The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-06-16
!WORKMEN KILLED.
Terrible Bridge Disaster in Ken.
tueky.
TIE FALSE WORK GIVES WAY,

ington and Newport-Two of the
Contractors Among tho Victims,
List of Killed viii Probably Reach
Forty.
CINCINNATI, June 16.-Yesterday the
false work of the new bridge being built
over the Licking river between Coving-
ton and Newport fell, carrying down
with it sixty three men. Among them
were Andrew and Albert Baird, the
contractors. The construction of the
bridge was begun e. ii last fall, and
will be used for foot passengers and
street railway traffic. Two piers have
been completed and the work Of fixing
the heavy pieces of iron in place was be-
gun. A track from the Newport side
had been run out on the first pier to the
heavy iron. The false work run up fifty
feet from the water.
Not a stick of the false work from pier
to pier remained, and the river was filled
with timber and iron work, with scores
of men struggling for life. News of the
terrible accident spread rapidly, and
soon crowd of hundreds had gathered
and the work of rescuing the bodies was
at once begun.
by uOOU bWeuLy -bWO DUultS Hdu Dctu
taken out, and the work was pushed
with yigor. Cincinnati patrol wagons
responded to hurried call, and the dead
aud wounded were carried away as fast
as taken out.
Cause of the Accident.
Thomas Brown, general inspector of
the work, was seen by n United Press
reporter while he was attending to one
of the injured. Brown had been in Gin
cinnati at the time Of the accident, and
thereby escaped probable death. He
hurried to the scene when summoned by
telephone.
Brown says: II cannot state positively
the cause of the accident, but it is my
belief that it was caused by lack of
bracing in the piling. The piles across
the Licking were forty feet long and
had been driven into the river bed ten
feet.
"As the water was high we were un-
able to get proper braces in place. l
think are thirty feet of water in the
channel. Only two panels Of iron were
| in position at the time of the accident.
Ali the men employed were insured.
| "You see the contractors, Baird Bros,
had insured their employees in the EN-
| ployes' Insurance company. The com
pany agrees to protect the contractors
|
| average amount of insurace on each
man Killed is 81 500, but cannot say pos
itivelv.
The corner of the Newport pier is
badly broken and appears to have been
weak. The story was started that the
pier by breaking had caused the disas-
ter, but there is apparently no founda-
ton to this.
Sixty-three Workmen Go Down.
Superintendent Sullivan says there
were sixty-three men at work on the
bridge when the crash came. Those
who escaped were at work on the up
stream side of the work, which is to the
south. They fell with the wreck, but
fortunately fell on top.of it. Those on
the down stream side fell under the
wreckage and were killed and injured
1t is certain that those who cannot be
found are lying at the bottom of the
Licking river. 1t is thought that in ad-
diiion to the workmen caught in the
wreck were number of spectators who
were watching the men at work. AT
this time their names cannot be learned.
MIR. Wilson's Thrilling Escape.
William Wilson, an iron work in
spector of Covington, was on the i'll
fated structure and had a thrilling es-
cape from death, although considerably
injured about the head and back. He
made the following statement imme-
diately after being rescued and then re-
lapsed into unconsciousness:
.1 was standing on the false work,
near the traveller, on the Newport side,
talking with Andy Baird, one of the
contractors, who had just arrived, and
we were chatting together. Suddenly
we felt the structure sinking beneath us,
and with common impulse we started to
iun for the Newport end.
1--WE had scarcely gone ten feet when
the whole thing went down, and we
were thrown headlong through the air
I lost consciousness and did not recover
my senses until rose to the surface of
the water.
s'The first thing saw was the form OF
Baird, fearfully mangled, wedged in be
tween the timber. He groaned severa
times and died. / managed then Il
seize piece of drifting timber and tt
hold on until small boat came to ny
rescue. / cannot tell the cause of tht
accident"
Baird's Horrible Death.
Baird was wedged in among a lot o
timber on the Newport side. The maj
died horrible death, a log weighing /
couple, of hundred pounds, crashing
through his stomach, driving then
through his neck. The look of pain OF
his face was horrible, and silently tolt
of the terrible agony the poor fellow
suffered before he died.
One unknown man was taken out OF
the Coyington side. He was fount
wedyed is so tightly that portion 0
his hand had to be chopped off before h
could be taken out. All of the deat
; bodies as they were taken out presentec
terrible pictures. The bones wer
| ,oI Il inta inn m,
instances were forced through the flesh
presenting sickening sight.
!fhe ieriible calamity is due entirel.
10 tae rectnt heavy rains. The travele
was full seventy feet high, and the falls
work sfstY feet
Two men were at work on the to-
cord of the false work when the crasl
. Game. They fell into the river, but es
capped with few scratches. They wer
s J. P; Lynch, oolored, and Bruce Gonas
Lynch fell with the bridge and lande
on top of it. Conas fell underneath th
work, but, singularly enough, escape
. with a few bruises.
! Work of Recovering Bodies.
!; At 3 o'clock in the afternoon th
J, steamer Hercules Carroll commence
the work of removing the iron and tin
!, bers from the river, in the hope of n
I covering the bodies pinned under til
:. wreck.
3 Probably one of tho saddest cases cor
.scted With the disaster was the dent
Of Janaea JohBson, q Lsseshusg. Pa
who was ono of the important sub-cor
, tractors who b1ilt the new Cantilevt
: bridge between Cincinnati and New
. post. Mr.. johnson reached Newpol
. early Wednesday morning. and aftt
eating breakfast at his old boardip
. house on Fifth street, went to the ne
3 Licking bridge to talk with some of Il
: workmen, many of whom were his il
4 innate acquaintances. johnson was 6