Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-06-07
BAD FOR THE BRIDGE.
The Newly Opened East River Bridge the Scene
ora Shocking Disaster by which Twelve
Persons Lose Their Lives and
Score are Wounded.
WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER,

WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER.
New York, May 3o.--When the rain
was over, this afternoon, the BROOKLYN
bridge began to threaten blockade.
Many people strolled over to BROOKLYN
and then turned back without leaving
the bridge. Thousands were coming
over from Brooklyn, returning from
the cemeteries or taking advantage of a
holiday to see the bridge. There were
not SO many ON the bridge. but they
seemed inclined to loiter. There would
be an open space of from fifty to one
hundred feet. and then would come a
dense jam. One OF these jams formed
at O'Clock, a short distance from the
flight OF steps on the New York an
chorage. These steps are over the
point where the cables emerge from the
anchorage. They are fourteen feet
| broad and in
TWO FLIGHTS OF SEVEN STEPS
each, broken by landing eight feet
| across, The treads of the steps are a
loot broad and the total rise Of the two
| lights Is about nine feet. This first lam
formed in the narrow pathway beyond
the steps. A bridge policeman broke
It up and started the line moving.
The crowd from Brooklyn met the
crowd from New York and TANNED
| again at the foot of the stairs. The
Brooklyn crowd completely covered
the footpath above the stairs and the
New York crowd covered it below the
stairs. The former attempted TO push
down and the latter to push up. Those
| pehind pressed forward and the women
| ana children were thrust against the
IRON railing of the steps and around
the railroad track, which begins at the
head of the steps. They. began to
scream with pain and terror. Some
BODY shouted that there was danger,
ana the impression prevailed that
THE BRIDGE WAS GIVING WAY.
AT that the crowd on the boardwalk
above the steps press on toward New
York more furiously, while those below
on the asphalt knew they were in no
| danger, and did not move.
A woman held her baby over the
trestle-work and begged some one to
take 1t. Men climbed out on the trestle
work and down to the railroad tracks
outside. The bridge men on the south
roadway laid planks from the roadbed
to the footpath below the stairs. They
did this on both sides of the footpath
and removed the section of iron fence
nearest the steps. They pulled out
women from the jam and helped people
down the planks. This gave the Brook
lyD crowd chance to move, and it
surged forward few feet. The bridge
officers ran along the string pieces of
the trestle work and turned back to
Brooklyn, those who were on the south
side OF the path. But as soon as the
officers passed by these people forced
around again. Nobody expected
THE TRAGEDY
that was coming. A half dozen rough
looking young men punched themselves
together some three hundred feet above
the stairs. They laid hands on each
others shoulders and forced them
selves like wedge into the crowd
ahead. They shouted out: 1.-The -
association can make its way through
anything In the fierce struggle that
followed woman fell, and Instantly
there was great heap of humanity
piled up. The following account is
given by person who was in the crush:
"From the mass of bodies of the dead
and the dying
SOME CRAwLED OUT
by themselves. A company of the 18th
New York regiment worked hard in
dragging them out. twenty-five
seemed to be nearly dead. They were
laid along on the north and south sides
OF the pathway, and the people from
Brooklyn passed on between them.
Men and women turned faint at the
sight of the swollen and blood-stained
faces of the dead. Four men, a lad, six
women, and girl of Is were quite dead
or died in a few moments, They had
been found on the asphalt at the bot
tom of the heap. : A man lay under a
mass of writhing humanity, shrieking
for water. Before he was reached he
had ceased to breath. Beneath the body
of a young girl lay an infant, its face
crushed toa pulp. A women was extri.
Gated from between two bars of the rail.
ing. She
| MoANED ONCE OR TWICE
as she was being carried across the rail.
way, but died as the men laid her on the
drive. The police stopped grocers'
wagons coming from Brooklyn, and car.
rying the bodies of the wounded and
dying down the planks to the railroad,
laid them in the wagons, and told the
owners to hurry to the Chambers street
hospital
Six bodies were laid in one wagon.
The drivers whipped up their horses
and drove with full speed to the hospital
Vigorous efforts were made to resusci.
tate those who still lay on the walk.
lce-water was brought from the New
York entrance, and doctors who were
in the crowd volunteered their services.
As
THE LAST BODY
was placed in wagon hook and lad
der company came dashing up from
Brooklyn. 1t was not until the dead
wagons came out into Park Row that the
public knew anything of the catastro-
| phe. The wagons were followed off the
bridge by women crying for their child.
rem and by men crying for their wives
ANOTHER VERSION.
From the New York Sun: There was
a crush at the steps at the New York
approach to the Brooklyn bridge this
afternoon. A panic followed, and al
least fourteen persons were killed and
as many wounded. The crush began
shortly before f. At that hour there
were thousands of people on the bridge,
most of them coming from Bro oklyn.
The air was clear and brisk, and PEG.
| pie walked rapidly. AS the crowd APP.
| preached the short flight of steps, those
in front pushed back for fear they
would be precipitated over the steps, 9
distance of about six feet. These PEG.
pie, in drawing back from the steps,
made
THE NUCLEUS OF THE JAM,
for thousands behind them pushing or
unheeding. Almost Instantly people
began to shout, .'Stand back and
''Give us room" Meanwhile the CROWD
from New York, which was at the foot
of the stairs got blocked. The mer
at the head of the New York crowd
fought their way back. leaving clear
ed space at the foot of the steps. The
shouting and crowding from the Brook,
Ign side increased. 1t was utterly mex.
plicable. People in the advance guard
of the Brooklyn throng were pushed
in spite of themselves toward the steps
They seemed to have