Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-11-17


electric motor car, containing between
twenty and thirty passengers, went
through the draw of the Central via
duct at 7:45 o'clock this evening and
dropped one hundred and one feet TO
the river below.
1t is a horror, the like of which has
never occurred here before.
The Central viaduct is a huge steel
bridge 5000 feet long, made Of iron.
1t connects the Heights and the pros
porous residence section on the South
Side with the business centre Of the
city.
Directly over the Cuyahoga river is
drawbridge of the pivot swing pattern,
and This is 1O1 feet above the surface
of water.
The South Side street railroad passes
over the bridge.
On each side of the draw
THERE Is A SAFETY SWITCH,
which, unless the conductor alights and
lifts a handle, will send a car into the
gutter instead Of allowing it to go On
the draw.
First reports from the scene Of dis
aster seem to place the blame on the
conductor.
They are to the effect that the i'll
fated motor car. containing between
twenty and thirty people, approached
the draw just as a vessel was nearing
it, and the bridge attendants had closed
The big iron gates and were preparing
to swing the draw.
As is the rule, the car stopped and
the conductor went forward 10 release
the switch in case Uhe way was clear.
He must have been blinded by the elec-
| tric lights, for an eye witness declares
that although the gates were closed and
the draw was already in motion, the
conductor raised the switch handle. The
motorman applied the current and the
car shot fol ward and struck the gates
with d crash
There was only a moments pause
and then the heavy car ground its way
through the wreckage and plunged over
the
BRINK IN THE BLACK ABYSS
amid the screams and frantic struggles
of the passengers, who at the first in
timation of danger, rushed for the rear
door
The car struck the water with greaG
| splash and then there was silence.
Soon men began to rush shouting
about and police patrol wagons and am
! balances were soon flying to the spot
in response to telephone calls. In an
| incredibly short space Of time, the work
of rescue had begun.
All the other occupants Of the car,
with the exception OF the few who had
managed to jump as it toppled over,
went down to certain death.
The car disappeared from sight as
soon as it struck the water and every
one of the passengers was drowned.
The alarm which was sent out
brought to the scene half a dozen am
balances, the fire boats and the mem
bers of the life-saving crew with grap-
pling irons Within five minutes after
the accident the surface Of the river re-
vealed nothing of the terrible tragedy
that had just been enacted.
The waters had closed over the car
and it's passengers and the work of
rescuing the bodies in the uncertain
light was slow indeed. At 9 o'clock
half q dozen bodies that had evidently
1oated out of the car and risen to the
surface were taken from the river and
carried
TO THE VARIOUS MORGUES.
The news of the terrible accident
spread like wild-f1re throughout the
citv. and a large crowd soon collected
on the bridge and along the banks of
the river. They could do nothing, how
ever. but watch the slow work Of grap-
pling for the bodies.
The captain of the bridge guards
saws. Il saw this car coming rapidly
toward the draw Just as / had given the
signal to swing to admit Of the passage
of a vessel. I waved my hands and
hallooed to the motorman to stop, but
apparently he paid no attention to me.
The car came on. Just before it went
over the brink, the mOtOrman jumped
and ran away"
His statement does not agree with
those of eve witnesses, who declared
that the conductor went ahead TO open
the switch. which is about 200 feet
from the draw, and motioned for the
car To come ahead. Certain it is that
the conductor mounted the car again,
and went down with the passengers to
death. and it will never be possible to
tell exactly what he did before the ac-
cident occurred.
The railway officials say they are
a+ present unable to give the names Of
the conductor and mOtorman who were
in charge Of the car. The police are
looking for the mOtOrman.
The exact number Of passengers in the
car will not be known until all the
bodies. are recovered. The fare showed
that twenty-five fares had been collect
ed There may have been other pas
sengers with transfers which would not
have been rung up on the register.
As near as can be learned there were
fifteen at least, and probably twenty
Dersons in the car when it made the
nlnnge. Seven unidentified bodies are
at the morgues now and one man whose
name has not yet been learned, is at
a hospital in an unconscious condition.
So far as can be learned, he is the only
one who escaped instant death.
The work of rescuing the bodies went
on bv the faring light Of the lamps on
the fire boats. By 1926 four bodies in
addition to those already taken to the
morgue, making twelve in all, had been