. In spite of the fury of the
gale, which rendered the attempt doubly
perlious, after tremendous exertiops. their
hands lacerated by cingjDg to the rails for
dear lite they reached the edge of the gap.
Here they discovered that thirteen Cir
ders, each 245 feet wide and weighing $50
tons, all forming a kind of tunnel in the
middle of the bridge. had been washed
away. Nothing remained but bare iron
piers About one-third of the whole
structure had vanished. Thirteen brick
work stumps were to be seen in the midst
OF waves 1t is positively asserted 3I5
people are lost.
The London Standard in an editorial
this afternoon says when the feeling Of
horror which hangs over the country shall
have subsided, strict and severe investl
CATION into the causes of the accident will
be demanded by the people and nothing
short ot a complete answer will be accept
ed. The gale to which the bridge sue
cumbed was not an exceptionally violent
one, the train OF ears having apparently
nothing to do with the accident which had
occurred before the cars reached the
broken portion.
1P. M.-Tke Provost of Dundee and the
party of citizens who accompanied him in
a steamer to the scene of the disaster have
arrived. The search was made about the
bridge in small boats. but no trace of any
survivors could be found, The gap in the
bridge is about one half mile long, com
prlsing l of the longest spans. each 245
feet IN length, and one span 145 feet in
length.
LONDON. Dec, 29--6 p M-The rail
"ay authorities now estimate the total
numb brr Of lives lost at IS 4 telegram
fraDl Dundee states that only so passenger
tickets were taken up at the last stopriDc
place, but these do not account for nun
ber of young children, requiring no tickets,
nor for the number of railroad employees,
nor for the number of passengers for
taken up. However, if this statement is
correct, it is evident that the loss Of life
has been greatly overessimated
NEW YORK, Dec. ga London special
to the Telegram says: The tidings of the
disaster were first conveyed by gentle
man who had left his house with a friend
while the southwest gale was blowing with
all its fury. They began discussing
whether. on such u night, the Edinhurg
train would venture across the bridge.
They went to the block telegraph signal box,
situated at the north end OF the bridge,
where they found a number OF men also
aDxiously awaiting information on the
subject, Some of them asserted that they
had seen the lights of the train in question
enter on the bridge and cross the lower
spans into the high girders, then they saw
q sudden shower OF fire, which, with the
lights of the train. seem to descend with
great velocity into the river. Then per-
iect darkness followed. Minutes and
minutes passed but no sign of the train
was seen, and the people asked themselves
were those really the lights of the Edin-
burgh train they had seen so suddenly
quenched. The horror stricken behoiders
made vehement appeals to the signal man
to ascertain the truth: he replied that all
he knew of the matter was that the train
had been signalled to him from the south
end of the bridge at 7:09 o'clock. niscov-
covering no indications of the approach of
the train, the alarmed signal man endeav-
ored to telegraph to the south end of the
bridge, but communication has ceased
LONDON, Dec 29.-The governments has
sent two inspectors to ascertain the parti
culars of the Tay bridge disaster. and has
also directed formal inquiry into the
occurrence The divers have thus far been
unable to discover the wrecked train. They
will make another effort to-day. The
place where the train sank is full of quick
sanes, and if the bodies of the drowned are
not recovered within few days they will
become imbeuded with the cars beyond
recovery,
Various accounts agree in placing the
total loss of life at 90
The Queen has telegraphed to the Pro
vost of Dundee. rendering her sympathy
for the bereaved. Only one body has SO
far been recovered. and that in badly
mutilated condition.
CHICAGO.
CHICAGO. Dec 29.-The Packing and
Provision Company, which hitherto had
baen considered friendly to the MON, this