St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-18
THOUSANDS IN SUSPENSE
WATCHING FOR MISSING ONES
AS BODY AFTER BODY IS
RECOVERED.
FIFTEEN DEAD, FOUR MISSING
Funerals of the Victims VIII
Probably All Be Held Tues
day.

people of this city stood appalled,
today when they realized the full
horror of the terrible accident which,
occurred last evening on the big
Central viaduct. 1t was the worst
accident that had ever happened in
this city, and the story of how the
motor car, loaded with men, women
and children, had plunged through
the open draw, straight down hun
dred feet into the river, was told over
and over again. Thousands of peo-
pie remained by the river bank all
last night, and thousands more were
there early this morning Great
crowds are still standing on the
bridge above the wrecked car, and
about the place where the wreck
age is buried in the river, eagerly
discussing every detail of the ae-
cident. The first reports of the dis
aSter have been verified in every
particular, with the possible excep-
ton of the number of victims, which
is trif1e smaller than at first sup
posed. The work of rescuing the
bodies of the victims has gone on
speedily since o'clock last even
ing, and it is now believed that moth
ing more can be done until the last
bit of the wreckage of the car has
been removed from the river.
THOUSANDS IN SUSPENSE.
The scenes about the river late
last night, while the work of rescue
was being prosecuted, were pathetic
in the extreme. The thousands of
people who had assembled w<SIted
with baited breath for the discovery
of bodies. 1t was a sad crowd, and
out of respect for the unfortunate
dead but very little noise was made.
Occasionally the wild scream of some
frantic woman, who believed some
one dear to her was among the un-
fortunate ones, would echo over the
flats, only to be taken up at dis
tance by some other woman, whose
heart was breaking over her loss.
1t was almost impossible to get to
the river. Patrol wagons dashed this
way and that, their bells changing,
adding to the din and confusion.
Ambulances dashed up to the scene,
only to turn and drive away again,
carrying the remains of some un-
fortunates. It was almost impos-
sible to work with any system. The
crowd pushed its way as near the
scene as possible, and efforts of the
large force Of police to maintain or
der were almost in vain. 1t was
with great difficulty that body,
when recovered, was taken to one of
the dead wagons. Four bodies were
found almost at the same time. They
were placed on stretchers, and the
solemn march to the ambulances
started.
AS the bodies were passed from the
fire boat to the willing hands on shore,
an aisle was made and the bodies pas
sed along. Every few feet some wo-
man would step out from the crowd,
peer into the face OF body as 1t
passed, and Its not he, thank God"
she would say. And so the sad pro-
cession moved on.
AS the body of a young boy was
taken from the fire boat, an old lady
nearly fell into the river in her anxiety
to see the face of the dead body. She
would not be put back. She threw
herself on the body, looked into the
face, and cried: Thank God" Fall
ing upon her knees, she raised her
voice to heaven and prayed as only a
mother could under the circumstances
Pressing close around her were any
where from LOCO to 5000 people. Those
who saw her, raised their hats, and
not few
JOINED HER IN PRAYER.
At another spot two men were try
ing to hold an almost distracted
woman. She believed her husband was
on the ill-fated car, and was almost
insane with grief. On board the fire
boat, alongside of which was the raft
containing two divers, were Coroner Ar
buckle and several of the boat hands,
all busy graphing for bodies and all
was confusion. A hook would catch
on something in the bottom of the
river. The man handling it would
shout I've got another" The crowd
on shore who could see what was going
cry. But in many cases the man was
wrong; mis- hook would bring to the
surface an old board or a piece of
rubbish. Again the news would be
carried to the anXiously waiting crowd.
ALI the time the search was going on,
cars kept running over the viaduet.
Both rails from the west to the east
approach of the bridge were blocked
with people. In the center of the
bridge, men, women and children went
this and that way, screaming, jostling
each other, women tearing their hair
and calling upon God to save their
dear ones. Women tainted and We're
trampled Oh by the mad rushing and
insane crowd. 1t was impossible to
keep any kind of order and the effort
was finally abandoned.
1t was a crowd with a common
/ grief. Not one of the multitude but
knew that perhaps brother, mother,
father or sister was at the moment
lying cold in death at the bottom of
the river. Everybody tried to sympa-
thize with everybody else, and as a
result it was hard to distinguish any
one
From the dizzy height, the thousands s
of people who occupied positions on tsie
bridge itself watched the proceedings
below. Their view was unobstfuoteC
and they saw everything that too.
place. The second a body was brought
to the surIlce, those on the brdg.
reported to those il the center of thc
bridge and then rush to tie "a Il vggss
made by hundreds.
WIFE, SON AND DAUGHTER.
The fi..ding of the body of little &C.