Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-09-08
BRIDGE FELL.
Two Spans of N. Y. and Of
tawa Railroad Bridge
Fall 60 Feet.
FOURTEEN ARE DEAD.
Splendid Structure Across the st. Law
renee River Was Nearly Completely
When 1t suddenly Went Down With
GO Men-A story of the Disaster
List of Dead aud Wounded.


and two spans of the ottawa and New
York Railway company's bridge over the
lsouth channel of the St Lawrence river
from Cornwall Island to the American
shore went down into the river carrying
all the workmcn on the bridge with them.
The latest estimate places the number of
killed at ii and there are now in Hotel
Dieu Hospital II grievously wounded men
while many slightly injured arc still at
tending to their work sadly viewing the
wreck of the magnificent structure upon
which they worked so long and which
was so near completion that one of the
foremen had remarked that In case of
emergency that they could run II train
across tomorrow.
The circumstances OF the accident are
, probably unparelled in the history OF
modern bridge building The story of the
building of the twin bridges is in itself
thrilling tale. A short distance above
Cornwall the whole body of the mighty
st. Lawrence Is Denned in a narrow chan
mel about three quarters of mile wide,
but two miles above the town Il branch
Trans suddenly south and then east form
ing Cornwall Island large body Of land
belonging 10 the tribe of lroquois Indians.
Tho fall on the bed of the river is consid
lcrablc and in both channels which are
: about the same width, threc-quartcrs OF
, Il mile. the river fairly falls in its down
, ward course. The task Of bridging such
( Il rebclliouS stream was naturally stu
| pendous one and The stone piers in both
= channels Of the river by the Smith Mills
building of New York city was attended
by untold labor and difficulty, hut finally
: after Il years work their contract was
l compile ted not long ago and the right piers
handed to the Phoenix Bridge company of
PhoeniXvillc, Pa, who forthwith proceed-
ed To put up the massive steel work. The
I south channel which was the scene of to-
/ days accident is SPAWNED by n noble
! structure Of three arches supported on
. four massive stone piers. Each of the
spans IL $40 feet in length and the bridge
Is 81 feet above the water.
The accident occurred Just at neon to-
day when with great crash, pier No. 3
the centre pier on the American side fell
, into the river, carrying with it the two
) spans resting upon 1T. The middle span
, seemed To drop straight into the river and
then turn slowly on it's side to the east
/ ward and Is intact. 1t is probably fifteen
, plainly seen The pier itself seem
. into the all devourng river
, like a house of cards. The span from the
American shore 20 the pier was surmount-
ed by high travellers on which the fear
, less men worked. They were climbing
about like spiders. The water under 1t
I being shallower 1t is partly submerged ard
the stout iron travellers and the bridge
. proper were twisted, wrenchcd and brok-
en- III All Xmas OF Shapes. lnuCT lHiS
hug pile of debris u corpscs are lying
pinned fast by the tremendous weight up
on them. Tho cries of the victims could
be heard for miles and soon every one
within hearing was on the scene. one of
: the first to reach the scene of the disas-
ter was George w. Parker of ST. Louis,
Mo-, the president of the construction
q. company, which holds the entire contract
for tho road. The work of rescung the
: injured men was well and quickly done,
the river fairly swarming with boats on
. their errand of mercy. The injured were
? quickly placed on the steamer Beaver
I, and were brought with all possible haste
to Cornwall. where they are at present be-
= ing tcnderly cared for in the Hotel Dieu
hospital. The entire medical staff of
/, Cornwall has been summoned and every
7 thing that money and skill can suggest is
y being done for the suffering.
At Il late hour tonight the list of killed
u and injured is as follows:
w. ]. Cubby of Paterson. y. j., W. j.
G Jackson of Columbus, Ohio Louis Baur-
a man of Johnston. Va, r. l.. Dyscrt Ty-
a rome, Pa, j. ID. Craig of 22l Franklin
street, Detroit, Patrick Murphy of $50
l3athurs street, Toronto, Thomas Bir-
: mngham address unknown; Daniel
Hughes of Cleveland, Ohio, Frank La
, visne of Ogdensburg. w. Shellman of
CORNWALL, Onl., W. saunders OF BalllmOre,
= John Clause of Caughnawaga- II. Davis
CT Pit;sburS, Cyril Campbell of Cornwall.
:. INJURED.
. John Wilson, Madison, Mass, leg bruis-
= ed; George BloXen, Perkinsville, VT, com
h pound fracture Of leg and badly bruised
= Bert Anderson, arm cut and bruised; Pet
: or Gala, Cornwall Island. chest and leg
injured; Louis White, Cornwall Island,
spine injured, ankles fractured and in
tured internally p. Day, Cornwall Island.
scalp wound; Michael Reeves, Cornwall
Island. chest seriously injured Andrew
t Smith, Rochester, n. Y, back seriously
u injured: W. Thompson. Montreal, Que,
n right leg broken and badly bruised; John
h Frazes, Quebec, leg cut off; John Bero.
o Indian, Cornwall Island, internally injur-
G cd; L. Del Abantcl, Elkhart Wis, both
Z legs cut, one hand broken; ID. Barton, Buff
4 falo, n. Y, legs crushed: NJ. Burke. Johns
I vile. wrist dislocated; Henry Leaf, Corn
e wall Island, both hands smashed; z. w,
S Hite, Cornwall Island, leg injured
o There vii! be no reduction In the num-
: Der of casualties while 1t is possible that
g some unfOrtunates have been overlooked
and the number of victims may be in
: creased at any moment. 1t will be impos-
sible to recover the bodies for some time
as the work of removing the debris will
be a long and tedious one. 1t has already
commenced all the force of the Phoenix
ternoon. Strange as II may seem Ii ap-
pears that the men who were working
: on the traveller at height of over o.
n feet suffered less severely than their
z comrades who were working on the floor
l. OF the bridge far below them. One poor
!. fellow. Louis White. a well known Indian
q athlete was near enough to land TO jump
but the fearful leap nearly killed him. His
70 spine Is injured. both ankles are fractured
J. and has has sustained internal injuries OF
n such u serious character that his case is
&c hopeless. Some OF the men on the travel
q Ter who went into the river escaped I'M
l. hurt. some were injured and only a
y couple were killed but the poor fellows on
I. the floor Of the bridge were almost all
e carried down to their death. the traveller
ID and bridge falling on top of them.
le The survivors tell curious story Of the
horrible sensation of helplessness in the
It face CT death with which they went down
20 into the rushing waters of the ST. Law.
n. renee. One man on the traveller fell the
Is whole distance to the surface OF the wa.
m ter and came out unhurt and withou,
II even wetting his feet; another poor fellow
WAS thrust down till he touched the bot
D tom of the river and then rose almos,
~ suffocated and with his left arm broken
It another had two ribs broken; several hnt
Is broken legs ana almost all the Others
l. were were more or less injured.
E. Mr.. John w. Simmons, the manager Of
70 the Phoenix bridge at Cornwall Is superin
II tending the work of removing the wreck
In The third span and Its pier are stiil stand
n ing intact and do not appear to hav,
,f been damaged by the fall OF the othel
3 two spans. The generally accepted soiu