Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-17
4 MOST FRIGHTFUL PLUNGE Thirteen PeopleqMeet a Horrible ss5. sa.s.sgl z Death ee -2eAls rYas IV7 THREE MIRACULOUS ESCAPES
 .reg t-- An Electric Street Car Ran Into an Open re t7rfaE NsaA
 Draw
 s .pe 9esq .gssiis
AND FELL INTO THE CuYAHoGA RIVER
The Motorman, Who Was to Blame Leaped From the Car and Fled-The g.sz Conductor was Partly to s .lef> al-siGeUld NeSAss s.s,>. v-s e Blame.

Clevelahd, D., Nov. 16-A frightfuf ac- cident, by which thirteen people lost their lives, occurred this evening. owing to the criminal and still unexplaipable carelessness of a street car conductor a car well filled with people took an awful plunge of 12e feet from the draw of the central viaduct into the dark waters of Cuyahoga river. The accident occurred at 7:35 o'clock. q. The central viaduct is a long stone and iron structure which crosses the Valley railroad and the Guy ahoga river and connects Jennings ave nue on the south side with Central ave nue on the east. The bridge is 120 feet above the riveryosa
 The draw was open for tug drawing a schooner. which was about to pass be- heath the bridge. As usual, the gates were closed on both sides of the draw and the danger lights were displayed to guard against an accident An electric car was seen coming along the east to- wards the south side, but Capt. Charles Brennon, who has charge of the bridge, had no thought of danger as the usual precautions had been, observed. The car was one of Cedar and Jennings avenue branch of the big consolidated line and had fifteen passengers, a conductor and a motorman aboard. At what Is known as the "derailing switch" some 200 feet from the draw, the conductor mechani- cally alighted, as is the wont of all con- ductors at this point, to see if all was right. The car was brought to a stand still and the motorman awaited for or- ders. The conductor, for some unac4 countable reason, failed to see the red signal of danger or the closed gates or perhaps custom made, him careless and he signalled tothe ,motorman John Rog- CTS, to come ahead. i
 The motorman turned on the electric current, the. conductor jumped aboard the car and at considerable speed the vel hicle .neared the death trap. Why the motorman did not see the danger lights or the, closed gates sooner than he did will always remain a mystery, but the fact remains that he did not. A few feet from the draw it dawned uponthe motor man that it. was openc With a speed of desperation he threw the handle and ap- piled the brakes. The bridge captain, seeing the. approaching car, shouted like madman, but it availed nothing. The car was already on the down grade to the draw and the brakes were not able to hold the car on the slippery rails. The motorman, realizing his danger, forsoolx the precious cargo he was hauling, and with wild cry leaped off the front plat form, ran down the viaduct in the direc- tion of Center avenue and disappeared in the darkness.
 At the same instant two male passen- gers jumped off the, rear platform and escaped death as, by a miracle. The car reached the closed iron gates and in an instant the crash of snapping iron and breaking glass was heard. This alarmed the conductor, who had stepped inside, and he was seen to make a dash for the rear door, but he was too late. A second later the car swayed on the edge of the awful space, steadied for an instant, as though in an frantic effort to maintain it's equilibrium, and toppled over. There was an agonzing chorus of screams and in an instant all as quiet.
 The car struck upon a protection Of piles in the abutment beneath the draw, then turning and collapsing it fell into the dark river below, scattering it's pas sengers in all directions and breaking the tow line between the tug and schooner that were passing. A few suppressed groans were heard by the men who hap pened to be on the docks below. Men from the bridge above and from the docks who had witnessed the accident called to the men on the tug to pick up the people, but only two passengers, one man and one woman were rescued.
 The news of the accident spread rapid ly and in a few minutes a fire boat, six ambulances, six dead wagons and a squad of policemen were on board. The injured man and woman were taken to hospital and the work of rescuing the bodies was taken up. One by one they were found and taken to undertaking establishments in different parts of the city as Cleveland has no morgue.
 The work of Identification was ex- tremely slow. Late at night when the southside residents heard of the catas- trophe and when they began to realize that their loved ones had not returned home, the undertaking establishments were telephoned and visited, several, Of the bodies being identified before mid night. The police afe-on the lookout for the motorman and extra officers in every part of the city, are searching for him, but thus far he has not been appre- hended.
 Among the dead identified up to mid night are:
 Miss Martha Sautenheimer and Mrs John Sautenheimer. her sister-in-law, of No. 154 Merchant avenue.
 John Hoffman, the conductor, and Curt Lephehene, 16-year-old boy who had in his pocket a, ticket from London Canada, to Victoria, B. c.
 Bessie Davis, school teacher, of Noyce street. 19 years old.
 Henry W. Mecklenburg, tailor, IS Mary street; 3S years old.
 Harry w. Horster, clerk at the Root & McBridea Co, 51 Mentor avenue; 25 years old.
 James Mclaughlin, printer. No. IS Trowbridge avenue; 35 years old.
 - Ferguson. e....s
 John Sorrenger and George Ross were the men. who jumped off the platform
 Pat Rooney was taken out of the river alive, but badly injured.
 An Attempted A Assassination