The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-06-02

OO Il - Ga N
sistibly out. Then I found q little
girl who had lost her friends, and
here we are safe, thank God. The
little girl between her sobs said her
, name vas Flora Davis, 81 Lewis
, street.
went on the bridge said Charles
Blieh, SO Third street, Brooklyn, at
about four o'clock, and as / was
approaching the river span I found
u myself unable to move either back
ward or forward. Women and chill
dren commenced screaming, hun
dreds of men climbed with great
difficulty onto the numerous beams
, running over the rails and made
: their way to the carriageway. Many
let themselves drop through between
the beams and were caught by those
beneath. A number of women also
escaped in this way. The police and
| others helped to pull out the dead
and dying and they were laid on the
roadway until ambulances came.
The shrieks of children on the path
way were blood curdling. They
cried "Help, help, save me for Gods
sake" but we were where we could
Ido nothing.
Mr. s. Martin, superintendent of
the bridge, was. seen by reporter a
few minutes after the accident. He
said that five minutes before word
came to my office about the catastrO-
phe. received in answer to my in
quiry that everything was going on
smoothly on the bridge and that
pedestrians were moving along quiet
ly and orderly. l certainly
BILE tragedy, as various accounts have
reached me. / hear, however, that
the panic was brought about by a
gang of pickpockets. New York
policeman had warned us that bunko
men were working on the bridge,
but as more of them were identified
we could do nothing. AS soon as I
heard of the crush I ordered the road
ways thrown open, and people are
going across that way now.
From the Sun "extra:" There was
a crush at the steps at the New York
approach of the Brooklyn Bridge
this afternoon. A panic followed,
and at least fourteen people were
killed and. many wounded. The
crush began a little while be-
fore four o'clock. At that hour
there were thousands of people on
the bridge; most of them coming
from Brooklyn. The air was clear
and brisk, and people were rapidly
walking. AS the crowd approached !
the short flight of steps those in front |
pushed back for fear they would be
precipitated over the steps, q distance
of about six feet. These people, in |
drawing back from the steps, made
the nucleus for the jam, for thou
sands behind them pushed on un-
needing. Almost instantly the peo-
pie began to shout, 'Stand back and
give US room!" Meanwhile the
crowd from the New York side,
which was at the foot of the steps,
got blocked. Men at the head of the
New York crowd fought their way
back, leaving a clear space
at the foot of the steps. The shout
ing and crowding from the Brooklyn
side increased; it was utterly inexpli-
cable. The people in the advance
guard of the Brooklyn crowd were
pushed toward the steps. They
seemed to have horror of going over
the steps, although the flight is only
five to six feet high. They locked
arms and pushed furiously back
against the thousands coming stead
ily over from Brooklyn. In few
minutes at a point just few steps
distant there was slow yielding to
the frightful pressure from rear and
front Of the crowd which was forced
nearer and nearer to the edge of the
steps. Women and children were
screaming for help, and men were
shouting confusedly. Umbrellas,
parasols and canes were thrown over
the rails 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 I
clamor of the thousands of voices, a
Young girl, who had lost her footing
On the perilous edge, fell headlong.
She struck the hatchway at the foot
of the steps, and lay there for a mo-
ment. She raised herself on her
hands, and would have got up, but
in another moment she was buried
four feet 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 af-
terwards. The men sprang up the
rails at the side and waved the crowd
back from the New York and Brook !
lyn side, but the people continued TO
crowd on toward the steps. No po-
lice were in sight. The very great
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 squeezing 1
in. At last the people at the New i
York end of the bridge understood
what was happening, and word was 3
sent to Brooklyn to close the gates; {
then messengers were sent to the po-
lice station in Oak street, but before ,
any outside help came the bridge po- i
lice pressed two grocer wagons into ,
ambulance service. They were load /,
ed up with the dead and dying and
driven off the bridge followed by
crowds of distracted men and women.
Wagons that came out on the street
were obliged to stop to allow bril-
liantlv uniformed bands playing gay
music to pass up Chatham street.
Twelve dead bodies have been laid
in the basement of the Chambers
street hospital It six o'clock. Two t
of the dead were identified as George
Smith and Ellen Riordan. Among {
the injured were F. E. Dale, VIII
hemina Lowe. Thos. Riordan, Mrs.
Charles Vogeler, Mamie Smith, !;
Ella Requa and Frank Barnet. ! !
Among the unconscious were two two :
girl. 1t was not until the dead I
Tagons came out that the public knew I
of the catastrophe. The wagons :
women crying for their children and
by men crying for their wives. Sew
eral of the women were half naked. $
Many had on only rags. One wo- +
man had her shoes torn off. Almost :
ali were bareheaded. There were
hundreds of them disheyeled and
crying; their faces were pale and in !