The Penn's Grove record., 1899-08-11
EXCURSIONISTS MEET DEATH.
Trolley Car PlHngS From a High Trestle- Nearly Two
Hundred Persons Fall Into the Water.
AWFUL DISASTERS IN CONNECTICUT AND MAINE
FrighttuI Struggle Of the Drowning
Multitude, Which Was Pinned in
Between the Boat and the Pier.
GANGPLANK gives WAY

Great Numbers Came Down on the Main,
Central Railroad to See the Whit,
s~quadror-The yictims, Shut in OF
All Sides, Had No Avenue of Escape-
Clutched One Another and Sank in
Groups Before the Work of Rescue
Could Be Begun.
BAR HARBoR. Me. (specla).-The big
warships of the North Atlantic Squadron
were indirectly the cause OF a greater num-
Der of deaths than occurred In our navy
during the entire Spanish war.
With the lightest of hearts, mid laugh.
ter and exchange OF merry comment, for
many OF them we're known to each other,
nearly a score of pleasure seekers were
Ferry by falling from a %gangplank into the
water, The catastrophe came when scores OF
persons, young and old, were penned into a
trap, to escape from which they fought
with desperation against great odds. 1t
was the worst accident remembered In the
history OF the State or of the Maine Central
Railroad, under whose auspices the VIC
tins had been brought to Bar Harbor.
The names OF the dead follow. All are
of Maine: Miss Louise Bartlett, Bangor;
G. II. Bennett, Brewer; Mrs. G. H. Bennett,
Mrs. Billings, Bangor; Irving Bridges.
North Hancock; Albert Colson, Levant;
Clifford Cushman, Corinth; Mrs. Der
went, Bangor; Mrs. lot o. Donohue,
Bangor; Mrs. Charles W. Downes, Eltworth;
Mrs. Ho lis Estes, Ellsworth; Ora NJ. Lank,
Danforth; Melvin McCord. Corlnth; Mrs.
Villa Murray, Brewer; Joseph Murphy,
Oldtown, Mrs. A. p. Cakes, Bangor; Mrs.
Charles Slower, Ellsworth; Miss Grace
Sumner, Bangor; F. E. Sweetser, Portland,
and Miss Elizabeth Ward, Bangor.
The Maine Central Railroad ran excur-
sions to Bar Harbor from all sections OF its
line in Maine, the attraction being the
warships Texas and Brooklyn. A train
which left Bangor at S.25 O'Clock consisted
of twelve cars iammed with people. At
Mount Desert ferry, the terminus OF the
line, the passengers left the train for the
boat for an eight mile sail to Bar Harbor.
The trains run out on the wharf, and it is
only a step from the train to the boat.
From the wharf a slip, or gangplank,
forty feet long and ten feet wide, led up to
the boat. The slip was hinged atthe inner
end, the o1ter end being supported by
chains, by which it 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. and
these were crossed by two inch plauking.
1t Is said that there was no support for the
plank between the hinges at the outer
end.
When the excursion train from Bangor
arrived at the ferry there was a rush for
the steamer apphp. The first few passen-
gers had crossed the gangplank safely,
and 1t Is estimated that two hundred peo-
pie were massed upon the plank. Sudden
ly they felt the plank give way beneath
them. The long timber supportinsit broke
In the middle. The hinges held up one end
and the chains the other, while the
broken ends OF the plank dropped. and a
struggling, screaming mass of humanity
was plunged into the water, fifteen feet be-
low the wharf. Som chung to the inclined
sides OF the plank, but at least one hundred
and fifty 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 and life
preservers were thrown to the crowd, but
il the panic the people in the water
clutched one another and many sank thus
in groups in a death grapple. Many taken
from the water were unconscious II 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
n mOrRue, the DOnles DelnR TAKEN tuefo ioI
identification as fast as recovered.
The awful nature Of the accident was
not eomprehended for at least a minute by
those who were the last to leave the train,
although the scene changed instantly from
one OF holiday gayety to a 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 we're atterward recovered died
quickly, for they were borne beneath tho
waves by the weight of the living, who fell
after them and who madly struggled to
reach life preservers and lines thrown to
them from both wharf and steamer. When
the first moment of the calamity had
passed u panic seemed to seize those who
were safe, and they drew back from the
edge of the water. But for only a minute,
as then the cooler heads in the crowd,
more especially among the officers and
crew Of the steamer, asserted themselves,
and the work OF rescue began.