The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-06-07
DEATH On THE BIG BRIDGE.
:, scene of Terror In Sew york.

NEW ioEK, May 20. \ terrible &c.
cident occurred on Brooky Bridge at
halfpast o'clock today. The bridge
was crowded 10 its utmost capacity. On
the platform at the New York tower the
jam became 80 great that many tainted.
y cry Of distress Was raised and y dread.
full struggle began between the panic
stricken crowds coming east and west.
4 number were, it is reported, crushed
TO death In the end the crowd coming
from the Brooklyn side prevailed and
rushed towards tie New York anchor.
age, trampling down everything in the
"ay. Men, women and children were
troddcn under foot, and falling down the
steps leading to the tower platform were
buried under Il mass of struggling hu.
uanty many feet high.
As soon as the news of the disaster
was conveyed to the New York station
by the onset Of the panic stricken crowd
the police were called and the bridge
was closed. The work Of removing the
crushed and wounded then began a
number were taken To the City Hall
police station and others to the Chambers
street hospital. The police report that
| 1t; least ten or fifteen were killed, but az
yet it w:ls impossible to say who or how
many. OF tie seven wounded who are
III the City Hal! station one, Il. Reiclers,
"A cigar maker, Of 3}J Delaney street, is
hom dying. The excitement at the en-
trance To the bridge is intense.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
New YORK. May 80 The Brooklyn
bridge received 4 dreadful baptism to.
day. Ia a crush that occurred apparent.
| ly by accident on the New York anchor.
age number Of persons, mostly women
and children, were crushed, some to
death, some fatally, and still others
severely. a scene of terror rcigned for
fully fifteen or twenty minutes that
battles description. When it was over
carloads Of wounded and crushed human
beings were taken out Of the New York
entrance Of the bridge. A small noun.
tain of torn and abandoned clothing was
gathered up by The police. The accident
occurred on the New York anchorage
where the solid bottom of the middle
footway ends, and two flights of seven
steps, each with al intermediate landing
| lead up to the pank-walk of the span
between the New York anchorage aud
| the town. II WAS shortly after / o'clock.
The bridge was crowded from one end to
| the other, so that there was hardly elbow
| room on the footway. A woman who
was ascending the lower flight Of steps
stumbled and fell on the landing. The
crowd pressed upon her aud she shriekcd
| Bridge Officer Frederick Richards, who
| was on the plank. walk above, seeing her
danger, clbowed his way to the spot and
lifted her up. The crowd closed upon
them both, and they went down With
desperate effort Officer Richards got
| upon his feet once more, dragging the
woman after him. She screamed again
in despair and fright, and the crowd
| above and below pressed toward the spot
| to discover the cause Of commotion
| The crush Immediately became fearful.
Those OH the approach below the steps
we're carried forward in solid mass ;
many stumbled and unable to resist the
pressure from behind the crowd passed
over them From above the crowd COM
ing from brooklyn was carried to the
| edge of the steps and then fell over and
| down upon the struggling mass below
a terrible struggle for life began men
and women fought with the strength of
despair against each other. Escape was
impossible with the pressure from both
sides growing at every shout Of anguish
that went up from the dying and those
who saw death before their eyes. Fear
and despair OH one side, curiosity on the
other, fought for mastery. The frightful
crush was dcnscr than ever, when after
nearly fifteen minutes n score Of militia
men, of the Twelfth Regiment, led by
Lieut.. Hart and Sergts. Couldock and
Castcllo, marched up the approach to-
ward Brooklyn. The yells Of the crowd
! attracted their attention. AT the foot Of
the steps the
WALL. OF HUMAN BODIES
was piled high. a dense mass surged
about it and in it, The soldiers saw two
policemen yainly struggling against it.
Sergt. Couldock took in the situation at
glance. At his word of command his
men scaled the fence and railroad track
separating them from the foot walk and
wedging in the mass of people near the
scene of disaster drove back the crowd
| at the New York entrance at the muzzle
! of their guns. 1t fell back slightly, and
the militiamen following up the advan-
tage gained forced it back until the ap.
proach was cleared. Then forming front
across the footwalk they prevented the
crowd from passing back, while as many
| of their number rs could be spared ran
toward the scene OF the accident to help
in extricating the dead and saving the
living. The alarm had meanwhile been
given at the bridge entrance. A general
call for all hospital ambulances was
sent out and policemen were hurried
| over upon the bridge from their station
beside the City Hall. The fremen of
the hook and ladder company followed
to assist them. The crowd on the foot
| walk above the steps was constantly re-
| ceiying accessions 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
| extricate them was next to impossible.
To beat back the crowd was equally i'm
possible. Relief was possible only by
making room for the crowd to spread
sideways. It was quickly done. Will.
ing hands tore away the iron railing
| dividing the footway 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 heap of
human flesh, and the work of clearing it
| away began. AS soon IA portion of
the obstruction was removed from the
| steps the crowd was eased, and portion
was let through to the New York station
! and the rest was forced back until all the
bodies had besn taken away.
Aloug the iron fence on the footway,
| on the railroad track and on the carriage.
way on both sides of the bridge the dead
and wounded were laid. Many were
dead when extricated from the heap,
others were more or less terribly injured.
They lay six, eight and ten deep.