The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-06-01

between the bars and cried, Oh, don't say he
is deldi Don't say he is dead! Tell me he Is
alive He must be alive At that moment
two men lifted the body up and carried 1t to
a wagon iii the roadway 1t was taken to
the hospital. and the widow followed, She
said that she and her husband had fallen to
eethei. IN tie crowd at the foot of the stairs,
and that some one had dragged her out,
Smiths body was the last one to be taken
away. don't see why the jam occurred.
The bridge was not much crowded. l heard
some one say it was caused by pickpoekets. "
/ Nh Henry Guy Carleton, who was IN the
crush said ''Ihe lines jostled each other as
they passed-that from New York moving IN
broad column, and that from Brooklyn by
single file At point about 100 yards fr IN
the New York tower a man lost. his hat b. a
o. / of wind As it sailed over the roadway
the crowd stopped to cheer. The passage
was instantly blocked People poured from
both sides toward the scene OF tho
excitement A woman tainted. Her
escort Il brawny laborer, struck
rieht and left to compel thoSe
about to give way, The pack grew denser.
4 policeman leaped to the railing and ordered
the crowd toward the New York side Ube
uient the mass pushed with one accord IN
that direction One hundred yards further
down men urged the mass toward Brooklyn.
The mistake was instantly followed by
shrieks and Oaths from those crushed where
the pressure concentrated In moment
the pack was complete, and men,
women, and children fought desperately
to gain the railing. A girl threw her arms
about the neck of man i'll front of her.
With an oath he turned and struck her twice
in the face An old man, with one arm free,
belabored the heads of all he could reach with
his cane A young mother held her babe
/ above her head, begging for some strong man
to take it and save it. A drunken Irish
woman backed up against the railing, and
scratched, and bit, and yelled Ike a
cat in trap Suddenly came an
overwhelming pressure from the Brook
Iyn side, and the struggling mass was
commitment of shrieks and yells to which
| every one contributed The first portion Of
the crowd managed to descend in safety
Then woman tainted and fell Several mel
| stopped to pick her up Others behind we've
pushed over them, and in few seconds the
| last stairs were covered four deep with men,
| women, and children, with the crowd tramp
ing above"
SAFEGUARDS FOR THE FUTURE.
| The universal comment this morning re
| specting the bridge horror is that the same
accident is liable to happen at any time, Mt
unless the steps are abolished, or least divided
for the two streams of pedestrians. The SUI
perintendent of the bridge, Mr. Martin, makes
| the following statement: The footpath il
certainly no safe place for such crowds as
pass over the bridge. 1t was not intended tc
accommodate any such travel as we are hav
| inc. As to the steps, it had been decided tx
! put a railing up and down the middle, tc
divide people going one way from those going
| the other The railing would have beer
! carried up some way beyond the top of the
! steps, of course. We should carry it prob
| ably hundred feet along This was one OF
the alterations we had already determined
upon, and is to be made at once. Then We
are going to place side ratings on the steps q
| little further back We can widen the pas
| sage by placing the ratings further apart
and against the cables and this is to be done
r., Gould not the steps be dispensed with"
was asked
! We'll, we could build what is called a
/ ramp, an inclined plane, from the top of the
| steps 10 a point farther down the bridge but
/ there would be the same danger in making
| the grade any sleeper, especially in wet OF
| Icy weather"
| To the supCrintendent'S statement NAV bt
added that the fact is now obvious that dur
| ing those hours of the day when transit l.
most Jively, and on holidays and Sundays
| there viii always be danger of a heavy crush
similar to that of yesterday unless means OF
relieving it lie devised. Not even the bridge
| cable track nor the cars, now nearly com
| pleted, viii prevent the r'1lsh at those times
INCIDENTS.
| Althuukh the loss of life occurred at thu
| stairway, the crush of people was as great
| just about the steps, and the scene there re
| sembled paniemonium. Men and womef
| shouted, For Gods sake save us ~ aud other
| shieked out commands to the crowds t
| press back Hats, canes, umbrellas anC
| packages were thrown away The womeI
seemed helpless, while men who ought t,
! have known better, stood yelling and shout
| ing and too bewildered to climb up the girdei7
when they had the chance,
1t was out Of this struggling, panic
| stricken mob that the rescuerS on the girder
saved scores of children, and helped manl
grown people to save themselves, but it wa
| at the stairway where the helpless men an,
women met their deaths, and here the seem
| was heaItTendng.
The first res uers TO reach the spot foun,
the dead and dying wedged together in tn
narrow space as if they had been fastened II
ii vice; So tightly were they packed ant
squeezed, that from dozens of persons bloot
| was ooaing from ears and noses
The bodies were piled four or five deep a
the foot Of the stairway, and most of thos
| at the bottom were women.
The tiis,t person pulled out was a stou
woman who had worn a blue dress Shred
| of the dress We're hanging to the waiStband
| bat every particle of her clothing from tn,
waist down had been stripped frola he
| person Strangely enough the woman
| was only slightly hurt, and the gen
tleman who was with her escaped with
few bruises and the loss of his hat. Taking
off his torn coat he wrapped it around TIL
| woman and the two then hurried off tn,
| bridge together,
Another man was pulled ont of the with
| ING mass almost unhurt, while the child HI
held inshis arms was terribly crushed
A little boy was taken out with his leg
badly hurt, but forgetting his pain h,
Kept crying out, Save my papa! oh, say,
my papa" Then a man struggle,
loose from the human pile in tn,
stairway, seized the child, covered his fac,
with kisses, and hurried Off with the littl
fellow in his arms. Many of the less Severed,
wounded made their way down the plank
which WOrlmen had leaned against the rail
ings into the roadways, where they walkat
away or were helped into passing wagons anG
carried off the bridge.
SNUB FOR A PRINCE.