St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-06-08
Disaster OH the Brooklyn Bridge.
MANY PERSONS KILLED AND LARGE
NUMBER INJURED IN CRUSH.

dreadful accident occurred on the /
New York anchorage of the great
Brooklyn bridge on Wednesday, the
Both, by which several persons. mostly I
women and children, were killed, and |
large number more or less seriously |
hurt. 1t was about four o'clock, and |
the bridge was crowded from one end |
to the other, so that there was hardly
elbow room on the foot way. A wo-
man who was ascending the lower flight
of steps stumbled and fell on the land
ing. The crowd pressed upon her and
she screamed. This created something
of panic, the crowd surging forward
to learn the cause of the connection.
Immediately the crush became fearful.
Those on the approach below the steps
were carried forward in Il solid mass.
Many stumbled, and unable to resist
the pressure from behind, the crowd
passed over them. From above the
crowd coming from Brooklyn was car
ried to the edge of the steps and then
fell over and down upon the struggling
mass below.
Then began terrible struggle for
life. Men and women fought with the
strength of despair against each other.
sure from both sides growing ut every
shout of anguish that went up from the
diving and those who saw death before
their eyes. Fear and despair on one
side. curiosity on the other, fought for
mastery. 1t was not until Il score of
militiamen of the 18th regiment, on
their way to Brooklyn, scaled the fence
and railway track separating them from
! the foot walk, and drove back the peO-
pie at the New York entrance, that the
crush was i'll any measure relieved.
Soon Il body of police and tremen
reached the scene. They found the sit
uatiOn unaltered on the bridge. The
crowd on the foot walk above the steps
was constantly receiving accesSioms
and still pressing on and over the heap
on the anchorage. The bodies of the
dead and dying lay here so firmly
wedged together that to eXjricate them
was next to impossible. To beat back
the crowd was equally impossible.
Relief was now only possible by max
ing room for the crowd to spread side
ways. 1t was quickly done. Willing
hands tore away the iron railing divid
ing the foot way from the railroad
track on both sides and dragged those
who were nearest in the crush through
| the opening. Room was made for the
policemen to reach the frightful heaps
of human flesh and work at clearing it
away began. As soon as a portion of
| the obstruction was removed from the
steps the crowd was eaSed and Il pOT-
| ton was let through to the New York
station. The rest was forced back I'M
| til all the bodies had been taken away.
| Then it was let through and body of
policemen at the point of danger kept
it from pressing there. Along the iron
fences on the foot way, on the railroad
track and on the carriage way on both
sides of the bridge the dead and wound
ed were laid.
The woman whom Bridge Officer
| Richards had helped to her feet at the
! beginning of the crush was saved.
Richards also escaped death by desper-
ate efforts. In speaking of the occur
renee afterwards he said there was no
chance of restoring order from the first.
That one first scream was the death
| knell of many in that crowd. 1t grew
at once utterly ungOvernable and so
dense that movement of any kind was
| impossible. The crowd forced by con-
slant pressure and accession from the
| Brooklyn side went over the steps like
Il cataract, and once started, fell until
the walk lay piled with bodies to the
| height of the steps then went over
and fell dCvn beyond it.
There were hcartrending scenes at
the police station when body was
recognized by friends. An ample force
of police took possession of the New
| York entrance as soon as possible after
the accident. The middle fOOt-way
was closed to travel and the current of
! those anxious to cross was turned into
the downstream wagon way. Appar-
emily no measures were taken at Brook
| Ign to stop travel for at least time
| On the New York approach travel was
also diverted from the fcOt-way and
turned into the wagon road. Instead
of decreasing, however, it grew con
stantly as rumors of the disaster began
to fly through Brooklyn. The rumors
had it that the bridge had fallen and
that hundreds had been crushed.
The dead that were pulled ont from
underneath the human avalanche on
| the anchorage were black in the face,
showing that they had died from sutfo-
cation. John Strick, IL Grand Army
man of Kottc's post, helped five girls
from the crowd, where they were
.jammed in tightly. a big man, appar-
rently Il German, was pushing them
and struggling with them on the bridge,
as if his only purpose was to get them
down to save himself. \ crowd of
roughS pressed in behind the crowd
coming from Brooklyn and fought their
way through it with oaths and ribald-
ry and over the bodies of the dead. 1t
was said that there were thieves who
profited 10y the opportunity and helped
| to precipitate the catastrophe. Their
chances were unlimited. When the APP
proach was cleared at last it was liter
ally covered with articles of clothing
and personal property abandoned i'll
the struggle. They were viewed with
amazemcnt by the people coming over
! from brooklyn, who had not heard of
the disaster in the excitement of the
crush.