The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-16
badly hurt that they could not have kept
ahoat five minutes.
Al IN L q.


badly hurt that they could not have kept
ahoat five minutes.
WORK OF THE LIFE SAVERS.
Capt. Deven and his two crews of life
savers were the heroes of the day, dash
ing here and there in the drift and wreck
age, to pull out the dead and injured.
Capt. Deven thinks that some Of the
bodies have been carried over the falls.
1t will take several days to recover the
bodies, as some of them are pinned down
by the heavy iron trusses which fell on
top of the false work.
The bridge company has 100 men at
work and will extricate the bodies from
the wreck as soon as possible. When the
second partof the false work fell an en-
gine and boiler went with it and when
the boiler hit the debris it exploded, but
no one is known to have been struck by
the flying fragments.
The lives of the bridge workmen were
insured for l,500 each.
NONE BLAMEABLE.
To whom must be laid the responsibility
for the terrible disaster win probably
never be known. II is highly probable
that it is but one of those unforeseen ac-
cident that occur in spite of all precau-
tions. General opinion ascribes the dis
aster to the stiff wind that has been
sweeping the river all day. 1t bore with
great force on the pondcrousIframewor
which necessarily became loosened from
the constant strain and swaying of the
heavy timbers. A great number ofpeople
before the first span fell, could see the
Traveller" rising so feet above the piers
swaying and Quivering in the wind
in what appeared to be the most alarm
ing manner to those on shore. The
motion, however, was hardly noticea-
bic to the workmen and they
had no idea of their deadly
peril until the great mass of wood and
iron began TO sink and the cracking and
crashing of the timber smote upon their
ears. That this structure was otherwise
than safe never occurred to either the
engineers in charge or the workmen
Every precaution had been employed to
insure the stability of the framework.
EIGHTEEN MEN LEFT on THE PIER.
One sight which will be remembered as
miraculous in the histot of the lamenta-
BILE disaster was the presence of eighteen
men who were saved by being on the
north stone pier when the iron span went
down with its dreadful loss ofhuman life
The great pier rose alone from the water
over seventy feet, and at its top were the
eighteen prisoners huddled together,
dazed with fear, but saved. The sight
W do do blliNl uC do IL was btFTlDlG. "A rope
ladder was thrown up and the men
rescued.
John Hipsenheimer, of Port Huron,
Mich, accompanied the traveller" in its
plunge. just before it struck the water,
he rolled of and escaped unharmed.
DOCTOR IN DANGER.
DIR. D. G. Peyton, of Jeffersonville, the
physician of the Phoenix Bridge Com
pany, as soon as the first span fell, Sc
cured skif and went to the assistance
of the unfortunate men. While the
skif was being rowed to the mass
of debris, the second span, directly over
the skiff of the physician gave away. DIR.
Peyton; realizing his danger, jumped from
the skiif into the river He swan about
fifty yards when he was picked up by
another skiff and brought TO shore with
out injury.
To add to the money loss sustained by
the company from the days disas-
ter, the south channel span of the
big bridge was wrecked tonight. Shortly
after O'Clock tonight the great span.
which is $50 feet in length, collapsed from
the force of the wind and fell TO the bot
tom of the river. AS far as known no one
was injured. This entailed an additional
loss of $4,000. The total loss win be
$3.50, 600.