The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-12-20

George w. Browns Presence of Mind
saw Number Drown.

George w. Browns Presence of Mind
saw a Number Drown.
George w. Brown, one of the fOremen
in charge Of eight men, had a remarlza-
bic and very thrilling experience. When
the crash came the men made dash
for the Kentucky side of the bridge. Be
fore they reached it safely, however,
the span fell and the workmen were pre-
cipitated into the river. Mr.. Brown dis
played a remarkable presence of mind.
He held his breath during the fall and
remembers going to the bottom Of the
river. The debris was piled above him,
but he managed to crawl from under the
debris. He is an expert swimmer and
ATTEMPTED to put this practice to use,
but then for the first time, he discovered
his left arm was broken in three places.
He managed, however, to grasp floating
piece OF timber with his right arm and
flOated down the river until rescued. He
says while he was clinging to the timber
two men came up near him and after
struggling an instant sank out of sight.
II saw several others struggling in the
water who sank out Of sight before help
reached US. In my weakened condition
and with my broken arm 1 could do
nothing 10 help them"
James Trent, a painter, who resides in
this city, was on the span, twenty feet
shore when he heard a peculiar crunch
ing noise. With Ernest Miller. Robert
WoolfOrd, Charles Pope and 4 workman
manner Carter he ran for his life toward
the pier. and all succeeded in reaching a
safe fOothold on the masonry, when the
span went down with a fearful crash.
Trent and his companions Slid down a
rope to the rivers surface, when they
were taken into a skif which hurried to
the spot. Trent asserts that the collapse
was preceded by two distinct shocks.
which gave he wOrlImen warning, but
too late to allow many Of them to escape.
Harry Lee, a workman, jumped out
from the bridge in to the water, and
when rescued was found to have escaped
with broken leg That so many were
saved is one of the usual though unac-
countable compliments Of all great
catastrophes.
Property of Three Railroads.
The East End improvement company
has been acting as limited agent in the
construction Of the bridge under the
reorganization Of last March, when the
property was disposed Of to a syndicate
controlled by three roads, generally be-
ieved TO be the Big Four. G. q o., and
-. O. q S w.
For the purpose Of completing the
bridge and providing suitable terminal
facilities a bond issue of So, 600 900 was
"
held in reserve. This gave new life to
the enterprise and the work of complet-
ing the structure has been going on
rapidly since. The span that gave way
was the last but one needed to COM
plete the structure.
The accident was seen by the lookout
on duty at the life saving station, and
two boats were at once manned and
rowed as quickly as possible to the
rescue. Before they got there, however,
many boats were at work. The life
savers found that they were unable TO
do much, as they could not get TO where
the victims were imprisoned.
Shortly after they arrived a section
Of the trestle work attached to the north
pier Of the fatal span fell, carrying one
man down with 1t. The Hfe-savers res
cued him and took him to shore. They
searched around for some time for any
bodies in the vicinity, but found that
they could do nothing and soon left
Seen Through Glasses.
Mr. J. w Baird, secretary and treas
urer OF the bridge company. was in the
company's Office on the fourth floor Of
the Commerce building at Fourth and
Main-sts.. when the accident occurred.
The bridge is in plain view Of his room.
and il is his custom 10 watch the pro-
gress Of the wOrkmen through his field
glasses. When the span fell Mr.. Baird
had the glasses on and saw the debris
strike the water In reply to a ques-
ton as to whether he was not the
bridge, Mr.. Baird said: Yes, 1 am the
originator of the plan to build the
bridge, and | guess will be eternally
damned for II"
Mr. Baird is Of the opinion that most
Of those at work on the bridge had in