, 1892-10-25
HURLED TO DEATH.
An Appalling Accident on the
Great Northern.
seven Men Meet an UntImeIy End.
A Train goes Through Faulty
Bridge.--DetaIIs of the Terrible

seven Men Meet an Untimely End.
A Train Goes Through a Faulty
Bridge.--DetaIIs of the Terrible
Affair.
SPOKANE, October 25.-One of the most
appalling accidents in the history of Wash
ington railroads occurred yesterday morn
ing at the point where the Great Northern
crosses the Wenatehee river the second
time The bridge over that stream col
lapsed while construction train was cross
ing. Seven men were killed outright, five
fatally injured, and six others so seriously
hurt that some of them may die.
The construction crew reached the east
end Of the bridge Sunday night, and when
work was stopped it was the intention of
Superintendent Farrell who bad charge of
the crew, to push the tracklaying beyond
tie bridge the following day. Yesterday
morning the men went to work at O'Clock,
and the track was quickly laid across the
last approach, which had been finished
permanently. Beyond the approach were
two spans Of temporary structure, or false
work, which had beeh placed there only
for the purpose of making it possible for
the tracklayers to get beyond the river
The first Of these spans was crossed safely,
and when the train had been pushed al
most to the center of the west span there
was some delay in getting one of the rails
! in position, and several men were sent for
ward to adjust the track.
They had just reached the clear space
ahead of the train and some of them were
engaged in spiking down a rail, when
crash came and it was an awful crash
The west span was directly over the
chsnnel of the river. in which the water
Vas about'thr feet deep. When the tenn
porary structure was built across the river
earlier in the season, there was little
water there, and piles were driven through
gravel to support the heavy timbers upon
which the track was to rest. When the
water rose some of these piles were pushed
out of line, and they twisted the upper
timbers IN such manner that the whole
structure became weak and much too frail
to support the weight of a train. The
temporary bridge was so constructed that
one span depended upon another, and
when that second span collapsed il carried
the other with it.
In falling, a single fat car, which carried
derrick with which rails and ties were
raised from the cars behind, plunged
through the chasm and fell bottom upward
in water, throwing the rails, derrick, ETC.,
in every direction. The other cars, drawn
by the hrSt, also started toward the wrecked
span, but at that moment the first span
also collapsed, and two cars of ties and
three cars loaded with steel rails were pre-
cipitated to the river bed on top of the men
who had gone down with the first car.
Behind the construction train was a gang
of track laborers, numbering nearly 100,
and the engineer, without a moments
waste of time, started toward the point
where they were at work, a mile away.
The foreman was quickly told what had
happened, and two car loads of men were
soon on tke way to rescue the injured. Ow-
ing to the nature of the bed of the river the
work u rcslu ue was necessarily slow. Soon
the entire force of section hands was OH
the scene, and everything that could be
done to save the men in the water was
done. The hatcar which had gone through
the first span had to be raised and under it
the dead bodies of three men were found.
Four company physicians were in attend
ance an hour after the accident occurred
and had the injured removed to the hos
pital car and later they were taken to |
Wenatchee and placed in the company's |
improyised hospital, where they. were
cared for.
All of the men who lost their lives were
laborers except John Leonard, who was
the conductor of the train. Leonard |
resided in st. Paul and leaves a wife and |
four children. His body will be brought |
to this city and embalmed, after which it |
will be sent to his former home.