The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1879-11-11
THE ST. CHARLES BRIDGE EoR.
sRoK.
Fun Particulars of the Disaster.

St. Charles, Missouri. will remember the
magnificent railroad bridge over the Mis-
souri, river at that point, the structure be-
ing one of the most magnificent In the
west This bridge was regarded as one
of the strongest built structures Ia the
country. 1t was built by the St. Louis,
Kansas City & Northern Railroad, and
has been In constant use for years. Only |
recently week ago-the ST. Louis Il |
Kansas City road passed under the control
of the Wabash line, the two being merg-
ed. There had been issued change of
time which was to enable the nav line to
run on shorter time than any of the COM
peting lines. The plans of the new man
agement, however, will have to be delayed
as, on Saturday evening, aspan of the st.
Charles bridge gave way, preclpltatlng
seventeen cars and caboose into the
river below, and killing seven men, The
account Of the horror are graphically de-
picted in tho Calcag3 Times of Monday
aud are sal enough. The Times says:
A section of the bridge gave way about
dark while heavy freight train was pass
ing over, and eighteen cars were dropped
thirty feet into the Missouri river. They
were chiefly loaded with bulk grain. The
collapse carried down the telegraph wires
and cut off all means of communication
with the scene OF the disaster. Ii was not
till several hours after the accident that
the news reached Sc. Louis. wrockag
train was immediately started our, Super
iatendeat McKissock accompanying 1t in
A nhach attached m
the freight shared in the fate, and seven
were killed.
A portion Of the bridge which fell was
the west span-the nearest toSt. Charles on
the north side of the Missouri river. The
train consisting of a heavy engine, eigh
| teen freight cars and the eaboose had
| just pulled cut of St, Charles, coming
south. The engine aud one car had just
| crossed the span, aud there were ten
| heavily loaded cars between the two piers
when the whole span dropped. The coup
ling between the first and second cars
| broke, and the engine ran out into the
centre of the bridge Tho rear portion OF
the train, Including the caDoo5e. followed
the seventeen cars 10 their plunge downwaid
| toto the Missouri liver. There were Eve
stockmea in the ca6oose and two brake
men on the cars which went down. The
/ brakemen were Chas. Irwin and Joseph
Baruhart. The stockmen were not known
by name to the trainmeu. Three bodies
had been taken from the wreck. and three
men have been rescued alive, but terribly
manged The seventh is supposed to
| have been washed away in the river. Kin
| ley, the conductor of the traia. was riding
IL the cab with Plowman the engineer,
and escaped
| The scene of the wreck will be more
readily understood by description of the
location and its surroundings. The Kan
sas City and Northern railroad crosses the
| Missouri river at point where the town
of St. Charles commences to skirt the
| river bank For a distance Of three
quarters of mile on either side of the
rlv er the road passes over trestles at an al
titude ranging from seventy to eighty feet.
The course is that OF horseshoe elon-
gated. The river is crossed by bridge Of
four spans, the fourth, or wesS. span Civ
ing way last night. This system of trestle
work has stood the test Of many years, and
10 point of construction was considered as
safe and sound as the bridge which came
to grief last night. The foundation and
heavy supports of the trestles aud
girders, however, were affected By the en-
croachments of the river on the east side.
The swollen river at particular seasons
washed under the trestles, weakening the
support, aud the company S engineers were
not unmindful of the fact that constant
vigilance was necessary in protecting the
elevated permanent way. After the en-
( roachments Of rainy seasons and washing
away of the earth surrounding the trestle
supporters the work OF filing in was always
carefully followed up.
The bridge, however, was considered
strong enough to bear any train that mig ht
| H. Tfh b.
water below. The Kansas City and North
ern company pointed to their Missouri
river bridge at St. Charles with some
< pride, as a marvel of engineering skill. and
{; probably the managers are more surprised
than tie public to hear of the accident
which has followed a daily test of its
. strength for ten years past. This was the
first railway bridge which ever spauned
1 the Missouri river. Including approaches,
it was 635 feet in length. The spans were
iron, and so elevated that steam boats
passed underneath at all stages Of water.
The dead and wounded are as follows: |
II KILLED,
Josiah Wearen of Malvern, Iowa.
Mr., Hyde of Malvern, Iowa.
Jos. BarPhar>, brakeman.
WOUNDED.
!, Charles Irving, brakeman
Fred Davis of Malvern.
John Somers of Malvern.
| j. NJ. Strahan of Malvern.
Irving was so badly injured that be died
at noon. Srahan's injuries were slight.
| The most miraculous escape is that of
j. NJ. Strahan, who heard the noise OF The
crash ahead and jumped from the caboose
to the trestIe flooring, only few seconds
before the caboose went down. He for.
tuuately landed on the ,es or would have
gone down with the rest. His escape is
regarded as miraculous. The St. Louis
| Republican. describing the wr eek, says:
The crash which attended the falling of
the bridge was heard almost throughout
the entire city. Mr.. j. 4. d. Couzins,
living at Brotherton, fully mile away.
heard it plainly. The sound went to the
/ hearts of the people of St. Charles. They
knew what it meant and came runuiug
towards tAe bridge in large numbers
The work of rescue was prompt. Bonfres
were lighted along the western shores and
the flames illuminated the entire wreck
aud debris. The dead and wounded were
but stones throw away, but body of