The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-08-22


Escape from whole sale Loss of Life.
The effects Of the storm in the cit!
were in many respects much more Sc
: verely felt than those Of the storm ant
flood OF July 10.
The loss cannot, from the nature OF it
be estimated vet, but it will reach thou
) sands OF dollars. The storm was 81
steady and so long continued that il
caused II good deal OF alarm. All day
long crowds Of people with umbrellas
lined the creek banks and occupied al
the bridges, and other points of advan
tage from which the raging creek coulC
be watched. The wreckage that CAME
down indicated somewhat OF the char
acter Of the destruction wrought up the
creek. Cross beams from wrecked
bridges and trestlcs, pieces OF fencing
and sections OF buildings came floating
down continually. Evidently much oi
the stuff carried down by the stream was
wreckagc from the flood month ago
left strewn along the valley and now
swept on by the second flood.
Among It were number OF telegraph
poles, having the cross timbers and
glass insulators on, and all new. These
were evidently poles put up by the
Western Union company in place Of
those swept away by the July storm.
THE Il. & o. TREsrLE GOES.
About twenty minutes before o'clock
| in the afternoon u large section OF a
wrecked bridge came bounding down on
| the waves, and struck with crashing
force the new B. & o. trestle which
crossed Wheeling creek at Main and
Sixteenth streets. This trestte was
temporary structure erected after the
other one was swept away by the flood
of July. 1t gave way ut 0nCo and was
carried bodily against the piers OF tho u.
K o. depot, where it went into thou
sand pieces with mighty crash and Il
gigantic commollon in the hurrying
waters, and tho fragments were borne IN
n flash out into the river and halfway
over toward the Island shore. There
they lost their momentum anu were
tloated off down the Ohio. -
The bridge parted from its southern
moorings Just where 1t did before Dut
Mt the northern end about twenty feet OF
the norton carried away at the former
disaster was left on the bank, but 50
wrenched and shattered as to be worth
less.
Nobody had the hardihood this time
to 20 out upon this bridge, but the Main
street stone bridge and the B. Il 0. depot,
as well MS the creek banks in the vicin.
ity, were black with people, and loud
cry went up when the structure gave
way, which quickly brought 'others to
the spot.
In its fall, flying timbeS from the
trestle broke in two panels OF the j.. q
o. depot's east side, furnishing conve-
| nient loopholes for the people to observe
the creek after the accident.
THE STONE BRIDGE DESTROYED.
Abut ten minutes before six o'clock
the old stone bridge on Main street over
the creek, bridge which had stood the
big flood OF '52, the bigger flood OF 'S4,
and all The lesser floods between, gave
way and fell into the rushing water.
The bridge had been crowded with
humanity all afternoon. Just before the
disaster both walls OF 1t were lined with
people, looking at the wreck OF the
lIcnptield treStle on the one side and
the lushing stream on the other. Two
INTELLIGENCER reporters on a tour OF
observation reached the bridge about
5:4j. At that time there must have
been 800 people on IL, the line reaching
from end to end on both sides, and two
or three deep. A huge tree with the
broken branches came with the force OF
battering ram broadside down the
creek, and many people fearing it would
carry the middle pier out and destroy
the bridge, ran for the. firmer ground.
The tree, however, straightened out and
shot through the southern one OF the
two large arches which supported the
bridge. A moment later there was an
urgent cry shouted from the northern
creek bank west of the bridge, "For
Gods sake, run; the bridge is going"
ApAXIo ~ THE CROWD.
This alarm caused a panic. The peo-
ple on the west edge Of the bridge, who
heard the warning, fled in wild dlsmay
to the banks. Those who had not heard
it supposed there was good cause for the
rush Off the bridge, and joined il, and
n struggle ensued which resulted in u
lam OF people, but fortunately nobody
was hurt badly.
The crowd separated, part OF it going
south and part to the north side. Those
last to reach the street on either side
turned and looked back. There was nO
sign o; the bridge giving way, and a
general laugh followed, the impression
being that the alarm was u foolish Jest
Most Of the crowd had been so thorough.
" scared, however, that they did not
care to venture back,
A few, more ventureGomG, did start
back, among these beinga lady. Before
they had taken more than two or three
steps, however, the bridge quivcred aud
trembled beneath their feetas ifwrenched
by an earthquake. Then there was q
slight splash in the waters, audible above
their swish and roar, and tho ground
sank peEceptibly.
As the venturesome spirits retreated
again to tara irmd there was suller
roar, q terrible crash, and
A CLOUD OF YELLOW PoAH
as fine as vapor, flew fifty feet above tht
banks. The middle OF the bridge hat
gone, leaving half Of the two arches
clinging to the abutments on the banks
There was cry OF terror from tht
crowd that had so narrowly escaped NJ
awful death, for not three seconds haC
elapsed since the tirSt rush for safety
Then there was another splash, and tht
two end sections were lying in th'
yeasty mass Of rocks and midland foam
in the creek bed.
The scene OF fright and e3eitGmen
that followed beggars description, Wo
men in the crowd became hysterical ant
strong mems faces blanched when the!
reflected how close they had been tt
death.
Had the sigus Of collapse not beer
observed by people of tho bridge and
timely, though short, warning given
many souls would have been hurrie'
into eternity. The warning was utter
, ed BY Sherman Graft, who says he say
, small fragments falling from bepeatl
. the arches, and a big crack appear in tn
Z stone side. Others saw the bridge crun
In ,,aR attach, t,,u,1, - =,