The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-01-08
THE PAY BRIDGE DISASTER.
A Horror Without Survivors and with only
few Details Known-Estlmates of the
Number of Persons who Perlshed-Yary-
ing from Ninety to Three Hundred.

A Horror Without Survivors and with only
few Details Known-Estimates of tht
Number of Persons who Perlshed-vary
Ing from Ninety to Three Hundred.
LONDON, Dec. q.
The manager of the North British
Railway, telegraphing from Leuchars a
o'clock this morning, says: "Severa
large girders, along with the last trair
from Edinburgh, were precipitated into
the river last night. There was nearly
three hundred passengers, besides the
company's servants, all of whom ere be-
lieved to have perished." Brief as this
dispatch is, it tells about all that any liv.
ing persons knows concerning the nature
of the Tay bridge disaster. At the awful
moment of the calamity darkness sur.
rounded the bridge and the train, and
the most that any living man saw was q
shower of sparks blown at an angle down
to the water and the trailing of the train'a
lights through q perpendicular fall of
some eighty feet. Then utter darkness
followed, and the men who had seen the
falling lights, unable to comprehend
such calamity as had actually befallen
the train, fell to wondering whether they
had really seen anything. The most that
any person living heard was the uninter.
rupted roar of the firth and of the wind
through the braces of the bridge. The
stopping of the noise made by the NOV
ing train, or the crash that accompanied
the calamity, would have been drowned
on any ordinary night, when the roar of
the firth can be heard for many miles.
The brief despatch from the manager
of the railway contains sufficient as to
tue extent of the calamity to give it q
place alone in the annals of railway dis
aster, even if no additional fact could
eve. be known-"All of whom are be-
lieved to have perishedp There is no
other record like this. 1t is probable
that the number of persons lost is over
estimated in the first official despatch,
and that it will be underestimate in the
announcements put forth by the company
later. A despatch from Dundee to the
Press association at 44 o'clock this after
noon says that the number of lives lost
does no exceed ninety. A later despatch
from the same place states that only fifty
six tickets were taken up at the last
stopping places before running into
Dundee. These figures do not cover the
number of young children requiring no
tickets, nor the number of passengers for
Broughty Ferry, whose tickets were not
taken up, nor the number of railway em-
ployees.
The scene at the bridge to-day was the
sadest that has been witnessed in Scot
land for years. The approach to the
structure swarmed with sight-seers, and
among them we're wives, husbands, other
kindred, and lovers, all despairing.
Many steamers and small boats were
near the scene, though the hope Of find
ing any survivor has been abandoned.
Six bodies have been recovered. Divers
will shortly be brought to begin the work
of removing the debris of the wrecked
bridge and train and removing such bod
les Of the victims as may be found in the
submerged coaches. The excitement in
Edinburgh is hardly less than in Dun
dee.
1t was throug gh the anxiety of the
group of men who stood near the tele-
graph signal box on Dundee side of the
bridge, and saw the shower of fire while
specializing as to whether the train
would venture upon the bridge on such
o night, that the fact of the disaster was
ascertained. Standing where they were
the curve at the north end of the bridge
was at their right, and there was nothing
to obstruct the view for considerable
distance toward the middle spans of the
structure. The feeling grew upon them
that they had seen the trains lights 60
down into the water, and they appealed
to the signal man to ascertain the truth for
them. He told them that he only knew
that at 9 minutes past z the train had
been signalled to him from the south end
of the bridge. The train did not come.
The signal man became alarmed and en-
deavored to get telegraphic signals from
the other side, but there was no response.
Communication had ceased. Then the
widest alarm possessed those who had
gathered on the Dundee side. The in
terruption of communication strengthen
ed the impression that something terrible
had happened. This fear spread like
wildfre through the city, and great
throngs of persons hurried out toward,
the bridge. The sea wall was black with
the multitude that gathered to peer over
the roaring firth, and the suspense while
waiting tidings of what had occurred
was painful. Somebody sought the mas
ter of the Tay bridge station, james
Smith, and he and the locomotive super
intendent of the road, James Roberts,
said that they would venture out on the
structure and learn what had occurred.
1t was a perilous undertaking. The
tracks rest on top of the girders, and
there was nothing to break the force Of
the wind. AS the men advanced the
gale seemed to increase in fury. They
were nearly swept from their footing, and
they got down and crawled along the
track, clinging to the rails with fingers
almost benumbed. Eighty or ninety feet
below them the firth flung its angry
waves against the bridge supports. Fro
ceeding slowly and with great exeition
they made their way out to where the
superintendent girders began-half a
mile or more from the throng at the end
of the bridge. Here, to their inexpressi-
BILE horror, they found that the structure
came to an end. Looking ahead into
ther darkness they saw that about one
third ofthe bridge had gone down. There
was not vestige of it in sight, save por-
tions of the supports upon which the super
structure had rested. There was nothing
for them to do but to turn back with the
awful tidings they had found.
The excitement in Dundee was intense.
AS soon as the gale had moderated lit.
tie the Provost of the city, accompanied
by several other prominent men, went
in a small steamer to the scene of the
calamity. Their return was eagerly
awaited in the hope that some survivor
would be found who could tell the story
of the calamity. But all that those on
board the steamer saw was that had been
seen by James Smith and James Roberts
when they peered over the edge of the