The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1888-02-15
CRUSHED BY TONS OF IRON.


-FOUR PERSONS xlLLkD OUTRIGHT
AND RLkEkN lXJUkkh
Fear Elevated RAhlrseA Rsrserv, vita = Der
rsek. E>elss, and 1&sler> Tsnhis Down
On = street Csr ras~s.x neneath-A fars
81 20 Gar Grained e spiinter~
Niles and miles OF elevated railroad struc-
ture have been bailt In tho last tew years In this
dig and brooklyn over lines Of surface car
tracks On which travel has not been interrupts
ID There xas hardly . car Of tho thousands
that Aave thus been In that did NOT ION.
tain ono or more passengers thas UNDERSTOOD
the faet. Only tho other DAY In Q brosoway
or. Brooklyn. tho writer saw an elderly gsnue-
man jump Oh tho platform. run aionG inc sido-
uaik. and again board tho car. Whisn In tho
moan tino passed under n swinging girder thas
vas being hoisaed into its place on the Union
Nevatsd Railrosd- Tho conductor laughed at
Mn and received this response: 1T may not
N many DAYS before you will SEQ that I I'm
,sht." About six weeks ago some Rirders and
.hoisinx machine fell AT Fulton street and
Natb<sh avenue. and narrowly missed crush
IN, = boaded street car thai had Just passed
undepedth.
CIR III OF tho Reid avenue line. slowly pro-
c>>dips up the steep grade OF broadway,
BrotIyn. shortly before 10 O'Clock yesterday
morning. mar or may not have had some
ono aboard With f~orebodin2s OF danger as 1t
psared tho spoS whore q gang OF men who
vore huryinE TO finish up ono contractors
section o. tho work on tho elevated railroad
there. Nothing was said Of such forebodinGs,
and no one from tho car ran around tho place
where tho mon wee al work. There was no
mass OF iron swinging in tho air and no ap-
pcarsnce Of danger in tho work that was being
done-tho moving Of q big platform and no
hosting Of machinery over a newly placed sec
tion OF longitudinal girders. But car III was
doomed TO disaster hero, and tho shifting Of
tho derrick platform. or traveller. under tho
methods OF these structure builders. was tho
most hazardous part Of their work.
Car III was half under tho platform Of tho
hosting machinery when 1t was crushed under
fifty tons of iron work, timber. n wreckage.
and hidden in a cloud OF steam that poured
from the boiler connected with the derrick.
Its driver. Thomas Thompson. was crushed
and manaied almost beyond recognition. Two
Of the passengers. Matthias Minder and John
Piel. xsre MORALLY hurt: the conductor and
SEVERAL including q young woman
nsned NuAiie Brown. Civil Justiee-elect John
Pssersan- and several others were more or
e. sss in5TseT sr. MIA m .he i s6ee and Of n .ne s1es sSsa
man we're lilsd outright. and few were nnhurt.
Cars and vehicles Of ali kinds were near at
hsad on either side. and tho WONDER was that
20 moro were caught, A heavily laden lumber
froo, 81 Y. links butcher shop at GAS Broad
WY vas crushed and Its horse killed Its
sni'5 iu Fss.,sr'e aas se apen ih had ia ssss driven r Se
horssss Of car ~ xeo killed Tho car was
s sSsN Ih a. e tn its 8, iG ,Iis 1, half IlkS an Nsi sfF
shook The ground ike an earthquake Tor
blocks around. and tho crash was hoard much
further, This and tho blocking up OF broadway.
Ing . vast crowd to collect In . few minutes.
They swamed about tho wreck in foolhardy
I1ckcd and strained structure. Some q them
bad = they hardly knew how, and had
scon on hand. sergeant Richard Smith q
isssrvos 1 Seinas soon sssnj joined St Ss help 1 from a nis
joining p~rocincta a hasty use OF the derrick
t ,So s:, yss tn %. sssis. I II iee w91s t ssse srasd as sWss
on each side, A irs-alarm signal and calls for
~ the ambplances sent out at tho same time
S's % nspa ss,a l 10. III The .sf fire%sp ss aSd H,s9 A PsGmEstt
kanniPg: worked 6rnveiy and well; and Am NIB
Joy found work enough, to do among tho in
iuIed, The light wreck Of the house over tho
were GOT out irst. Or who scrambled out them,
selves. Thoy were Michael Cosgrove. the engi-
neer. and Charles Shafer. q. son OF tho fore:
about the back. but yoqng Shafer WAS unhurt.
The other mon whose. hurts were inconsider-
able were also near the top, and It was only
when the firsmeD got to work with saws and
hammers and great timber prizes that the
psngled and dead were uncovered. The car
had sprung from tho platform. but had been
ssauEht 6y the la1 Of the heavy Iron girder
Patrick Clask and Charles kirchner. two Of the
Rlrder. dead. The Witnesses Of the accident
say they were not much hurt by tho fall. but
s ssIH a, 4esate p, , iss if fsot. an as at1lGa 0 %snas eaos Z
passenger on the car. and John Frieh. an ele-
vated railroad wort were taken out uncon-
whore hend.r died late last evening. The
that Mere hsld away nom i By the police line
Ing liz RoToss,. Tho sm6alaness wore ssi not idle,
- staIs.is " p%eis sS,s Do'e oth se1sS VOTE lo M Q evs%
the stu moro CHASTITY burdens OF tho dead on
stretehoIs to tho station house This work
1sns closed until 8 O'clock II the %sIItornoon
summer avenue irnek half a block below The
s HsY sS OF ,, ,hs accident +. W,. and drum run back to Broad
eo nls stt se1% q TIT Inc /, b = ~ \, aeT TsHTt Coins tn
pan, was to 10 joined by thai, Of tho Cooper
East Ninth street. New York. who Is 40 year
Old and has beon thirty yeara working for tn,
Comells. was In Immediate charge Of the men
He vas the superintendent Of tho hosting
erection and placing Of the strtngers an
Etrden Of the structure and the moving ant
ssal laass q n sss saG.ssia 81 d sSSs1a.as f 3 w sSs
B. Gardiner Of l94 Ross street. Brooklyn, an,
Ihirty-fourth street. New York. Neither Q
them was presant al the time of tho accident
but they t0o charge Of the gangs from
ether parts OF tho road that were orderet
talk about tho acoident, saying that they wen
lot there and did not know how It happened
4 gentleman who was not there. either, told
nember Of the American Society OF Civil En-
gineers and an expert In engineering matters
He first pointed out, as he looked back aloDl
tho completed spans Of the structure. tina
neeariy every longitudinal girder was sprung
nlls, especially as to It's top chord. After tn,
cross braces are In this Ii OF no consequence. a
the Stiffness they impart is amply sufficient
PIT r. the sbsenee Of the GROSS braces this ne
strain. The Orders are Of plate iron al
inch thick. and enclosed by a riyetet
Frame Of six Inch angle iron. They are sixt,
ieet long and four feet deem. and when SGT nj
And brared In pairs they form u very stiff ant
e0lld truss ON which the railroad trapka ar,