Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-01-23
The Tay Disaster.


[Iondon C,r y. y. Trlbune.l
! The awful mystcry which envelopes the
event is one cause Of its terrible fascination
| All that is really known can he very briefly
said. The Sunday afternoon train from
Edinburgh to Dundee entered the Tay bridge,
two miles long, at the south end nj IA MN
ules past 4 The signalman saw IT, anu
| friend of his, who was with him in the box,
saw it also. as it swept by. The sisnalnan
had no further curiosity in the matter. Ills
companion, less familiar with railway phc-
nomcna, gazcd after the retreatins and doom
ed train He saw the last of il : saw the rear
lights as they disappeared; saw shower oi
sparks, and then saw nothing. Other peo-
pie, on the other side, are reported as having
observed the shower of sparks. Nobody
| heard "A sound from the train; no crash, mol
4 single human shrek,
1t was blowing a gale. - violent ia'l
been the weather during the afternoon thal
even at the mouth of the Tay. where south
west wind strengthed into hurricane, peo-
pie had remarked upon its unusual itrce-
ness. On such occasions. somebody is sure
to turn up with prophecy after the event,
and we hear to-day of prudent sous who
had thought it too wild night for tram to
be safe on the bridge. Among the number
| of those who are purtentously wise after the
event, there are two whose testimony is no
| ticeable The first, 4 pious citizen ot Dun
dee has contributed to the public press an
elaborate narrative of his experience. lie
told his wife he wondered if the train would
attempt to cross on such night. lie watch
ed the train as il moved on TO the bridge
from the opposite end. He saw the comet
like burst Of fiery sparks, and '',hc long
visible trail of the streak of fire till quenched
in the waters below"
| Captain Scott's evidence deserves more
serious consideration. lie commands Her
Maiesiy's training ship stationed few hun
dred Yards below the bridge. He was watch
inc the structure from the deck of his vessel,
| expecting, he says, every moment 10 see 1t
| give it way, and never imagining that an at
| tempt would be made to take Il train across.
| His position was such that he could not see
the train But at a quarter past seven he
suddenly observed Il great gap in the bridge
as if the central portion had collapsed. lie
heard no sound of falling irOnwork nor any
! cry of distress, but sea was running that no
boat could then have lived in, had he sup
| posed there was any reason Tor li'lEchlnG
one.
What had happenednoboiy knows. There
are two theories. According TO one thc
force of the wind had driven the latter por-
ton of the train from the rails, and it had
smote against the framework of the bridge
| with force enough to wrench some main cir
| der from its connecting beams. AMI SO the
whole structure had fallen in pieces. Ac-
| cordinn to the second the force of tie wind
had been sufficient to sweep away bridge
| and train together :; and this theory, be
| lieve, is that which the engineering mind IS
| disposed to accept. There have always been,
| | hear, people who shook their heads over
| the construction of the work. There was
| too much cast-iron in it, say some. Its ey-
| treme narrewncsss was one Of its most strik-
ing features From motives of economy, 1t
was built TO carry only n single line OF rails
and its width did not exceed fifteen ieet,
while its height in the central portion above
the water was 130 feet. was told to-day
that a great firm to whom the contract for
the bridge was first proffered declined it on
this very ground. They did not believe
| bridge could be built of these dimensions
| two miles long by IL feet broad and 100 feet
high which could be safe in sucha situation.
About the two shore ends they had
| no difficulty, but out of the two
miles of the entire length the middle
was the part where dangers oi many
| kinds had to be guarded against. This cen
| tral portion extended for 5000 feet and
was composed of girdcrs, forming IL spans
| of 2l5 feet each and - feet in height above
| the piers on which they rest. The rails were
| laid on the bottom of these central girders,
| and the sides formed kind Of laitice-work
from the intcrlacing of the rods and beams
being purposcly left open - that there
| should lie less surface To olfer resistance To
the wind. Practically. these 5000 feet OF
central structure formed a tunnel through
which the train passed But when the train
passed the ntersticcs left for the free rush of
The wind were momentariy iilledup and the
side of the bridge. for the length and height
! of the train. tsaan.. solid. The leverage on
! the supporting columns anu braces was
enormous the strength which suilced Tor
ordinary weather proved unequal to the
stress of this terrible gale ; and the whole
mass. piers, girlers, engine carriages, and II
hundred human beings, toppled over To-
ge,her into the furious Hood beneath.
Not one human being escaped. 1t Is tins
completeness Of the catastrophe which
makes it so tragic. No one had any more
chance of coming out alive than if the earth
had opened and swallowed il up. The speed
was probably about twenty five miles an
|
train was in an iron cage; and train and cage
together were prccipitated more than one
| hundred feet sheer down into raging stream
thirty feet deep. For little while the peo-
| pie on the Dundee side who waited for the
coming over of the train, and who knew
| that something had happened because II
did not come, fancied that the driver
might have pulled up before the
bridge went down. Two or three men
| started to walk over to see hut came back III
| a panic at the fury of the tempest All they
could make out was that part of the bridge
was gone, but nobody knew positively that
| the train had gone with the bridge until some
of the mail-bags had been washed ashore
some miles away. The crowds who swarm
cd into the Dunhee station on the first rumor
of an accident-the husbands and wives,
brothers and sisters. relatives and friends of
the passcngers-were kept for hours in sus-
pense by what one paper calls the judiclous
silence of the railway officials, by what
| should call the cruel callousness common
| TO the official mind on such occasions. so
| fierce was the storm that all communication
between the opposite shores was suspended.
| No steamer dared leave port. BY and by one
| came over from Newport to Dundee, and the
gale having aba,ed, the Provost, the harhor
master, the railway people and some citizens
of Dundee, embarked on II voyage of dis
coycry at about 10 O'Clock. As they reached
the bridge the moon came out, and 10y her
light they first saw the ghastly rent IN the
bridge 8, 900 feet cut clean ont of it by the
storm A boat pulled through, but nothing
could be seen of the wreck save Il huge
girdcr or two. The Tay had swallowed the
| whole, and down to this moment, two days
afterward, but one body has been recovered.
Divers have bccn down, but they came up
again with the report that nothing can he
seen of the wrecked carriages. There are
quicksands all about and ii is doubtful
whether anything will ever he seen, except
the bits of splinlered wood, iand various waits
and strays which are floating ashore from