Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1880-01-03
TERRIBLE DISASTER.
ABSOLUTELY The WOrst Raik, Oai
1ccident on Record.
Nearly Three Thousand Feet of the
Great Tay Bridge, in Scotland.
Gives Way.

Precipitatins "a Train Load Of 800
People into the Firth, IaDd
Drowning AL.
The following account of terrible
railroad disaster i'm Scotland we take
from the Detroit Evening News of Mon
day:
The intelligent reader will have i'm
pressed upon his mind the serrated out
line of the Scottish coast. On the east
shore, beginning at the southern bound
airy, deep indentation is known as the
firth of Forth, the word firth meaning in
the Scottish vocabulary deep bayOr es-
tuary forming the mouth of some river.
Pursuing the coast nOrthward, the next
indentatiOn is the firth of Tay, it being
the mouth or outlet of the little river
Tay. On the north shore of this firth
lies the old city of Dundee, the third
largest city i'm Scotland. 1t is about 80
miles north of Edinburgh. The Tay is
here about two miles wide. A short dis
tance above the city the river is crossed
by one of the largest iron bridges in the
world. 1t was completed i'm 1877, and a
view of it recently appeared i'm the Illus
trated London News, the occasion being
the crossing of the royal train bearing
| Queen Victoria on her way back to Wind
sOr from her summer residence at Bal
moral. some so miles still further north.
| The bridge is owned and used by the
North British railway company, one of
| the five or six great railway corporations
of Great Britain. The bridge consists of
so spans, several of them 245 feet in
length and 88 feet above the level of high
water in the river. Its cost was about
81 100000.
Last evening a terrific gale was blow
ing from the east just as a train from
Edinburgh was crossing the bridge at
ia o'clock. Those who had their eyes
on the bridge at the time saw sudden
flash of fire and all was dark again in
an instant. 1t was certain that some
accident had happened, but i'm the dark
ness it was impossible to tell of what
character. Some railway officials, in
spite of the gale, walked along the bridge
to ascertain the fate of the train. They
were shocked to find large gap caused
by the fall of two or three of the longest
spans. Of the train nothing was visible
and it was clear that it must be engulf-
ed in the deep and bOisterOuS current
below. So violent was the storm that ii
was some time before steamboats, could
venture out to the scene of the disaster
Meanwhile several mailbagS washed
ashore several miles below the bridge
The number of passengers OH the train
was estimated at from 150 to 200, and
the excitement at Dundee and the Tay
Bridge station was most apalling.
| FURTHER DISPATCHES.
LONDON, Dec. 29.-The CONSERVATION
and amaZement with which the news OF
the calamity at Tay bridge, in Scotland
has been received here are deep and uni
versal. 1t is almost the only subject OF
conversation. Thousands of people, who
either knew they had friends on board
the train, or have reason to think they
had, are besieging places where the latest
intelligence from the scene of the disas
ter is to be looked for. Bulletins are
surrounded by crowds eager for the --latest
scrap of information, but little news il
at hand up to the present time which
throws any additional light upon the
cause of the accident. A tremendous
gale was raging at the time. The train
ran upon the bridge, but no fears were
nor could naturally be, entertained fol
its safety. The bridge across the firth
of Tay was completed in 1873, having
been i'm process of construction for sew
eral years. When finished it was pro
nOunced one of the strongest and mOSt
trustworthy pieces of railroad bridge en-
gineering in the world. Including it:
approaches the bridge is about two mile:
in length, and at its highest point is 8:
feet above high water, and 78 feet at it,
lowest. The superstructure consist!
wholly of wrought iron girders. For 6
mile and half the bridge is perfectly
straight, but there is curve of about {
quarter of mile radius at each end
The gap created in the bridge through
which the train from Edinburg was pre-
cipitated last night, is not less than hal
a mile in length. 1t includes IL spans
of 245 feet each and one of 145.
Estimates more carefully revised thai
those at first sent out place the number
of persons on board the train at three
hundred, all of whom were lost. 1t i:
not believed to be possible that any es
capped. The great height from whicf
the cars fell, together with the fact tha
passengers were all locked up in them
according to practice on British rail
ways, is held to render certain the de-
structiOn of all on board, 1t is no
thought that the cars can have fiOateG
any considerable distance from per
pendicular line with the spot wher,
|. they first struck the water. No trace o.
the ears have been found on the water
except a few mail bags which in som,
way became released and fOated ashOr,
four miles from the bridge. The deptl
of the water at the scene of the acciden
is considerable. Great difficulty will b,
: experienced i'm rescuing the cars. If tn,
operation is attempted divers will b,
sent down on the subsistence of the storm
, to ascertain the condition and location O
, the submerged cars. Whether the fal
of the bridge was due to the action O
, the winds and waves alone
, or to the jar produced by the train upOl
, the structure weakened by the storm, i
: a matter of speculation on which ad
verse opinions prevail, although the pro
i liabilities are believed to be that tn
| fallen spans gave way under the shoe
/. of the train. Passengers were fOrmerl
, transferred from point near NewpOr
across the firth to Dundee in Steamboat
which mode Of transportation was 81
: perseded by the bridge. The firth is al
: ways stormy piece of water and II
1 ceives the inflow from all the streams {
f Perth and large proportion of thOs
f from FOrfarshire, and is navigable fo
$ vessels of 500 tons burthen to Perth.
, Dispatches from Dundee state that th
= excitement at that point is very grea
and the people are pouring in from a