Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-28
JUMPED FOR THEIR LIVES.
Eight Men Seriously Injured In q
South Omaha Accident.
THE vIADucT A. TOTAL WRECK
A Tram Strikes One of the Supports
aud the Whole Structure Falls
With TREMENDOUS
Crash.
Facing Death.

A train OF the Union Stock Yards COM
pany, drawn by engine No. ., struck one of
the temporary supports of tho main span Of
the iron vaduct over q street, in South
Omaha, about $3.50 n. M, and knocked the
whole structure to the ground with a tre.
mendous crash. Fourteen men were on top
of the structure at the time, and fell with
the ruin, eight being hurt and one of them
will probably die. Part of the wreck fell on
the last car of the tram damaging it greatly,
and tho two brakemen, William Ait
vein and ID. Nj. Furgeson escaped
with their lives by jumping from
the car when they saw the structure above
them waver just before it fell. Altwein
crawled under the car and got on the brake
beam.
The viaduct was twenty five feet high, and
it was u miracle that in the wreck OF iron
beams and wooden supports all were not
killed.
Fred Annacker, of Des Mones, is the one
most seriously hurt, and he probably cannot
recover. His chest was crushed and he re-
ceived internal injuries Nearly a dozen
different bones were broken, there being
fractures of the left arm and shoulder, jaw
and RIBS He was taken to q. w. Thomp-
sons boarding house on Twenty sixth street,
and cared for. He Is thirty eight years cid
Thomas l.. Owens was on the jim pole,
sixty feet high, and received u fearful fall
breaking his left leg, besides receiving other
injuries
James Bradford, of Boston, Mass, was
thrown soventy-five feet and had the flesh on
his left leg badly torn.
Frank Witherai, of Shell Rock, suffered a
fractured ankle and was cut in the arm.
William Easter and Joseph Butler were on
the jim pole, sixty feet high, and jumped off,
their fall being broken by the guy ropes
Butler, however, was cut over the head.
j. e. Callahan, foreman of No. 2 switch
crew, blames the persons putting up the
structure for the accident. Only yesterday
notches had to be cut in the pole TO keep the
cars from striking it and the additional
weight put on to-day caused it to bend in so
as TO be struck by the cars.
Others claim that one of the men holding q
guy rope let IL drop and 1t caught in one of
the cars ana jerked the viaduct down. 1t is
said that the train was going at high rate
of speed Mt the time
James Bradford was badly cut in the groin
and scrotum, and the flesh on his left leg
tuangled.
Work on the viaduct will be delayed about
three weeks, as nearly all of the iron work
will have to be sent back to the shops. The
city engineer estimates the damage at about
81, 500.
Engineer Graham, who was running the
engine, says that the post which was set be-
tween the tracks was notched out so that it
would allow the passage of the cars, but that
guy rope had been Stacked until it caught
on the corner of the car. His story is cor
roborated by the sWitchmen. But some of
the men employed on the viaduct' stated
the car came in direct contact with the post.
aud show yellow paint on the post which had
evidently been scraped from the car. They
said that the switchmen had been repeatedly
ordered not to switch any cars across the
crossing. Some of the viaduct workmen
complained that the switchmen have run
their trains past this new vaduct altogether
too fast.