Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-16
THE SWISS DISASTER
One Hundred and Twenty
Lives Lost.
Hundreds of Others More or
Less Injured.
Many Prominent Citizens of Basle
Among the Victims.
Nearly Every Family in the City Affected.
The Johnston Horror Almost
Duplicated.
Associated Press Dispatches.

BERNE, June 15.-The total number of
people who lost their lives yesterday by
the collapse of the railroad bridge on
the Moenchenstein and Basle railroad is
now placed at 100, with hundreds more
or less injured. Another account of the
disaster says fifty-seven bodies have
already been rescued, and that forty
persons are severely wounded. 1t is
feared that many others are dead whose
bodies have not been found. The vic
Tins are mostly leading citizens of Basle
and its neighborhood
Scenes which were heartrending were
witnessed in Basle today, when the
bodies of large number of the victims
were taken there by sorrowing relations,
for representatives of the majority of
the best families of Basle were among
the killed and injured. Several families
were practically wiped entirely out of
existence by the disaster, the full extent
of which is not known even at this hour.
Basle is now the scene of bitter desola-
ton and mourning. Nearly every
family in the city is said to have been
touched by the calamity, for those
| families that have not actually lost one
! Of their members, have lost friends or
acquaintances, either among the dead or
among those who are mourning the loss
of relatives. Those who are wounded in
oclude so many whose injuries are fatal,
that almost each hour records another
death or another case in which the ply
sicians have given up all hope of saving
the patients life.
Everything the local and municipal
authorities can do to help the wound
ed, recover the dead, or assist those in
distress, is being done. Clergymen,
priests and physicians, large force OF
troops and fremen, and scores of
vehicles, to be used as ambulances, have
wreck. Troops and firemen are busily
engaged in removing wreckage. recover
ing the bodies of the dead and trans
porting the wounded to their homes or
to the hospitals. Physicians and min
listers of the gospel are doing noble
work in administering to the wounded
and comforting the bereaved.
The neighborhood of the collapsed
bridge now resembles, In many feat
ures, the aiter-episodes of battle, the
/
| Still more so was this the case last
night when the river banks were illum-
mated by huge fires. Troops and firemen
have been working increasingly, drag
ging the river for the dead, nursing the
wounded and keeping guard around
spots where it was not thought advisa-
Bile to admit the crowds of people who
had flocked to the scene from every vii
lage in the canton. The work of the
soldiers in dragging the river has been
greatly impeded by the fact that the
stream is considerably swollen by melt
ing snow. Thus the waters carried
away many bodies, and several days.
dragging will be required before the
soldiers work will be complete.
That somebody is to blame for the ac-
cident, nobody doubts, but the people
are so taken up with the present duty,
that the question of blame has been
postponed for the present, from official
consideration.
Shortly after the first horror of the
crashing of the engines and cars through
the bridge and into the swiftly running
stream had died away, the survivors
saw scene which rivaled in horror the
most heartrending features of the Johns
town disaster. Beneath what remained
of the bridge was hideous mass of
broken car wood, car wheels, engines,
etc., intermingled with still quivering
heads despatched with blood and
brains; protruding arms and legs |;
bloody garments OF all descriptions |;
hats and bonnets; umbrellas and para
sols hands and feet; while floating
down the stream were numbers of dead
bodies and family struggling men,
| IL. fntu 4
then uttering horrible cries.
After the first moment of partial
paralysis of action which followed the
revelation of this horror, the survivors
did their utmost to rescue those whose
lives were in danger. The work of
pulling those who remained in the two
suspended cars from the perilous posi-
ton in which they were placed was one
of great danger and difficulty, and re-
suited in a number of instances OF
heroic conduct.
In the meanwhile passengers were dis
patched on all sides for medical relief,
which was most urgently needed by
hundreds of wounded people, whose dis
tressing cries for help and prayers to
God asking Him to relieve them OF their
sufferings were most heartrending.
When the relatives of the dead and
wounded began to arrive and identified
some of the victims, there was another
most awful series of incidents. The
widest grief wasexpressed on all sides
weeping and mourning filled the air and
several people were with difficulty re-
strained from casting themselves head
long into the stream.
AS night drew near enormous crowds
of country people and citizens of Basle
gathered around the fatal spot, taxing
the power OF the military to the utmost
in the efforts of these people to get a
nearer and closer view OF the horrors
piled beneath the bridge. To such an
extent did this desire prevail, that
crowds OF people initiated soldiers, fire.
men and railroad men, and bivouacked
for the night in the vicinity of the