The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-16
A BRIDGE SPAN GIVES WAY.
FOTty-One Men Thrown no Feet Into
The River.

Tells Graphic Story of the Acct
dent.
Louisville, KY, Dec. 15.-At 1918
O'Clock this morning a whole span of the
Jeffersonville bridge fell. The bridge is
now under construction by the Phoenix
Bridge Company, of Phmnixville, Pa.
Fifty-one men were at work on the bridge,
all of whom but ten were precipitated
into the river.
The bridge has been under construc-
tion for number of years. Several
times work had been suspended for lack
of funds. Two years ago the Masonic
Savings Bank failed because of its con-
nection with the bridge company. Re-
Gently, financial assistance was obtained
and work was resumed three years ago.
Shortly after the resumption of the
work in constructing the approaches, a
dreadful accident happened at the cais-
son, resulting in the death of twelve men.
Accidents have been frequent and from
first to last it is said that fifty men have
been killed.
The span that fell to-day was the mid
die one.
CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.
The accident was due to the insecure
placing of the 'traveler' last night. The
wind still further loosened it, and this
morning an order was given to draw it
back into its place. and the engines were
started. The wind was high, and blowing
off the false work forced the traveller
from the piles on which il was placed
When the end slipped off the men realized
their danger. The engineer called to the
men and ten of the fifty-one on the span
escaped. Forty-one fell ITO feet into the
water.
So far as known the following is list
of the dead and injured:
Dead-Lester Carlack, Frank Miller,
Pat Kelley and Frank Simmonds, of JEFF
fersonville, Ind, Charles Murphy and j.
b. Burns, of Franklin, Pa, John Court
ney, II Russell, Bud Kavanaugh, an un-
known man at Cralls undertaking estab-
liShment; p. A. Cooke, of Mantulla Sta
tion. o., Frank Burns and Patrick Muir
ply, of Chicago.
Injured: Sam ---, of New Albany,
A. L. Moore, engineer, will die; G. w.
Brown, of Irvington KY, NJ. E. Sheehan,
of Greenup, KY, G. F. Halls, of Bristol,
Tenn. Harry Pugh, of Mercer, Pa, will
die; an unknown man, of Johnsonville,
internally injured; w. A. Sharp, of
Louisville, broken leg; I. N. Galloway,
of Louisville, John Meyer, left leg aud
ankle broken Ed. Hildebrand, of North
ampton, KY, Ed. Scheers, of Southside,
Pittsburg, Pa, fatally injured.
The span which fell would have been
finished this afternoon, and after the
"Uraveler" had been fastened to the pier
there would have been no danger from
the wind or the current. The shocking
accident was witnessed by the men EN-
ployed along the river front and on the
boats plying up and down the river.
The ferry company at once sent two
boats to assist in securing the bodies of
the dead and dying and rescue the work
men still alive.
STORY OF SURVIVOR.
E. Earle, of Manchester, a civil engi-
neer, who is employed on the bridge, had
a very narrow escape from death. In Civ
ing an account of the accident he said
81 was standing on the span that fell,
near the X Mtucky side, and seeing that
it was abo " to fall, l called to the men
to get of as soon as possible. l
had just counted the men who were
on the span few minutes before
and there were 81 in all, not counting my
self. When l called, the men dropped
their tools and ran toward me, but only
ten of them could get of. The others
went down in a heap. was so badly
frightened that l could not tell how many
of them got out, but only saw one man
swim to the shore.
CAUSED BY TIE WIND.
"The accident was mainly caused by
the wind, There was high gale blowing
from the southwest all the morning, and
l realized that at any time a span might
be blown down. Then, too, the pilings
under the span by which it was being sup
ported were weak The current is
very swift, and a large amount
Nf 1,.sf
the supports. If the wind had not been
SO, high however, the pilings were suf1l-
ciently strong to have done the work. The
bridge fell like pack of cards 1t became
loosened on the Indiana side first, and
swayed gradually across to the opposite
side.'
BENT FOLLOWS BENT.
The central bent was the first to give
way, and the men on this bent went down
to be covered by the mass of iron and tim
Der of the other bents, which fell almost
Immediately, carrying with them the
workmen who failed to reach places of
safety on the piers. The north bent, or
the one attached to the Indiana pier, did
not fall for fifteen minutes after the
other parts went down. The crash at
tracted the attention of those on the shore
and many turned away as they saw
the men struggling in midair in their
llldNA CllOl 70 W N4lillb bhb VI ullktIs NNutn
the huge mass of material struck the
water all was concealed for an instant
by the spray which was thrown into the
air.
STRUGGLING IN THE WATER.
AS the water subsided and the mist
was dispelled, here and there could be
seen men struggling desperately to climb
upon the timbers that thrust their ends
above the water. Some succeeded in
climbing to places of safety and were
quickly rescued. Others struggled hope.
lessly and were carried of by the current
TO sink as rescue was almost at hand
The ferryboats City of Jetfersonville
and T. G. w. Hit and the life-saving
crews were the first to reach the wreck
age which completely blocked one chan
mel of the river. Men with broken arms
and legs were found clinging to pieces Of
timber They were pulled into the boats
and hurried to hospitals in this city and
STEAMER HAS A CLOSE CALL.
The steamer Hotspur with Superin-
tendent Fisher on board came near being
caught by the falling span. The boat
was making for the false work when
Superintendent Fisher heard some tim
bers creak Looking up he saw the great
span shaking and gave orders TO back
the steamer. IL was done none too soon,
for tn e top of the huge traveller" fell
within twenty feet of the boat. AS soon
as the pilot realized what had happened
I, ., 4ttob bCa 10 he