Evening star., 1898-09-07
COLLAPSE OF BRIDGE.
Fourteen sMeR-kff&ed and Seventeen
RadIy Hurt.

TORONTO, September IA special dis
patch to the Globe from Cornwall, giving
details of yesterday's bridge accident there,
In which fourteen men were killed and sew
erteen seriously injured, says the cause of
TIE disaster will not be positively known
until divers have1searehed the wreck lying
In the bottom Of the. st. Lawrence. The
river Is divided by Cornwall Island, and
| the scene of disaster was in the south
channel There are two stone piers in the
center of the stream supporting three spans
OF ironwork, each 800 feet long and thirty
seven above high water. The accident CEN
tered around the pie: nearer the south or
American shore.
Il was about three minutes to the noon
hour when the won knGen on that part of
the bridge felt two of the southern spans
give way beneath them, and they were
thrown in the water or caught and crushed
in the wreck. None OF them can give a
clear idea OF what hapI ened, and there will
pfopaDly be expensive litigation before the
liability is placed.
The piers and 1rason work were built by
the SooySSnith Company of New York,
ana the iron work by the Phoenix Bridge
Scmpany OF Phoenixville, Pa. The mason
ry, though not formally accepted, was
Practlcaliy completed, and all the men at
work were employees of the bridge COM
pany Naturally, therefore, the tendency,
SO lar as 1t Is based on the testimony OF
employees is to blame the Sooy-Smith Com,
pany.
What Eye-Witnesses Saw.
On the other hand there is the emphatic
statement Of an eyewitness to- the con-
t1ary. Capt. Bonnor, the tug Beaver,
was short distance below the bridge at
the time, and says that the southerly span
collapsed first, pulling the pier and the
teXt span With it toward the American
shcre: The spans which fell had just been
completed, and the false work underneath
was oelng remoE ed, and it is possible that
IN some way the bridge was injured An
o!her theory is that the founda ton of the
pier mad oeen Undermined by water anl
Grumoled away, dragging down the bridge.
II tiiat case the pier would not show signs
OF peing pulled toward the southern shore
put would be directly in the channel of the
river. only thorough investigation can
settle the point
George +. Thomas chief engineer of the
Sooy-Smith Company had not much to
say, as he had not yet seen the wreck but
expressed himself as perfectly confident
tnat his company was not to blame He
mas been bridge building all over America
since 1856, and never lost a man before
lhe wrecked pier was built last fail and
successfully withstood the tremendous
pressure OF the Ice, shoves in the winter
and spring.
Heard a Crash.
). '" omlth, a Brooklyn carpenter left
that part # the bridge few minutes be-
icre and had just reached the island when
ne heard crash and saw the spans sink
out OF sight. but is unable to say how it
happened
Jim Bowling, riveter, says that he
heard noise beneath him. and saw the
pier fafilng over towards the south shore
he grasped rope and was swung clear
OF the wreck into the river from which
he swan ashore.
John Simonds. the head foreman of the
Phoenix Company, was greatly distressed
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 sinking The
center span did not swerve until it had
sunk some distance, when it topDled over
The span next the American shore sank
directly to the bottom just as it stood.
This seems to indicate that it was the pier
which first slipped away, but Mr.. Sirnonds
would not say So. He has been in the en-
ploy Of the Phoenix Company for twenty
three years and never had an accident at
tributable to him. The bridge had Just
been completed and stood by itself, so that
the action of the men on the false work
had nothing to do with the accident.