The morning call., 1893-11-02
like the rest. can scarcely remember all
that transpired.

that transpired.
There was on board only one woman,
Miss Alice Thayer. When the conductor
shouted, Jump for your lives! TIE
fright and confusion seemed to have par
alyzed the girl. for she stood right In the
rear doorway and was incapable OF action.
l was right behind her, and others were
pressing violently against my back In
frantic efforts to escape from the doomed
car. | grasped the woman and pitched
her out to one side of the platform. had
no alternative but to use force and even
violence. She struck against the heavy
bridge timbers on one side with much
force and must have been severely bruised.
Just then the car went over the edge and
made dreadful plunge into the river. L
remember seeing two persons swimming
moment after the car sank from sight, but
in the fog and confusion l could not tell
who they were. | also saw steamer pass
ing through the draw just at that moment.
There was no attempt made to check the
speed of the steamer and she plowed
straight ahead and ran down the two per-
sons struggling In the water. L saw the
bow of the steamer strike one man, l think
it was poor Charley Beckman, on the
head, which must have been enough to
kill him."
George A. Steel. president and general
manager of the company. as quickly as
possible went to the scene and lost no
time in getting a wreckng crew at work
to recover the car, and divers to recover
the bodies. He remained around the bridge
until late hour doing everything that
was possible to facilitate the work.
To reporter Steel said: I'VE shall, of
course, have an investigation of this de-
plorable affair, but it is really one of those
unavoidable and unfortunate accidents
that will sometimes happen. l hardly
know what to say. Still, au investigation,
as it is called, will only reveal what is ap-
parent to any one at first glance. have
talked with the conductor and the motor
man, and | have every reason to believe
that they told the truth when they said
they tried in every possible way to stop
the car, but found it was impossible.
When they ran into the gate there was no
power on the car. / think Terry is very
conscientious, careful man. and his
work has been very satisfactory to
the company. There was heavy
coating of ice on the rails, and the electric
current could not readily penetrate this,
and when the br axes failed to take effect
he reversed the motor and the wheels
spun around Oh the track. Terry had shut
off the power in good time and had been
unusually careful, knowing the state of
the track, but neither the brakes nor the
reversing OF the motor took effect, and the
car slipped on the track through the gate
and into the river. AS regards sandbOxes,
we have them on some of our cars. | do
not know whether Terry had bucket of
sand or not, but it is likely that if he had
he could not have prevented the car slip
ping. 1t is not likely that he would have
thought of using sand right then. 1t is a
terrible affair. and no one regrets it more
than we"
At 2:30 o'clock the diver went down q
second time. He reported that the car
was broken and twisted so he could not
get into it, but there were no more bodies
to be seen. 1t is thought probable that
there is one more body in the car, rs Scott
is still missing
Coroner Hughes impaneled jury this
evening and began taking testimony, but
nothing new was elected. At 10 o'clock
tonight the inquest was adjourned until
tomorrow.