Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-12-16

the span. The constant wind bore It
from it's resting place on the last pier
but one Of the JeffersOnville side.
The displacement was discovered and
the work Of putting it back in place
was begun, but it was too late. The
center OF the great span began to sink
before the work was accomplished.
The wind had done its work, aud the
heavy engines near the pier went
crashing down 70 the water, carrying
with them the mass Of humanity mixed
10 horrible confusion with the tlmoers
and iron.
The partial span, the last one, did not
fallnntil twenty minutes after the hrst
had gone down. but it was the direct
result OF the falling Of the first.
The great strain occasloned oy tne
suudering and rendiDg Of the bridge
naturally communicated itself to the
unfinished span.
1t took It's plunge like the first into
the water, but being most frame work.
did not sink, but foated slowly dow
the river.
There were said to be four men on 1t
when it fell and one was undoubtedly
/ killed.
The small traveller on this span float
ed down several hundred yards ana
then grounded, the heavy timberS splln-
tered ike matches, showing the terrlnc
| force Of the fan.
/ Iron girders weighing many tons
I were twisted, as one might tWlSt
piece OF wire, Into every conceivable
shane, and lay with the timbers and
huge pieces of iron and lumber In an
\ inextricable mass.
Mr.. Erie Manchester, a civil engineer
who IS employed on the bridge, In CIV
inc AN account OF the accident, said TO
an Ereaing Post reporter: Il was
standing on the span that fell near the
Kentucky side, and seeing that 1t was
about to fall, called to the men to get
of as soon as possible. had just
counted the men who were on the span
before and there were ffty-One In ALL
not counting myself
,,When l called the men dropped
their tools and ran toward me, but only
ten of them could get eff. The others
went down IN a heap. / was so badly
frighted that 1 could not tell how many
of them got out, but 1 only saw one
man swim 20 the shore.
"The accident was mainly caused oy
the wind. There was high gale blow
inc from the southwest all morning,
and realized that at any time the span
migbt be blown down. Then, too
the piling under the span by whicn II
was being supported were weak. The
cnrrent is very swift and large
amonut Of driftwood was damned W
against the supporters. II the vino
had not been so high, however, the pill
ings were sufficiently strong to have
done the work. The bridge fell
LIKE A PACK OF CARDS.
It became loosened on the Indiana side
first and swayed gradually acress to th'
opposite side"
The sDan vynuld have been completed
lsr had bsfnOOn, and after the travel
or 'frJ. oeeh faet0aad co the Dier. there
A pile an PssSsn v no no danger 60 me scene
this afternoon, and the work
Of clearing the wrecRage and searching
for the dead under the debris at once
commenced.
KILLED, MISSING AND INJURED.
The revised list of dead, injured and
missing is as follows:
Dead-L q. Garlock, Buffalo; John
Courtney, +. Burns, C. Murphy C. w.
Cook.
Missing: c. F. Holderer, A. sodden,
| j. Cregan, NJ. SOlau, Frank Simmons,
JefersOnville; q. II. Hinkle, Dauphin,
| Pa; j. Holden, J. L. Wilson, Pat Kelly,
]. IT. Owens, T. Sheridan, J. Allen. p.
| +. Moore, George Lilly, Il. L. Derhing,
/ Virginia; II. Bliss
Injured: j. Meyers, Lexington, KY,
left leg badly fractured. Harry Lee,
I New Albany, slightly injured. H. D..
Pu-h. E. Hildebrand, three ribs frac-
tured, internally Injured, probably die
/ g. w. Brown, Irvington, KY, arm
broken. @. Tharp, alkle badly sprained,
/ OswegO, n. y. G. Z. Sheehan, flesh
wound, Greenup, Ky. A. T. HALL
badly bruised. S. Parks, three
ribs. broken and sprained ankle,
Scotland. T. Galloway, 27O7 Sayre
7 street, South PittSburg, Pa, fractured
/ leg. j. Sheriff. 46l South State street,
Chicago, fatally injured. E. HobeD,
I fatally injured. W A. Sharpe, Louis
\ vile, left arm broken, hurt internally.
The East End Improvement Company
/ has been acting as limited agent in the
construction of the bridge under the
/ reorganization of last March which
property was disposed Of to a syndicate
controlled by three roads. generally be-
lieVed 90 be the Big Four, Chesapeake
and Ohio and Baltimore aud Ohio
Southwestern.
For the purpose Of completing the
. bridge and providing suitable terminal
facilities, a bond issue of $1,000, 600
authorized, $1,000, 900 Of which was to
be held in reserve. This gave new life
TO the enterprise, aud the work OF com
pleting the structure has been going on
rapidly since
The span that gave way was the last,
but one needed TO complete the struc-
ture.
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 20 the res
cue. 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 WE'RE IMPRISONED.
onoruy after they arrived q treStle
work attached to the north pier OF the
fatal span fell, carrying one man down
WIKI it. The life savers rescued him
and took him to shore. They searched
around for some time for any bodies in
the vicinity, but found they could do
nothing and soon left
Mr. j, w. Baird, secretary and treas |
urer Of the bridge company, was in the !
company's office OF the fourth floor OF I
Commerce building, at Fourth and Main i
streets, when the accident occurred.
The bridge is in plain view of his |