The New York herald., 1879-12-30
The TAY'S DEAD.
No Man Lives to Relate the Trag-
edy Of the Firth.
WHAT TWO TRAVELLERS SAW.
A Sudden Flash and a Shower
Of Falling Sparks.
WOULD TILE TRAIN CROSSP
Crawling to the Gap in the Bridge
and Looking Down.
UNDER THE QWCKSAND
Divers Unable to Recover the Bodies
eaA4 of the Drowned.
-. >-
WOULD TILE TRAIN CROSS9 2
Crawling to the Gap in the Bridge
and Looking Down.
UNDER THE QUCkSAND
Divers Unable to Recover the Bodies
40, b1 of the Drowned.
DUNDEE IN MOURNING.



[By CABLE TO THE HERALD.1
fi "s A49Ass LONDON, Dec. 20, 1879.
The first official tidings of the appalling
catastrophe on the Tay Bridge werc conveyed
by the manager of the North British Railway,
who telegraphcd from Leuchars at four o'clock
this morning :-"Several large girders, along
with the last train from Edinburgh, were pre-
dpitsted into the river last night. There were
nearly three hundred passengers, besides the
company's servants, all Of whom are believed to
have perishcd." This was quickly followed by
despatch from Edinburgh, saying:-''The por-
ton of the bridge which fell consisted Of sew
ersl large superincumbent girders at the central
and navigable portion Of the river, which aver
ages from forty to forty-fve feet in depth. The
train would fall about eighty-eight feet before
reaching the water. Some time elapsed before
the nats<e Of the disaster was ascertained. The
damasa tosshe wires ON tho bridge and the bad
ness of the weather interfered with the trans
whether the girders were blown down before
the train entered the bridge or were carried
away with it, and it will probably never be as
ccrtained, as there are no survivors. The
briqge was only opened for traffic in May, 1879.
1t was considered a triumph of engineering
skill. It was about two miles long and had
eighty-fve spans, the widest of which was 245
feet At the highest point it was 13O feet
above high water,
slsg COUNTING THE TICKETS.
The train left Edinburgh, at fifteen minutes
past four in the afternoon. It tconsisted of four
third class cars one first class and one second
class and the bralesman's van At the last
station before entering the bridge the tickets
were taken. How many of these were taken
nobody seems to know with any exact,tude. A
telegram from Dundee states that there
was only tfty-six; but these do not
account for the number of young children
road employees, nor for the number of passen-
gers for Broughty Ferry, whose tickets were
not taken up. However, if this statement is
correct, it is evident that the loss of life has
been greatly overestimated. Indeed, the rail-
road authorities now estimate the total number
of lives lost at scventy-fve. Vast quantities of
wreckage, such as the doors and the roofs of
carriages, pieces Of the bridge and articles of
wearing apparel, are coming ashore. The en-
tire thirteen girders of the long central spans
Of the bridge are gone. The night
was ono Of bright moonlight, but
the wind was blowing hurricane
The Provost of Dundee and party of citizens,
who accompanied him in n steamer to the scene
of the disaster, returned to Dundee in the after
noon. search was made about the bridge in
small boats, but no trace of any survivors
could be found. Six bodies were subsequently
recovered. The gap in the bridge is about
half mile long, comprising eleven of the long
est spans, each 245 fcet in length, and one
span of 145 feet In length.
LIST OF TIE VICTIMS
The following names Of officials and passen-
gers supposed to be ON the i'll fated train has
been supplied by officers of the company and
by relatives and friends of the passengers who
we're waiting ut the station: =
OFFICIALS.
DAVID McBEATH, guard.
DAVID MITCHELL, guard.
JOHN MARSHALL, driver
DONALD MURRAY, stoker; all of Dundee.
PASSENGERS. =
Ex-Chancellor DAVID JOBSON.
JOSEPH ANDERSEN, compositor. .
Mrs. MELDRUM.
JAMES DUNCAN.
DAVID TOMBSTONE.
ROBERT WATSON, with DAVID and
ROBERT, his sons.
DAVID SCOTT, goods guard
ROBERT SYME, clerk.
JAMES LESLIE
ARCHIBALD Balm.
JESSIE Balm. g..
DAVID MESH, teacher and registrar.
JAMES PEBBLES, apprentice
GEORGE TOMBSTONE.
Mrs CHEAP.
THOMAS ARMAND.
WILLIAM and ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.
WILLIAM and DAVID MDoNALD.
DAVID GRAHAM.
PETER SALMOND.
Mira MANN