Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-11-19
FOR THREE WEEKS
One of the Chief Safety Appliances at
the Cleveland Viaduct Draw Had
Been Out of Order---Had it Been in
Order, no Accident Would Have
Occurred.

Cleveland. O., November 1S.-The
life saving and fire boat crews resumed
work early this morning in the endeaY-
or to recover additional bodies of the
victims Of Saturday nights terrible
street car disaster at the drawbr.dge
Of the Central Viaduct. Shortly aIter
10 o'clock the body Of woman was
brought to the surface Of the river and
was later identified as that or MISS
Martha Sauernhe.mer. She was a sis
ter-in-law Of Mrs. John A. Sauern-
heimer. whose body was recovered Sat
urday night.
It is believed that there are at least
one or two bodies still in the river and
the dragging of the water will be con-
tinued.
Rogers, the motorman, who jumped
from the car and thus saved his lie,
was bound over without bail in Police
Court this morning for two weeks, dur
ing which time a thorough investigation
will be made into the affair.
The COroner's inquest will be begun
tomorrow morning.
1t was definitely settled to-day that
one Of the safeguards provided by the
street railway company at the Central
Viaduct drawbridge to prevent acci-
dents, has been out Of order for three
weeks. 1t was a device of levers, so
arranged that when the safety gates at
the approaches to the draw were closed,
the current would be smut OF for dis
tance OF 500 feet on each side of the
river. The wires remained dead until
the drawbridge was closed and the gates
were swung back to the sides of the
roadway. With the cutoff in working
order, a mOtorman could not run his car.
to the river, and the absence Of power
would be an infallible warning of dan
ger. Why the cutoff has been allowed
to remain out of order, IS unexplained
by the street car company as yet.
The body of the seventeenth, and
probably the last victim of The motor
accident, was recovered from the river
this afternoon. 1t was that of Matthew
Callahan, and it was buried in the mud
directly where the trucks Of the motor
had been Callahan had been included
among the missing from the first, and
it was certain that he was dead The
search for bodies has now been aban-
doned
The recital of his experience by
atrick Looney, the sole survivor of the
accident, leads to the belief that all the
victims were unconscious when they
struck the water
"The first premonition I had that
anything was wrong" said Looney to-
day, was when the car tipped forward
Like fash it came to me that the draw
was open and we were going into the
river. l know | made a dash for the
rear door. l remember that well. l
have a dim remembrance of getting
hold of the handle Of the rear door, that
is all"
Tonight it develops that C. A. Fer
guson, one of the men who jumped from
the wrecked street car as it was plung>
ing into the open draw, has not been
seen since. One Of the othermen who es-
capped from the car says that Ferguson
exclaimed, My wife is in that car"
and that he wrung his hands and wept
for some time. Ferguson was a con-
trctor living at Parma near the city,
and the fact that he has not been seen
since leads to the belief that his wife
was in the car and that he may have
committed suicide. How much there
is in the story will noJ be known to-
night.