St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-16
TWENTY men KILLED.
Three Score Bridge Workers
Hurled Into a Deadly
Wreck.
Without an Instant'S Warning
a Score Of Lives Are Cut
Short.
Besides the Recovered Dead
Half a Dozen Are Not to
Be Found.
Dozens Fearfully Injured in
the Killing Crash OF
TimberS.

liz Oss UuilO "A N"S"
atty such as throws pail of sorrow over
community and sends thrill of hor
ror through the civilized world happened
on the Licking river, between Newport
and Covineton, KY, this afternoon. A
wagon and street railway bridge was IL
process of construction between the two
cities. 1t left Covington at Twelfth
street and entered Newport at Eleventh
street. The Chesapeake & Ohio railway
bridge crosses the Licking about SOC
yards above this point.
The banks of the Licking are very
steep at the point where this roadway
and street railway bridge is to cross.
Their slope is about fifty degrees. and
they are very high. The contractors
for the iron work of the bridge were
Andrew and Robert Baird, of Pittsburg.
Ever hereafter they will be spoken of
in the past tense. for they both went
down TO death with their two score or
more of workmen.
The bridge was strong wrought iron
structure. The great stone piers on
each side of the river we're finished, as
also were the approaches TO them. The
iron work of the approaches is very
massive. The span between the two
piers looks to be $50 feet. The height
of the truss which was to form the
bridge span between these two piers
was sixty-fiye feet above water.
False 1t Proved.
False work in piling and timber had
been constructed in the river. On the
top Of this false work the construction
of the iron truss began exactly midway
between the two piers, and the work
was pushed from the middle both ways.
Five bents Or sections of the poDderous
iron work had been constructed. Each
bent or section was thirty feet long,
making nearly half the span. On the
top of this was all apparatus known to
bridgemen as the traveller, which is
used to extend the structure from the
ends.
This traveller rose some thirty. feet
above the main structure. 1t was full
of men at 1880 this morning, and some
OF them near the top of it were nearly
100 feet above the waters of the Licking
river. The timberss of the false work
were beams about sixteen inches
square. They were old and weather
beaten, end had evidently been used
before. However, in bulkIness and to all
outward appearance they were strong.
The facts show they were not
strong enough for the immense weight
they were required to bear. The burden
of thirty-fve or thirty-slx men, or for
that matterof 5000 men, would have
been as nothing for these great beams
of yellow pine. 1t WIS the mass of iron
weighing hundreds upon hundreds Of
tons that oyermatched them. wrought
ruin and gathered an awful harvest for
Death.
Death Swift and Cruel.
1t was about 10:30 o'clock this morn
ing when thirty-six men were in the
traveller, and no one alive can tell how
many men were working below when
the awful moment came. 1t came, too,
like bolt from heaven. No warning
came from those OvertaXed beams OF
sturdy pine. Suddenly, as if broken by
some resisttess, invisible force, they
buekled, broke and crashed down into
the river below, mass of ruins under
which score of lives went out.
There was Immediately rush to the
scene from both sides of the river. The
debris filed the deep stream from bank
to bank, People filled both shores, but
from the cOnflguration of the wreck aid
was most easily rendered from the New
port side. The stream was soon
full of skiffs. and the work of
rescuing the living began and
went on brayely without directing
head. Indeed it was done quite as well,
perhaps better, than,it would have been
done by an organized life-saving corps.
This work was kept up all day, and it
is still going on tonight. The police of
the three sister cities were soon at the
scene and rendered noble service in
caring for the dead and in removing
the wounded to homes or hospitals.
{ As Survivors Saw it.
At the hour of the accident there
were few other wOrkmen on the bridge
near the scene, which leaves the few
survivors among the victims as the only
ones to tell the story. Bruce Thomas
was working on the bridge. He says:
Il was sitting in sling. working
rachel. The first thing l knew L WAS
falling | heard no cracking of
timbers. no outcry, | only knew was
going down. l had hardly time to think
when / found myself on the bottom of
the river. about twenty feet from shore.
l arose to the surface-I don't know
how. Then | heard cries for help. A
young man near me. whose name don't
know, shouted: ''I'm killed, Pm killed"
He had only an arm broken. | helped
him out and then helped three others.
| have heart disease. and l worked till
| cot deadly sick. only got bruised
little on the legs. l saw several others
that escaped. | don't know their real
names. We know each other by nick
names. y
Brothers Die Together.
At a cottage on Thornton street, New
port, not 200 yards from the bridge, lay
the dead bodies of John B. Roby and
his brother. William Roby. Mrs. Cath
crime Baer. the occupant of the house,
was the mother-in-law of John ROby,
sturdy man of thirty-two, who leaves a
wife and two children. The two broth
ers were taken there to die.
Never in the houses of royalty, riches
or greatness, was there more real
mourning than in that house tonight.
John.died first. His dying brother Said
to the weeping widow, Don't cry.
Anniei John will get WELL" When
told John was dead, William said, "Then
! want to die, too" These were his
last words.
In the same house was e. II. Fetters,
of 1ronton, o. His back was injured.
and his left ankle was crushed. He
talked freely. Said he: The crash
came without warning. ! heard no