Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1898-09-07
COLLAPSE A MYSTERY.
Fatal Fall of Big Bridge Over the St.
Lawrence River,
MANY WORKINGMEN KILLED
No Cause Yet Found For tho Fatality.
What Officials Have to Say-Au
Indians Mad Leap For Safe
ty-PathetiO Cases.

Toronto, Sept. 8.-A special dispatch
to The Globe from Cornwall. giving de-
tails of bridge accident by which IA
lives were lost, says the cause of the
disaster will not be known untn divers
have searched the wreck in the bottom
of the st. Lawrence. The river Is d.
vided in two by Cornwall island, and
the s:<ne of the disaster was in the
south channel. There are two stone
piers in the center OF the stream sup
porting three spans Of ironwork, each
30 feet long and 81 feet above high wa
ter. The accident centered around the
pier nearer the south or American
shore. The workmen on that part of
the bridge felt the two southern spans
give way, and they were thrown into
the water or caught and crushed in the
wreck.
The piers and mason work were built
by the Sooysmith compaSy Of New
York and the ironwork by the Phenix
Bridge company .of Phenixville. Pa.
The masonry, though not formally ac-
cepted. was practically completed. and
the men at work were employees of the
bridge company
who was a short distance below the
bridge, says the southerly span col
lapsed first, pulling the pier and the
next span with it toward the American
shore into the river. 1t is hard to un-
derstand why the bridge should thus
collapse, except for some structural
fault. Another theory is that the foun-
dation of the fatal pier had been under
mined by water and crumbled away.
Only thorough investigation can settle
the point.
Mr.. George f. Thomas, chief engineer
of the Sooysmith company, expressed
himself confident his company was not
to blame. He had been bridge building
all over America since 1856 and never
lost a man before. The wrecked pier
was built last fall and successfully
withstood the tremendous pressure Of
the ice shoves in winter and spring.
j. w. Smith, a Brooklyn carpenter,
left that part of the bridge few min
utes before and had just reached the
island when he heard a crash and saw
the spans sink out Of sight, but is un-
able to say how 1t happened.
There are several distressing circum-
stances in connection with this affair.
A man named Cubby, who was killed,
was married only few months ago to
Miss Macdonald of Cornwall. Another
workman, Jackson, who was killed, went
to Bellows Falls two weeks ago and
| was married.
| Another Workman LeAped Needless'y.
Louis White, the Indian whose spine
| was badly injured, was in perfect safe
| ty on the pier next the American shore
| He apparently became panic stricken
and tried to jump. Haggerty. the drlv-
| er of a dummy engine, who was near
by. called TO him that he was all right
but White jumped to the rocks. nearly A
feet below, whereas If he had remained
where he was he would have been safe
| John Simons, the head foreman Of the
| Phenix company, was greatly distress
ed at the loss Of his companions OF
many years. He had just left the bridge
and reached Cornwall island when he
heard a crash and saw the spans sink
ing. The center span did not swerVe
until it had sunk some distance. wher
it toppled over The span next thu
American shore sank directly to thu
bottom lust as it stood. This seems t.
indicate that it was the pier which frs
| SlDD6Q away, put NAt' AiAHcAAS
NOT EXPRESS any opinion on the cause o
the accident. He has been IN the EN-
ploy of the Phenix company Tor q
wears and never had an accident at
| tributable to him.
Jerry Haggerty of Cornwall, enginee
of the dummy engine on the priose
had a narrow escape The engine wa
at work on, the false work, to which
.hnr
occurred. With great presence OF mine
he cut the ropes and freed the eng ne
otherwise It would have been dragged
down in the wreck. Four OF the MISS
ing men were at work on the scow i'm
mediately under the falls! work OF III
southern sran. The bridge fell upol
them and buried them in the ruins
There Is no obstruction to navigator
as steamers and other vessels excep
t,r,her rafts. follow the northern chan
mel
The meo at work on the snore
and the patrols stationed for the pur
pose of picking up any VINO mIsh' ia
into the river set to the WORK OF leseu'
Some Of the injured were placed vi ~
ting Beaver, which steamed AROUND III
lower end of the island up TO the to"i
Half a dozen otners "eie
across the island on wagons ana 1errie
to the north shore. All were proush'
the Hotel Dieu, where their lnJurie
were attended to. AS the disaster y,
Curved in American territory the inves
cation will be held in New York stat
> nrobablv at Potsdam or Hogansburg.
i. The list of those known to have pee
k;1led Is as follows: Baurman, Loul
Youngstown, Pa; Birmingham, Thoma
. oddross unknown; Campbell. Cyri
!. Cornwall; clause, John, caughnawaga
craig. ]. D., Detroit; Cubby. w.
Patterson, N. j.; Davis, H.. Pittsburt
Dvsart r. L.. Tyrone, Pa: Hughe
DANIEL. Cleveland; Jackson, w. D.. C'
q lumbus, O.; Lavigne, Frank Ogoen
5 burg. N. Y: Murphy, Patrick Ioron,,
l. saunders, W., Baltimore; Sherman "
=, Cornwall.