Los Angeles herald., 1890-05-31
AN OPEN DRAW.
Thirteen Lives CareIesSIy
Sacrificed.
Frightful Disaster at an
Oakland Bridge.
A NarrOw-Gauge Trains Fear
full Plunge.
The Engine, Tender and One Coach
Submerged.
Passengers Imprisoned in the Car Beneath
the Water Well-Known People
Among the Victims.
The Engine, Tender and One Coach
Submerged.
Associated Press Dispatches.

Associated Press Dispatches
SAN Francisco, May 30.-One of the
most horrible railway accidents ever
known in California occurred at 40
O'Clock this afternoon, when local
train, connecting at Oakland with the
ferry boats from San Francisco, ran
through an open drawbridge over San
Antonio creek, at Webster street, Oak
land. The yacht Juanita had just passed
through the draw, when train APP
peared, going in the direction of Ala
media. The drawbridge-keeper endeav-
ored at once to close the bridge, but it
was too late, and the engine, with the
tender and first car, which was filled
with passengers, plunged into the estu-
ary, which is here quite deep.
Engineer Sam Dunn and Fireman
'O'Brien went down with the engine
The former, when he saw 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 first car broke the coup
lings and left the other two cars of the
train standing on the track The second
car ran about third of the way across
the bridge and stopped, but 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 followed 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 pas
sengers lent their aid to the work of
rescue, and when the wrecking train ar
rived from Oakland, the car was drawn
into shallow water, and small boats be-
gan dragging the creek for bodies.
The train was in charge of Conductor
Paerth and an extra crew, it being a
holiday, and the conductor stated prob
ably twenty-five persons had met their
death.
The top OF the passenger coach was cut
open as soon as it was raised above the
water, and the work of removing the
bodies commenced, ten being taken out
in quick succession.
Engineer Dunn WAS not to be found,
and it was believed he perished beneath
his engine. The fireman, it is thought,
escaped by jumping.
Three women and three girls were
taken from the water alive, and removed
to the receiving hospital. Another
young lady died soon after being taken
from the water.
Intense Excitement.
The news of the accident created in
tense excitement in Oakland, and thou
sands of people focked to the morgue
and to the scene OF the wreck. At the
morgue the bodies were laid out as soon
as received, to await Identification.
The body of E. p. Robinson, which
was among those taken from the hole
cut in the roof of the car, was among
the first removed there, and was taken
charge OF by Coroner Evers. The bodies
of six men and two women were
brought in soon after, some of the bodies
being at first left at the receiving hos
pital, where the injured were also taken.
In short time thirteen bodies lay on
the floor and ON the marble slabs of the
morgue awaiting Identification, and sew
eral heartrending scenes were witnessed
as friends came forward to claim their
dead.
Identified Dead.
The list of identified is as follows:
Martin Kelley, Oakland, assistant
chief wharfnger for the state.
S. HI. Austin, of Austin & Phelps,
San Francisco.
Miss Florence Austin.
Mrs. Bryan O'Connor, widow of the
deceased member of the firm of O'Con-
nor, Moffat & Co., San Francisco.
j. B. Irwin, sewing-machine agent,
Oakland.
E. r. Robinson, San Francisco.
Luigi Malestoi, San Francisco.
Captain John Dwyer, Sacramento.
M. r. Williams, San Francisco.
H. w. Auld (colered), Honolulu.
The two Misses keenan,, San Fran
cisco.
The thirteenth body was that of a
japanese boy, supposed to be H. NAL
orla, of San Francisco.
A late dispatch says the engineer and
tiremen were both saved.
Stories of Passengers.
The experience of the passengers in
the first coach as related by those who
fortunately escaped, was terrifying in
the extreme. F. F. Finley, one Of the
passengers from San Francisco, told a
graphic story of the disaster: ''We left
the city on the :15 train for Alameda on
the narrow gauge. l was seated on the
front seat of the first car, facing the engine:
All went welluntil just as we approached
the draw bridge crossing the San An
tonic creek. As we drew near to the
bridge, it seemed to me that the draw
was open, and that a fearful accident
was inevitable. Just then a man
jumped from the engine into the water,
and then came a crash. A horrible
crushing of timber and the swapping Of
heavy iron work followed, and at once
CONSERVATION prevailed in the car. The
next thing 1 knew the car was in the
water, and l found myself blindly grasp
ing for the door, which | fortunately