The Yale expositor., 1895-11-22
10 PLUNGED TO THEIR DEATH.
An Electric Falls 100 Feet from a Draw
bridge at Cleveland.

An Electric Falls 100 Feet from a Draw
bridge at Cleveland.
The lives of 10 residents of Cleveland
were snuffed out in moment by one
of the strangest and most horrible af-
fairs i'm the history of that city. One
of the sights viewed by every visitor
10 that city is the central viaduct, "a
huge silt bridge 1900 feet long, made
of iron, which connects the heights
and the prosperous residence section
on the south side with the business
center of the city. Directly over the
river Is a drawbridge of the pivot
swinging pattern, and this is l01 feet
above the surface of the water. The
South Side street railroad passes over
the bridge and on either side of the
draw there is a safety switch, which,
unless the conductor alights and holds
up handle, will derail n car instead
of allowing it to go on the draw.
About 7:45 p m, when number of
working and business people were re-
turning to their homes. a heavy motor
car containing between 20 and 30 pas
sengers neared the draw and stopped.
The conductor ran forward about 200
feet, raised the handle operating the
switch, the motorman turned on the
At the same time "a vessel was passing
and the draw of the bridge had been
swung to give her free right-of-way
The electric car struck the gates
at the end of the span, crashed
through them and five seconds later
had plunged from the rails into
space. The motorman realized the
situation, as did few men on the rear
platform, and throwing themselves off
the car they saved their lives, but 10
other people went down with the car,
which sank below the water in the
inliy blackness of the night, and all
were drowned. Alarms were sounded
and in n short time the fire boats, the
life saving crew the police patrols and
the ambulances were OF the scene and
within FIVE hours IL bodies were re-
covered. The work of rescuing the
dead continued all night and was wit
messed by thousands from the bridge
and from the banks of the river. After
81 hours work II bodies had been re-
covered and all were identified and
there was known to be two and per-
haps three still in the car, or under it.
The list of the killed is as follows:
James Mclaughlin, base ball player;
Henry w. Mecklen burg, merchant
tailor; Edward Hoffman, conductor;
Mrs John A. Sauerheimer; Miss Bessie
Davis, school teacher; Harry w. Foster,
clerk: Mrs. Minnie Brown; Curt
Lepehne, aged II; Mrs. A. w. Hoffman,
aged 30; Harvey Hoffman, aged 2; Mrs.
Martha Balmer; Marie Mitchen, aged
81, domestic; Miss Augusta Saranski;
Gertie Hoffman, aged 4; Louis f.
Huletz, mail carrier; - Cooney, aged
o; b. G. Page. The missing: Miss Mar
tina Sauerheimer; Matthew Callahan.
There were many sad scenes about
the scene of the horror and at the
morgues as thousands of people looked
for their dear ones who were missing
and who might have been on the ill
fated car. The body of little Gertic
Hoffman was among the last ones
found and this filled the cup of sorrow
for A. w. Hoffman, a grocery sales
man. She was the last member of his
family. His wife and son Harvey, the
latter aged :, were taken from the
river the first night The little girls
body was found lodged against the
bank of the river. When Hoffman re-
allied what had happened to him he
became bereft of his reason. Rushing
to the river he plunged in and tried TO
drown himself, but was rescued by
friends. The father of Martha Sauer-
heimer also tried to suicide, but was
prevented.
Edward Hoffman, conductor of the
car, had jumped on the car as it start
ed after he gave the signal, and was
drowned, but Motorman August Rog-
ers leaped from the car and fell pros
trate on the very edge of the bridge
span. lie was later arrested on a war
rant sworn out by the chief of police
charging him with manslaughter. 1t
is believed the conductor became con-
fused by the electric lights and
thought it was all right ahead when
he gave the signal.