Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-11-22
Awful Plunge to Death.
A Cleveland, Ohio, Street Car Falls 100
Feet Into the Water---1O Persons
HnI.I

A Cleveland, Ohio, Street Car Falls 100
Feet into the WATERFALL Persons
Killed.
A frightful accident by which 10 people
lost their lives, occurred in the heart of the
city of Cleveland, o. last Saturday evening.
Owing to the criminal and unexplained
carelessness of street car conductor, who
was himself killed. an electric car well filled
with people took an awful plunge of 120
feet from the Central street draw Of the
central viaduct into the dark waters of the
Cuyahoga river.
The central viaduct is long stone and
iron structure which crosses the Valley
railroad and the Cuyahoga river, and con-
meets Jennings avenue on the south side
with Central avenue on the east. The
bridge is 100 feet above the river. The
draw was open for tug drawing schoon-
err which was about to pass beneath the
bridge. AS usual the gates were closed on
both sides of the draw and danger lights
were displayed to guard against accidents.
An electric car was seen coming from the
east toward the south side. The car had
some 20 passengers, a conductor and mo-
torman aboard.
At what is known as the "derailing
SWITCH" about 200 feet from the draw, the
conductor mechanically alighted, as is the
custom of all conductors at this point, to
see if all was right. The car came to a
standstill, and the motorman waited for or
| ders. The conductor, for some unaccount-
able reason, failed to see the red signal of
| danger or the closed gates, or perhaps GUS
] tom made him careless, and he signaled to
the motorman to come ahead. The mo-
torman turned on the electric current, the
conductor jumped aboard the car, and at
considerable speed the car neared the death
trap. A few feet from the draw it dawned
on the motorman that it was open. With
a speed born of desperation he threw the
handle and applied the brakes. The bridge
captain, seeing the car pproaching, shouted
like a mad man but it availed nothing
The car was already on the down grade
to the draw and the brakes would not hold
the car on the slippery rails. The motor
man, realizing his danger, with a wild cry
leaped off the front platform, ran down
the viaduct in the direction of Central av-
enue and disappeared in the darkness.
AT the same instant two male passen-
gers jumped off the rear platform and es-
capped death as by a miracle. The car
reached the closed iron gates and in an in
slant the crash of swapping iron and break
ing glass was heard. This alarmed the
conductor, who had stepped inside, and he
was seen to make dash for the rear door,
but he was too late. A second later the
car swayed on the edge of the awful space
and topped over. There was an agoniz-
ing chorus of screams and in an instant all
was quiet.
The car struck upon a projection OF
piles in the abutment beneath the draw,
then turning and collapsng it fell into the
river below, scattering its passengers in all
directions and breaking the tow line be
tween the tug and schooner that were pass
ing. A few suppressed groans were heard
Oy the men who happened 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 Il
pick up the people, but only two passen
gers, one man and one woman, were res
cued.
The motorman was arrested Sunday anC
placed under 5000 bonds. The only rea
son he could suggest for the conductor
action was that he probably thought the
draw was just closing instead of opening.