The record-union., 1895-11-18
MANY LIVES LOST.
A Frightful Accident Occurs at
Cleveland, Ohio.
AN ELECTRIC CAR RUNS THROUGH
AN OPEN DRAW.
The Car and It's Occupants Hurled In
Below-Fifteen Bodies Already Re-
covered, and Four People Yet
Among the Mtssing-The Conductor,
Who Lost His Life, Blamed for the
Terrible Accident.

CLEVELAND, Nov. ia frightful
accident occurred here last evening,
which resulted in many lives being lost
The accident occurred at I 30 o'clock at
The draw of the Central Viaduct, d
| long stone and iron structure, which
crosses the valley and the Cuyahoga
River, and connects Jennings avenue
! on the south side and Central avenue
on the east The bridge is 40 feet
above the river and d draw is immedi-
ately above it to admit of the passage
OF tall-masted vessels
! The draw was open for tug drawing
a schooner which was about to pass be-
meath the bridge. AS usual, the gates
were closed on both sides of the draw
and danger lights of red were displayed
to guard against such accidents as oc-
CURED tonight. An electric car was
seen coming along from the east
! toward the south side, but Captain
Charles Brennan, who has charge Of the
| bridge, had no thought of danger, as
the usual precautions had been OBJ
| served.
At what is known as the derailing
switch, 200 feet from the draw, the con-
ductOr mechanically aIighted, as is the
custom of all conductors at this point,
| to see if all was right The car came to
| a sudden standstill and the motOrman
waited for orders. The conductor failed
| TO see the red signal of danger or the
closed gates, or perhaps custom made
| him careless, and he Signaled to the
motorman, named Rogers, to come
ahead.
! The motornan turned on the electric
fluid, the conductor jumped aboard the
car, which at a terrible speed went roll
! ing toward the draw. Why the motor
man did not see the danger lights or the
closed gates sooner than he did will
perhaps always remain a mystery, but
the fact remains that he did not.
When a few feet from the draw it first
daWned upon the motorman that the
| draw was open. He made frantic eff
forts to turn off the current but it was
OF no avail. The motorman, realizing
his own danger, leaped off the front
| platform just as the car ran down the
Tiaduct in the direction of Central ave
nue. and disappeared
AT the same instant two male passen-
gers jumped off the rear platform and
escaped death as if by a miracle, for the
car had already crashed into the closed
/ iron gate. The conductor, too, tried to
escape, but it was useless.
A second after the motor had crashed
through the gate it reeled before the
awful space of 120 feet, steadied for a
| moment and with a terrific speed was
hurled downward.
Those who saw the accident say they
| heard one agOnizing chorus of screams
and in an instant all was as quiet as
death. The car struck upon a projec-
ton of piles in the abutment beneath
the draw, then turning and breaking
into pieces it leaped into the dark river
below, breaking the tow-line between
the tug and schooner that was passing
beneath the draw.
A moment after the car struck the
river a few suppressed groans were
heard by the men who happened to be
on the docks below and then all was
over.
Up to o'clock this evening the
bodies of fifteen victims of the catas-
trophe had been recovered This ac-
counts for all but four of the passengers
! known to have been on the car at The
time it made its dreadful plunge from
the open central viaduct down into tho
/ Cuayahoga River.
The verified list of the dead and miss
ing is as follows: James Mclaughlin
baseball player, Il Trowbridge avenue
Henry .Mecklenberg, merchant tailor
3S Mary street; Edward Hoffman, con
ductor, 121 East End avenue; Mrs
John A. Sauranheimer, 16 Professor
! street; Miss Bessie Davis, SchoO
teacher in Sackett school, lived at fG1
Noyes street; Harry w. Foster. clerR
for Root & Mcbride Company, ~ Men
tor avenue; Mrs. Minnie G.. Brown, II
Thurman street; Curt Lepehne (ol
Clemens. pianist, G6 Jennings avenue
Mrs a. w. Hoffman, 80 years old, ot
1903 Pearl street; Harvey Hoffman,
years old. 1908 Pearl street; Mrs Martha
Palmer, A Grant street; Marie Mettgen
2i years old, domestic, 10 Joseph street
Augusta Sairniski 207 Central avenue
Gertie Hoffman, 3 years of age, 1905
Pearl street; Louis F. HuletZ, mail car
rier, 3S years old.
The missing: Lottie Voth, Branch
avenue; Martha Sauernheimer, 13,A
Merchant avenue; n. 3. C. Page, resi-
dence unknown; Mathew Gallagher
Hamilton street.
At an early hour this morning Au-
gustuS Rodgers, the motorman ir
charge of the car, was arrested al hi;
home and brought to the central station
where he was questioned by the Coroner
and police officials He stated that
Conductor Hoffman gave him the al
right" signal in the face of the fact that
the red light signals, showing that the
draw was open, We're hung on the CLOSED
bridge gates. Rodgers replied thai
Hoffman probably thought the draw
was just closing instead of opening
Rodgers was released after giving 6
bond of $1,000 for his appearance
A crowd of fully 10000 spectators
gathered at the scene of the accident
this morning when the search for the
missing bodies was resumed. Diver
Joseph Eberhart was employed by the
,,t.N
search and after he had been at wOrl
two hours on the river bottom he gave
the puIl-up signal for the graphing
hooks. and the body of mail carrier
Louis Huletz was brought to the sur
face.
Huletz' brother had stood on the
bridge all night peering anXiously
through the darkness and inquirine
time and again if his brother had beer
brought up the brother became wild
with grief and could hardly be re-
strained The top of the head was al
most torn off and the face was bat
tered in a fearful manner. The body
was taken to the morgue. This was
the last body that had been found
About 10 o'clock Diver Metcalf came
to the surface with q handful Of
womans hair He said that a body
was held down by the trucks, and thai
in trying to pull 1t out he pulled hel
hair out. The body is thought to bt
that Of Miss Martha Sauernheimer o-
154 Merchant avenue. 1t may take {
day or two to raise the trucks, but unit
they are brought up nothing can bC
done.
About 1890 o'clock a river man re
ported to the police that the body of {
little girl was floating under the Bis