Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-05-30
The Brooklyn Bridge.

The desirability of some connecting
link beside the unreliable ferry boat
between the two cities has beensfelt for
years. but the supposed impossibility OF
building bridge that would be safe and
reliable without practically running the
immense shipping business of the East
river was an unsurmountable barrier until
an engineer was found in the person OF
John A. Roebling bold enough to apply
the new theory of a suspension bridge 10
the project. Although the possibility Of
building suspension bridge of the mag
nitude of this one was thought by the
civil engineers of his time to be an utter
impossibility still with the example of the
Niagara suspension bridge fresh in the
minds of all he found believers enough to
form company for its erection and in
1867 the legislature of New York passed
an act incorporating the New York bridge
company and Mr.. Roebling was appointed
chief engineer but in making surveys in
1869 he had his foot crushed in ferry
boat slip. In few days lock;jaw sat in
and he died in sixteen days. His son
Washington A. Roebling was appointed
bis successor as chief engineer and he has
carried his fathers work to completion.
In the building of the bridge many new
engineering problems came up but were
carried on to successful completion. Some
figures of the magnitude of the work
will not prove uninteresting. The towers
are 275 feet above high water mark
and are built on caissons that rest on a
ledge that underlies the cities. The
foundation of the Brooklyn tower is 45
feet and the New York tower rs feet below
high water mark.
Four immense cables each composed of
1906 parallel steel wires wrapped in a
solid cylinder, 1854 inches in diane.
ter, support the bridge which is made
with II grade of Sid feet in each 100
feet so that the center of the bridge is
some Is feet higher than at the towers
The bridge is So feet wide and is divided
into five distinct and separate passages
the outside two are for teams, the next
two for rail cars and the central passage,
which is elevated over the others so as to
give an uninterrupted view of the river
and surrounding country, is for boat pas
sengels. The entire length ofsbrdgc and
approaches is 5000 feet and between the
towers it is 1895 feet; a half longer than
any suspension bridge in existence.
While working in the Brooklyn caisson
in 1871, Col. Roebling contracted caisson
disease, and has since been confined to bis
house, but has watched the work on the
bridge from his residence, through a tele-
scope, and with the aid of his wife, who,
upon his being stricken down, studied and
mastered the science of engineering, has
been able to direct and maintain supervis
ion of the work. We are glad to notice
that in recognition of her work she was
granted the honor of being the first per-
son to cross the bridge in a carriage.
Each day since the opening the bridge
has been tbonged with crowds of people
and so great has been the rush that it has
been minated that II large percentage of
the people have been overlooked by the
toll collectors.
DISASTER ON TIE BRIDGE.
Shortly after o'clock on May 3Oth a
dreadful accident happened on the New
York approach to the Brooklyn bridge. 1t
occurred where the masonry ends and the
suspended approach begins; two flights of
seven steps each lead to the elevated foot
path here and a woman who was ascend
ing the lower flight of steps stumbled and
fell on the landing. The crowd pressing
upon her she screamed. An officer imme-
diately went to her assistance and helped
her to her feet but they were crowded
down by the mass and she again screamed,
CduslnS tllc SioWu W Piooo III Whlu. Ill
moment the crush became fearful and
the people on the approach were carried
along and over the steps in solid mass,
and piled in heap of struggling, fighting
and suHocating humanity at the foot of the
steps. Here the bodies of the dead and
dying lay so firmly wedged together THAT
it was next to impossible to extricate them
and the crowd could not be kept back nor
relief had till the railing enclosing the
foot path was torn down and room made
for the crowd to spread sideways. When
the policemen could reach the frightful
heaps OF bodies they lay some six and
eight deep. Twelve persons are known
10 be dead and large numbers more or
less severely hurt. Most of the bodies
taken out were black in the face, showing
death to have been by strangulation