Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-05-31
FURTHER PARTICULARS.
How the Panic Which Caused the Hor.
ror ORIGINATED.


rOr ORIGINATED.
From tie N7C York Sun Extra.
new YORK, May 30.-There was q crush
at the steps at the New York approach to
the Brooklyn bridge this afternoon. A
panic followed, and at least fourteen per-
sons were killed and many more wounded.
The crush began shortly before four o'clock.
At that hour there were thousands OF peo-
pie on the bridge, most OF them coming
from Brooklyn. The air was clear and
brisk and the people were walking rapidly.
As the crowd approached the short flight
of steps, those in front
Pushed Back
for fear they would be precipitated over
the steps, distance of about six feet.
These people in drawing back from the
steps made the nucleus of jana, for the
thousands behind them pushed on unhead-
ing. Almost Instantly the people began
to hout stand back, and give us room" F."
Meanwhile the crowd from New York
whieh:was at the foot OF the steps got
blocked. Men at the head of the New
York crowd fought their way back leay-
ing a clear space at the foot OF the steps.
The shouting and crowding from the
Brooklyn side increased. 1t was
Utterly Inexplicable.
People in the advance guard OF the
Brooklyn threng were pushed in spite OF
themselves toware the steps. They seemed
to have horror OF going over the steps, al
though the flight is only five or six feet
high. They locked arms and pushed furi-
ously back against the thousands coming
steadily over from Brooklyn. In
a few inmates, at point Just
yielding to the frightful pressure from be-
hind, and the front of the crowd was
forced nearer and nearer to the edge OF the
steps. Women and children were scream
ing for help, and men were shouting con-
fusedly. Umbrellas, parasols and canes
were thrown over the rails at the side by
by people who needed their hands to. fight
their way out of the desperate crowd. At
last with
A Single Shrek
that cut through the clamor Of thousands
of voices, a young girl who lost her footing
on the perilous edge fell headlong. She
struck the pathway at the foot OF the steps,
and lay for q moment. She raised
herself on her hands and would have
got up, but in another moment she
was buried deep under the bodies OF others
who fell over the steps after her. She was
dead when they got her out, more than
half an hour afterward. The men sprang
upon the rails at the side and warned the
crowds back from both the New York and
Brooklyn sides, but the people continued
to crowd on toward the steps. No police
were in sight. Every minute
The Excitement Grew Worse.
Men in the crowd lifted their children
above their heads to save them from the
crush. People were still paying their
pennies at both gates and swarming in.
At last the people of the New York end
understood what was happening. The
gates were closed and word sent TO Brook
lyn to close the gates there. Messengers
were sent to the Police Station in Oak
street, but before any outside help came
the bridge police, assisted by citizens, had
impressed two grocers' wagons into am-
bulance service. They were
Loaded Up with Dead and Dying
and driven Off the bridge, followed by
crowds OF distracted men and women. As
the wagons came out on the street they
were obliged to stop to allow brilliantly
uniformed band, playing gay music, to
pass up Chatham street. Twelyes dead
bodies had been laid in the basement of
the Chambers Street Hospital at six
O'Clock.
Itwas not until the dead wagons came
out that the public knew anything of the
catastrophe. The wagons were followed
off the bridge by women crying for their
children and by men crying for their wives.
Several of
The women Were Half Naked
and many had on only rags. One woman
had had both her shoes torn of. Almost
all were bare headed. There were hun
dreds of them disheveled and crying.
Their faces were white, and in many in
stances were covered with dust and dirt.