New-York tribune., 1880-01-12
LONDON PROFOUNDLY MOVED.

ment that about 800 people were lost, when
turned out to he an exaggeratiOn.
LONDON PROFOUNDLY MOVED.
GREAT PUBLIC INTEREST AWAKENED BY THE CALAM-
IrY-THE sENsATION-MONGERs AT wORK-CON-
TICTING THEORIES AS TO HOW THE DISASTER
OCCVRHEp-- TUE loss EXAGGERATED At FIRST.
frPoN TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
LONDON. Dec. 3O.-This is press-yiow day at the
G-gsvenor Gallery Winter Exhibition. Looking In
there an hour ago, the first art critic met began
d,scoursng TO me on the Tay Bridge disaster. The
second foliowed sut and wherever yOu saw knot
Of two or hree people together you heard that sub
iect and that only discussed. As the journalist is
not very impressionable person, and as among
journalists the writer's art perhaps the most
completely Indifferent, as n rule, to all mat
tcrs outside their own peculiar sphere. this
my serve rs q measure of the intensity
OF public feeling on the calamity of
Sunday night 1t is so intense, and universal,
that il has the aversion of the more select
portion of The public to anything like display OF
emotion, or Of human interest III human affairs Nor
is it an eXaggeraton to say that all the talk OF
London has turned on this catastrophe to the cX-
olusion even of Tory jubation over the une1-
pected success Of Roberts in AfGhanistan
The papers publish seven eight columns apiece
on the subject but all their information comes from
identical sources and much OF it is conveyed
in identical language. No has yet told Us
how the accident happened, nor why il happened;
except corjecturaly The awful mystery which
envelopes the event IS one cause OF Its terrible
fascination. All that is really known eau be very
briefly said. The Sunday afternoon train from
Edinburgh to Dundee entered the Tay bridge two
miles long at the south end at II minutes past z.
The signalnIan and friend of his. W hO was
with him IN the box. saw it also, rs 1t swept by,
The signaman had no further curiosity III the
matter His companion, less familiar with railway
phenomena gazed after the TeIeatng and doomed
train. He saw The last of it; saw the
rear lights as they disappeared; saw
shower of sparks, and then saw nothing.
Other people. on the other side. are reported
as having observed the shower of SPARKS. Nobody
heard souud from the train; no crash not a single
human shrek.
Ii was blowing gale. So violent had been the
weather during the afternoon that even at tho
mouth of the Tay, where n southwest WIND
strengthened into hurricane people had remarked
upon it's unusual fercencsS On such occasion, some
body is sure to turn up with prophecy after the
event and we hear to-day of prudent souls VINO had
thought it too wild a night for a train
to be safe on the bridge. In different
way, one of the railway clerks reports that sew
era travellers as they bought their tickets asked linn
If he thought the train would get across. But this
was meant as joke, and taken as such. Among the
numberof those who are poreni ousy wise after the
event there are two whose testimony is noticeable.
The first pious citizen Of Dundee, has contributed
so the public press elaborate narrative OF his eX-
perience noticeable, as said, but noticeable only
for its absurdties, its penny-a-linlng rhetoric ITS
straining sensatOnalism. and its sanctimonousness
lie told his wife he wondered If the tram would
attempt to cross on such night. he watched the
train as 1t moved to the bridge from the opposite
anil Ha comet like buTSt OF fiery
sparks" and /" the long visible trail of the streak
of fire till quenched in the waters below" And the
effect of the tragedy upon the mind of this creature
was TO set him at work quanying for adJectives
meet for the occasion, and to produce nauseous
descriptlonby way of introduction and contrast to
the horrors Outside-of his domestic circle, where
"the children had gathered round me for their usual
Bible stories and with an instructive sense of fear
nestled close TO my side as they heard the wild
efforts of the blast to batter in the easement of the
window" The London papers must be hard mp for
real news when they publish half column Of this
rnbbisb; which would be more at home in the col
umns Of theT "penny dreadful contemporaries.
Captan Scott's evidence deserves more serious
consideration He commands Her Majesty5 tram
lug ship stationed few hundred yards below the
bridge near the Fife shore. He was watching the
structure from the deck of his vessel, expecting he
saws. every moment to see it give way, and never
imagining that an attempt would be made 10 take
train across. His position was such that he could
rot see the train But at quarter past seven he
suddenly observed great gap in the bridge rs II
tie central portion had collapsed. lie heard no
sound Of falling rOnwork nor any cry Of distress.
hut sea was running that no boat could then have
lived IN it, had he supposed there was any reason
for launching one
What had happened nobody knows. There are
two theories. According to one the force 01 the
wind had driven the latter portion of the train from
ne rails, and it had smOte against the framework
Of the bridge with force enough to wrench some
main girder from its connecting beams ana 80 the
whole structure had fallen in pieces According to
the second the force OF the wind had been sufficient
10 sweep away bridge and tram together; and this
theory / believe is that which the engineer
ing mind is disposed to accept Thsre have
always been, l hear people who shook
their heads over the construction of the work
You have published, no doubt, suihcieht account
Of the bridge and will touch only on such points
essential TO this theory. Ihere was 700 huc"
cast iron in if. say some Its extreme narrowness
was one of It's most striking features. From motives
Of economy. it was built to carry only single line
Of rail. and it's width did not exceed fifteen feet,
while its height in the central portion above the
water was 1870 feet. ! was told to-day that great
fun to whom the contract for the bridge was lrst
pfoilered doclIned it on this very ground Ihey ana
hot believe a bridge could be built of these
dimensions two miles long by - feet broad ana
l3o feet high which could be safe in such sItua-
ton. About the two shore ends they had no dliii-
Guilty bat out Of the two niles Of the entire length
the middle was the part where dangers OF many
kinds had to be guarded against This central
rort;o, ID fo,O foaf