The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-06-07
A Frightful Disater.

,, tism on Wednesday, May 30th. In crust
[ which occurred, apparently by accident. OF
{ the New York anchorage. a number O.
persons, mostly women and children wer,
crushed, some to death, some fatally, an(
, still others severely.
A scene of terror reigned for fully fifteel
or twenty minutes that battles description
When it was over cart-loads of wounded
and crushed human beings were taken out
of the New York entrance OF the bridge
A small mountain of torn and abandoned
clothing was gathered up by the police.
The accident occurred on the New Y ork
anchorage where the solid bottom of the
middle footway ends and two flights OF
seven steps each, with an intermediate
landing, lead upto the plank-walk between
New FORK anchorage and the tower. 1t
was shortly after O'Clock The bridge
was crowded from one end to the other, SO
that there was hardly elbow-room on the
footway. A woman who was ascending
the lower flight of steps stumbled and fell
on the landing. The crowd pressed upon
erick Richards, who was ON the plank-walk
above, seeing her danger, elbowed his way
to the spot and lifted her up, when the
crowd closed upon them both, and they
went down. With desperate effort Off
Ger Richards got upon his feet once more.
dragging the woman after him. She
screamed again in despair and fright, and
the crowd above and below pressed toward
the spot to discover the cause OF the com.
motion
The crush then became fearful Those
trying to approach below the steps were
carried forward in solid mass. Many
| stumbled, and unable to resist the pressure
from behind the scrowd passed over them.
From above, the crowd coming from
Brooklyn was carried to the edge of the
steps, and then fell over and down upon
the struggling mass below. A terrible
struggle for life began. Men and women
fought with the strength of despair against
each other Escape was impossible with
the pressure from both sides growing at
every shout of anguish that went ND from
the dying and those who saw death before
their eyes. Fear and despair on one side. |
curiosity on the other fought for mastery. |
The frightful crush was denser than ever.
when after nearly fifteen minutes a score |
of militiamen of the Twelfth regiment.
commanded by Lieutenant Hart and Ser
geants Couldock and Costello, marched ND
the approach toward Brooklyn, and the
yellS OF the crowd attracted their attention.
AT the foot of the steps the wall Of human
bodies was piled higher. The dense mass
surged about it and in it. The soldiers saw
two policemen vainly struggling against
it, Sergeant Couldock took in the situa-
ton at a glance, and at bis word of com
mand his men scaled the fence and railroad
track separating them from the foot-wall,
and. wedging into the mass of people near
the scene OF disaster, drove back the crowd
at the New Y ork entrance at the muzzle
of their guns. 1t fell back slightly. and
the mllitiamen, following up the advan-
tage gained, forced it back until the ap-
proach was cleared. Then, forming front
across the foot-walk, they prevented the
crowd from passing back, while as many I
of their number as could be spared ran
toward the scene of the accident to help in
extricating the dead and saving the living.
An alarm had meanwhile been given at the
bridge entrance. A general call for all hos
pltal ambuances was sent out, and police
men were hurried over upon the bridge
from their station beside City Hall. Fire
men Observation-Disclosures company followed
to assist. The crowd on the footwalk
above the steps was constantly receiving
accesslons, and still pressing on and over
the heap on the anchorage. The bodies of
dead and dying lay here so firmly wedged
together that to eXtricate them was next
to impossible. To beat back the crowd
was equally impossible. Relief was posi-
bic only by making room for the crowd to
spread sideways 1t was quickly DONE
Willing hands tore away the iron railing
dividing the footway from the railroad
track on both sides, and dragged those who
were nearest in the crush through the
opening. Room was made for the police
men to reach the frightful heap of human
llesh, and the work OF clearing it away be-
gan. AS soon us u portion of the obstruc-
ton was removed from the steps the crowd
was eased and q portion was let through to
The New York station. The rest was
forced back until all of the bodies had been
5aken away. Along the iron fences, on the
on the railroad track and on tie {
on both sides OF the bridge
he dead and wounded were laid Many l
others were more or less terribly injured
They lay six, eight and ten deep ; those i'll
he lower tier long dead. The clothes were Y
orn from the body of more than one in the |
Ittempt to get them out. All were hat {
ess, many shoeless, and on others the t
'lothes hung in rags. Five women, all dead /
md trampled into unshapely masses, were l
aiken from the bottom of the heap. S
One woman had been seen in the crash I
'olding screaming baby above the heads
Il the crowd as she herself went down.
'ome man had taken the baby. 1t was not I
ound. 1t was said that a man had been
cen carrying a dead baby away, but the Q
olice had no account Of it. Baby clothing
catered about gave evidence enough that V
weak infants had been in the crush. The
voman whom Bridge Officer Richards had
elped to her feet at the beginning of the
rush was saved. Richards also escaped by L
esperate efforts. In speaking of the oc-
urrence afterwards, he said that there was b
10 chance of restoring order from the first;
hat the one first scream was the DEATH C
nell OF many in that crowd. 1t grew at I
nee utterly ungovernable and so dense S
hat movement Of any kind was impossi- t
lie. The crowd, forced by constant pres J
IRE byaccessions from the Brooklyn side, V
vent over the steps like cataract, and e
nee started fell until the walk lay piled s
With bodies to the height Of the steps, and Q
hen went over and fell down beyond it. q
\ dead Chinaman, All Lo Sing, was taken b
rom the bottom Of the heap. Carts were t
ressed into service on the New York side
S they arrived, and the dead and injured II
we're hurriedly driven out to the City Hall, s
where they were laid in the police station C
Il the basement. Ambulances then arrived. a