The herald., 1893-12-16


shore, when he heard peculiar crunch
ing noise. With Ernest Miller, Robert
Wolford, Charles Pope and workman
named Carter, he ran for his life toward
the pier, and eli succeeded in reaching
safe foothold on the masonry when the
span went down with fearful crash.
Trent and his companions slid down
rope to the river surface, where they
were taken into a ekif. Trent asserts
. that the collapse was preceded by two
distinct shocks, which gave the work.
men warning, but too late to allow many
work men to escape.
Harry Lee, a workman, jumped out
from the bridge into the water, and
' when rescued was found to have escaped
with broken leg.
OWNERSHIP OF THE BRIDGE.
The East End Improvement company
has been acting as limited agent in the
construction of the bridge, under the
Reorganization last March, when the
property was disposed of to syndi-
cate controlled by three roads, generally
believed to be the Big Four, the Cheea-
peake and Ohio and the Baltimore and
Ohio South Western. For the purpose
of completing the bridge and providing
suitable terminal facilities, bond issue
of which was to be held in reserve.
This gave new life to the enterprise,
and the work OF completing the struct-
ure has been going on rapidly since.
The span that gave way was the last
Tut ore that was needed to complete
the structure.
lLIFE-sAvERs TO THE RESCUE.
<. The accident was seen by the look
out DIV duty at the life-saving station,
and two bosts were at once manned and
rowed as quickly rs possible to the
rescue. Before they got there, how
ever, many boats were at work. The
life-saversNwere unable to do much, as
they coulcN not get where the victims
were impri soned. Ssaortly after thsir
arrival the ttaEtle work attached to the
north pier OF the fsral span fell, carry
ing one mmn down with it. The life
savers resolved him and took him to
shore.
ALwAlSs CONSIDERED SAFE.
That the structure WIS otherwise than
safe never occurred either to the engi-
neers in charge of the work or to the
workmen. Evt,ry preca ution had been
employed to secure the stability OF the
frame work, ano, the onlytthing lacking
was failure to take insD consideration
the action of the wind. To the great
traveller alluded to ia directly attributa-
BILE the falling OF the span. The con-
etant. action of the wind bore it from its
resting place ON the last pier but one on
the Jeffersonville side. | ts displacement
was discovered and the work of putting
1t back into place was begun too late.
The center OF the great span began 20
sink before the work was accomplished.
The wind had done its work and the
heavy engines near the pier went crash
ing down to the water, carrying with
them a mass of humanity, mixed in
horrible confusion with the timbers and
iron. The partial span, the last one,
did not fall until 20 minutes after the
fret had gone down. but it was the di
rect result OF the falling of the first.
THE MASS OF wEECKAGE.
The great strain occasioued by the
+ sundering and rending of the bridge
naturally communicated itself to the
unfinished span, and it took its plunge
like the first into the water, but being
mostly frame work, did not sink but
fioated slowly down the river. There
r ore said to have been four men on it
when it fell, and one was undoubtedly
killed. A small traveller on this span
foated down several hundred yards and
then grounded.
Heavy timbers were splintered like
matches, ehowing the terrific iorce of the
fall. Iron girders weighing many tons
y were twisted like one might twist
piece OF wire into every conceivable
shape, and lay with the timbers and
huge pieces OF iron and lumber in an
inextrica bic mass. The span would
have been completed by the afternoon,
, and after the traveller had been fastened
to the pier there would have been no
danger OF wind or current breaking it
down.
piledriver wac aent to the scene this
afternoon and the work of clearing the
wrsckage and searching for the dead
under the debris was at once COM
menced.
THE LIST OF VICTIMS,
A revised list of the dead, injured
and missing is as follows:
The dead are: D. G. Garlock OF Buf-
falo /; John Courtney, f. Burns, G.
Murphy, G. w. Cook.
The missing are: @. T. Holderer. A,
Sodden, j. G. Regan, NJ. Solan,
Frank Simmons of Jeffersonville;
G. H. Hinkle, Dsuphin, Pa. ]. Holden.
j. L. Wilson, Pat Kelly, j. T. Ownes, j.
T. oISIiQdu, u All5Ia, l. . I1CuIb. OSOTR6
Lilly, R. L. Derfing of Virginia. H.
? Bliss.
The injured are: j. Myers, Lexington,
KY, lett leg badly fractured; Harry
Lee, New Albany, eighty injured; H. |
d. Pugh; E. Hidsbrand, three ribs
fractured, internally injured, will prob
ably die; &. w. Brown, Irvington, KY,
arm broken in three places; G. Thorp,
Oswego, N. Y, ankle badly sprained;
G. f. Sheehan, Greenup, KY, flesh
wound; A. T. Hall, East Tennessee,
badly bruised: S. Parks, Scotland, three |
ribs broken and sprained ankle; T. Gal
loway, South pittsburg, Pa, fractured |
leg; (. Sheriff, Chicago, fatally injured;
r. Hobin, fatally injured; w. A. Sharpe, |
Louisville, left arm broken, hurt inter.
nally.
SERIES OF DISASTERS.
The history of the Louisville and
Jeffersonville Bridge company ia series
of disasters, financial and otherwise. 1t
was originally projected in 1879 and
failure overlook it in its very Incl piency.
In 1883 it was revived under new
charter, and ground broken in October,
1889. Two caiason accidents took place
during the building of the piers. The