Bradford County telegraph. (Starke, Fla.) 1888-current, 1895-11-22
FOURTEEN KILLED.
TROLLEY CAR GOES THROUGH
AN OPEN DRAW BRIDGE.
Fourteen OF the Passengers Dead,
While Only One Was Rescued.

A frlghtful ACCIDENT, py Wnlcn TOUR
teen people lost their lives, occurred
at Cleveland, O., Saturday evening.
Owing to the criminal and still unex-
plainable carelessness of q street car
conductor, q car well filed with poo
pie took an awful plunge OF one hun
dred and twenty feet from the draw OF
the Central viAduct into the dark wa
tiers Of the Cuyahogs river.
The accident occurred at % o clock
D. m. The Central visduct is long
stone and iron structure which crosses
the Valley railroad and the Cuyahoga
river, and connects Jennings avenue
on the south side with Central avenue
on the east. The bridge is one hun
dred and twenty feet above the river.
The draw was open for tug draw
ing q schooner, which was about to
pass beneath the bridge. As usual, the
gates were closed on both sides of the
draw and danger lights we're displayed
to guard against an accident. An cleo
trio car was seen coming along the
east toward the south side, but Cap
tain Charles Brennan, who has charge
of the bridge, had no thought of dan
ger, as the usual precautions had been
observed. The car was one of the Ce-
dsr and Jennings avenue branch of the
big Consolidated line, and had fifteen
passengers, a conductor and motOrman
aboard. At what ia known as the ode
railing SWITCH" some two hundred
feet from the draw, the conductor me-
chemically slighted, as is the wont Of
all conductors at this point, to see if
all was right. The car came to stand
still and the motorman waited for or
ders.
The conductor, fer some unaccount-
BILE reason, failed to see the red signal
of danger or the closed gates, or per-
haps custom made him careless, and
he signaled to the motormaD, John
Rogers, to come. ahead. The motor
man turned on the electric current, the
conductor jumped aboard the car, and
at considerable speed the vehicle near
ed the desthtrsp.
Why the motorman did not see Il a
danger lights or the closed gates roo =
or than he did will always remain q
mystery, but the fact remains that lie
did not.
A few feet from the draw it dswned
upon the motorman that it was open.
With a speed born of desperation he
threw the handle and applied the
brakes.
Three Men Jump.
The bridge captain, seeing the sp-
preaching car, shouted like a mailman,
bu. availed nothing. The car was al
ready 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, for
sock the precious cargo he was haul
ing, and with a wild cry lesped off the
front platform, ran down the viaduct
In the direction OF Center avenue and
disappeared in the darkness.
At the same instant two male pas
sengers 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 swapping
iron and breaking glass was heard.
This alarmed the conductor, who had
stepped inside, aud he was seen to
make dash for the rear door, but he
was too late.
The Fatal Plunge.
A second later the car swayed on
the edge of the awful space, steadied
for an instant, as though in a frantic
endesvor to maintain its equilibrium
and toppled over. There was an ago
nizing chorus of screams and in an in
slant sll, was quiet
The car struck upon q projection
Of piles in the abutment beneath the
draw, then turning and collapsipg it
fell into the dark river below, scatter
ing its passengers 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 happened to be on
the docks below. Men from the
bri'ige above and from the docks who
had witnessed the accident, called to
the men on the tug to pick up the peo-
pie, but only two passengers, one man
and one woman, were rescued. The
woman, however, died while being re-
moved to the hospital.
The news of the accident spread
rapidly and in q few minutes q fire
boat, six ambulances, six dead wagons
and a squad of policemen were on
hand and the work of rescuing the
bodies was taken up. One BY one
they were found and taken to under
taking establishments in different parts
OF the city.
The scenes which were enacted in
Detroit after the Journal accident
were repeated at the viaduct disaster
and undsrtakers, like ghouls, were
struggling for possession of the bodies.
The moment the accident became
noised about they hurried to the docks
with their dead wagons and engaged
In the unseemingly wrangle for the
corpses.
The motorman was found after mid
night by two detectives and he insists
that the reason he ran was because he
was Panic-stricken and he did not see
the gates or the lights until the crash
came.
Later.
Up to s O'Clock Sunday evening the
bodies OF fifteen victims Of Saturday