The Portland daily press., 1896-03-03

The bridge, which was built in 1891,
at a COST of $4,000, replaced the old wood
en- structure which went down that year,
girl, whose foot became caught between
timbers and she was slowly dragged be-
meath the waves. 1t spanned the west
branch of the river and connected the
Smiths corner district with Springs is
land.
Up to this morning, there had been no
special fear for the safety of this bridge
1t was taken for granted that the Somer-
vile bridge, an old wooden affair, would
BE THE ONE To GIVE AWAY
to the pressure of the current and ice in
| that section of the river, for the water
had last night reached its Orders and a
big ice jam had accumulated there.
About so yards above the Bradbury
bridge was sheer boom, used to guide
into the Deering boom the logs bel ong.
ing to that mill. That small stretch of
logs held in place large field of shore
ice about IS inches in thickness.
| Shortly after 8 O'Clock this morning a
mighty shout Of alarm went I'D from
the crowd that had collected on the
bridge and in that immediate vicinity.
The small boom had parted and the Ice
field was floating away from the shore
in the direction of the bridge. The ice
foe broke into huge sections, which
were whirled round and round in the
eddy. then shot out into the current and
with great velocity came down against
the bridge, which had suddenly lost it's
cargo Of human freight.
| About the first cake of ice to arrive
struck the top of the center pier and dis
placed block of granite Every succeed
ing foe added to the peril of the bridge.
soon the middle span began to sag
cracking and grumbling followed and
several planks were loosened. AS soon
as the sagging timbers reached the sur
face OF the water big junk of ice lodged
there for minute. More ice came down
with the current and in twinkling the
bridge fell. The
! CRACKING OF TIMBERS
and twisting and swapping of Iron grid
ers and stringers could be heard half a
mile away.
Only the dislodged ends of the wrecked
bridge remain to tell the story.
| The fall of this bridge helped to relieve
the strain on the Somerville bridge, the
floating ice finding in the west branch
an open passage to the falls A section
| of the planking of the fallen stru ture
steered toward Goooh island on it's way
seward and ripped out the water wheel
and shaft of Thomas j. MeDermott's
iron foundry. Mr.. McDermott's loss
was further increased today by the float
ing off of many of his foundry TASKS.
Some of the ice struck the corner of
the old ]. G. Deering saw mill on
Springs island and tore off a huge junk.
In the lower apartment of the mill is
John M. Bearings carpet beating estab-
lishment. He also had stored there some
of the stock from the und srtaking bust
ness which he recently retired from. Sew
eral baskets among his articles of storage
fioated on the crest of big wave and
added
GREWSOME EFFECT
to the trail of floating debris that fol.
lowed the wrenching of the saw mill.
A large section of the brick basement
of B. +. Haley's soda bottling establish
ment on Pine street was knocked out,
and there is fear of that building topping
into the river.
As soon as it became known that the
Bradbury bridge had fallen, the other
bridges spanning the Saoo, were quickly
cleared Of people and roped off. The
electric street car service was suspended
and no teams were allowed to GROSS the
bridge, except at the risk of their drivers.
So much of the Bradbury bridge wreck
went to the bottom that there was no
perceptible increase of the danger at the
other bridges.
The two cities are practically out off
from active intermingling, though the
hundreds of sightseers find no difficulty
In getting about.
Goooh island is tonight almost entire
ly submerged; so is the residence Sec
tion Of Springs island. Water street.
Saco, resembles a turbulent river.
Storer street, the next parallel thorough
fare. is impossible. Irving street, in that
section of Saoo known as ''the flats, I"
Is under water to depth of from one to
five feet. Dwellers in these various loca
lions have either moved into the
UPPER STORIES
OF their homes or hunted up less perilous
abodes till the waters recede.
Somesville bridge is believed to b
doom ed. The other bridges it is thought,
will bear up against the flood unless the
big boom of logs at "Lopg Reach"
should give way. Every precaution is
being taken to insure its salty, but an
accumulation of wreokage from up the
river disasters may cause it to burst its
bonds
In William Hooper's intervale, about
two miles up river, is lodged the Seavey
covered bridge, which was jointly opened
by Biddeford and Saco. That went d own
N<T Il, g.