Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-05
TWENTY-FIVE ARE DROWNED
A Passenger Train Goes Through an
Open Draw-B Bridge.
Impossible for the Bridge-Tender tC
Avert the Disaster.
A Number of Bodies Have Been RecOy-
cred From the Water.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 30.-One of the
most horrible railway accidents ever
known in California occurred at 40
o'clock this afternoon when the local train
connecting at Oakland with the ferry
beats from San Francisco ran through an
open draw bridge over San Antonio creek
at Webster street, Oakland. A yacht had
just passed through the draw when the
train appeared going in the direction of
Alameda The draw bridge keeper en-
deaoored to close the bridge
but was too late and the engine
with the tender and first car which was
filed with passengers plunged in. En-
gineer Sam Dunn and Fireman O'Brien
went down with the engine The former,
when he saw that the bridge did not close,
reversed the lever, but the momentum of
the engine was too great to be stopped in
time. The weight of the engine and the
first car broke the couplings and left the
other two cars of the train standing on
the track. The second car ran about a
third of the way across the bridge,
but stopped. The jar was sufficient to
break open the front of the car, and
many of the passengers were thrown into
the water The first car, which had fallen
with the engine to the bottom of the
muddy estuary, soon rose, and such of the
passengers as had escaped therefrom were
picked up by the yachts and small boats,
which gathered at the scene. The train
men and the rest of the passengers lent
their aid to the work of rescue
and when the wrecking train arrived
from Oakland the Car was drawn into the
shallow water and small boats began drag
ging the creek for bodies. The top of the
passenger car was cut open as soon as it
was raised above the water and the work
Of removing bodies was commenced
thirteen being taken out in quick success
sion. At the morgue the bodies were
laid out as soon as received, to await iden
tifcation, and heartrending scenes were
witnessed as friends came forward to claim
their dead The LIST of the identified is a
follows:
Martin Kelly, Oakland.
A. R. Austin. Sam Francisco.
Miss Florence Austin.
Mrs. Bryan O'Connor, San Francisco
J. B. Irwin, Oakland.
E. r. Robinson, San Francisco
Luigi Malesta, San Francisco.
Capt. John Dwyer,. Sacramento.
Mr. Williams. San Francisco.
H. w. Aule, (colored( Honolulu.
The two Misses Keenan,, San Francisco.
A Japanese boy, supposed to be H. Ma
lerta, San Francisco.
The engineer and fireman both escaped.
George 7. Hawley, of Oakland said
there were about forty people, including
children, in the car. Conductor Rerath
said the first car was a combination
When the disaster occurred he was in the
rear car and had as much as he could do
for few moments to attend to passengers
in the car, some of whom were in : state
of frenzy He then went forward and
looked down on the scene of death. He
noticed at least half a dozen men swim
out but not any women or children. He
is not sure about the number of people In
the coach.
Jas. Dunlap, the bridge tender had
nothing to say further than that he had
opened the bridge for yacht and was jus
closing it as the train came. Several of
the passengers who went down, but were
rescued sustained painful injuries. The
frame of the car had been raised, and the
bed of the creek thoroughly explored, and
it is believed there are no more bodies in
the wreck Conservative estimates this
evening place the number of people in the
car at about thirty, and it is believed the
thirteen bodies recovered comprise the list
of the dead