The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-08-30

All Sides, Had No Avenue of Escape
Clutched One Another and Sank II
Groups Before the Work of Rescu'
Could Be Begun.
BAR HARBoR, Me. tSpeeial).-The bis
warships of the North Atlantic Squadron
were indirectly the cause OF greater mum
Der Of deaths than occurred In our navy
during the entire Spanish war.
With the lightest of hearts, amid laugh
ter and exchange OF merry comment, fol
many of them were known 70 each other
nearly a score OF pleasure seekers were
hurried to their death at Mount Desert
Ferry by falling from gancplank into the
water. The catastrophe came when scores oil
persons, young and old, were penned into
trap, to escape from which they fought
with desperation against great odds. Ii
was the worst accident remembered IN the
history OF the State or OF the Maine Central
Railroad, under whose auspices tho VIC
The names Of the dead follow. All are
OF Maine: Miss Louise Bartlett, Bangor;
G. n. Bennett, Brewer; Mrs. G. 81. Bennett,
Mrs. Billings, Bangor; Irving Bridges,
North Hancock; Albert Colson, Levant;
Clifford Cushmau, Corinth; Mrs. Der
went, Bangor; Mrs. John 0. Donohue,
Bangor; Mrs. Charles ". Downes, ,Ellworth;
Mrs. Ho lis Estes, Ellsworth; Ora NJ. Lank,
Danforth; Melvin McCord. Corinth; Mrs.
Wilian Murray, Brewer; Joseph Murphy,
Oldtown, Mrs. A. P. Oakes, Bangor; Mrs.
Charles Slower, Ellsworth; Miss Grace
Sumner, Bangor; F. E. Sweetser, Portland
,n5 Mice Elizo hath Ward RanOOr
The Maine Central Railroad ran e3cur-
sions to Bar Harbor from all sections Of it's
line in Maine, the attraction being the
warships Texas and Brooklyn. train
which left Bangor at S.25 o'clock consisted
OF twelve cars jammed with people. At
Mount Desert ferry, the terminus of the
line, the passengers left the train Tor the
boat for an eight mile sail to Bar Haroor'
The trains run out on the wharf, and 1t 1S
onlv a step from the train to the boat.
From the wharf slip, or gangplank,
forty feet long and ten feet wide, led up to
the boat. The slip was hinged tthe inner
end. the outer end being supported by
chains, by which 1t was raised or lowered
to suit the tide. The wharf extends on
both sides flush with the end Of the gang
plank. The plank was OF wood. Five
timbers four bytwelve inches, set verti.
cally, ran the length OF the plank, ana
It is said that there was no support tor tne
plank between the hinges ut the outer
end.
When the excursion train from Bangor
arrived at the ferry there was rush Tor
the steamer Sappho. The first few Passen-
gers had crossed the gangplank safely,
and It is estimated that two hundred peo.
pie were massed upon the plaak. Sudden
iy they felt the plank give way beneath
them. The long timber supportinglt broke
in the middle. The hinges held up one end
and the chains the other, Wnile tue
broken ends OF the plank dropped. and o
struggling, screaming mass OF humanity
was plunged into the water, fifteen feet be.
low the wharf. Some clung to the inclined
sides Of the plank, but at least one hundred
and fity.were struggling in the water. The
piling OF the wharf partially penned them
in on three sides, and the boat lying at the
wharf closed the outer end OF the opening.
After the first moment OF stupefaction
the work OF rescue began. Ropes ana ilte
preservers were thrown to the crowd, hut
in the panic the people III the WAFER
clutched one another and many sank thus
In groups in death grapple. Many taken
from the water were unconscious and were
revived with difficulty. Doctors were
summoned from all directions, but 1t was
half an hour before the first arrived. The
freight house at the ferry was turned into
a morgue, the bodies being taken there fof
Identification as fast as recovered.
The awful nature Of the accident was
not comprehended for at least minute by
those who we're the last to leave the train.
although the scene changed instantly from
one OF holiday gayety to death struggle.
The drop between the solid wharf and the
steamer, which was high In the water, was
so precipitate that those who were on the
wharf's edge, surging forward to the thir-
ty-foot slip, pressed on over the brink to
the water beneath. Some Of those whose
bodies were atterward recovered diec
quickly, tor they were borne beneath the
waves by the weight Of the living, who fell
after them and who mady struggled to
reach life preservers and lines thrown to
them from both wharf and steamer. When
the first moment Of the calamity had
passed panic seemed to seize those who
were safe, and they drew pack from the
edge OF the water. But for only minute,
as then the cooler heads in the crowd,
more especially among the officers and
crew CT the steamer, asserted themselves,
and the work Of rescue began.