Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-08-12
SCORE OF SIGATSEERS
PERISH AT BAR AARBoR
Collapse Of a Ferry Boat Gang
Plank, With Tragic Con-
sequences.
WENT TO SEE THE wARsHIPs
Seventeen Persons Are Drowned
Outright and Three Die OF
Their Injuries-.DetaiIs
OF the Disaster.

sons were Killed yesterday by the coi-
lapse Of the gang plank of the Mt.
Desert ferry. Seventeen were drowned
and three died from the terrible ex-
p~erience of immersion in the water
and injuries while struggling for life.
The dead are:
MRS. VIM. MURRAY, of Brewer,
IRVING BRIDGE, West Hancock.
ALBERT COLSON, West Hancock.
MRS. ALONZO CAKES, Bangor.
MISS GRACE SUMMER, Bangor.
JOSEPH MURPHY, Old Town.
MRS. HOLLIS w. ESTY, Ellsworth.
CLIFFORD CUSHMAN, Corinth.
MISS LIZZIE WARD, Bangor.
CHARLES w. DOWNS, Ellsworth.
F. E. sWEETZER, travelling sales
man, Portland.
ORA N. LANK, Danforth.
MRS. S. Ii. BENNETT, Brewer.
MRS. C. II. SLOWER, Ellsworth.
MELVIN MCARD, Corinth.
MRS. A. Ii. BILLINGS, Bangor.
MRS. GEORGE DERWENT, Bangor.
MISS LEWIS, Of Hampden, Me.
UNKNOWN WOMAN, believed to be
q ior Il Dos'oh PuDiiShihB
house.
JOHN CALVIN, 90, Ansonia.
The Maine Central road road ran ex-
cursIons to Bar Harbor from all sec
tions Of it's line In Maine, the attrac-
tions being the warships which were
expected Sunday.
The train which left Bangor at 6:25
consisted Of twelve coaches jammed
with people. At Mt. Desert ferry, the
terminus Of the line, the train is left
for the boat for an eight mile sail to
Bar Harbor. From the wharf a slip
or gang plank forty feet long and ten
feet wide led up to the boat. The
slip was hinged at the inner end so as
to be raised or lowered to suit the tide.
The wharf extends on both sides flush
with the end of the wooden gang
plank. Five timbers, 4 by IL inches,
set vertically, ran the length of the
plank and these were crossed by =
inch planking. 1t is said there was
no support for the plank between the
hinges and the outer end.
When the excursion from Bangor
arrived at the ferry there was q rush
for the steamer Sappho. The first few
passengers crossed the plank safely
and it is estimated that 200 people
were massed upon the plank. Suddenly
they felt the plank give way beneath
them. The long timber supporting the
plank broke in the middle. The hinges
held up one end and the chain the
other while tl,e broken ends Of the
plank dropped and a struggling,
screaming mass Of humanity was
plunged into the water, fifteen feet be-
low the wharf. A few chung TO the
inclined sides OF the plank, but about
$50 were struggling in the water. The
piling of the wharf partially penned
them in on three sides and the boat ly-
ing at the wharf closed the outer end
of the opening.
The awful horror was regarded for
at least a minute by those who were
last TO leave the train, though the
scene changed Immediately from one
OF holiday gayety to a death struggle.
When the first moment of the calanl-
ity had passed a panic seemed TO seize
those who were safe, but for only q
minute, as then the cooler heads in the
crowd, more especially among the Off
GERS and crew of the steamer, asserted
themselves and the work of the rescue
began.
Those who fell into the water last
were mostly pulled out by main force,
but not n few were gotten out by boats,
were Immediately manned. In
the hurry and hustle OF alighting from
the train, husbands and wives, parents
and children, had become separated,
and separation at that moment meant
heartbreaking suspense. Mrs. Esty,
one OF the victims, was n OF those
who, while only apart from her hus-
band q few feet, lost her life, while Mr..
Esty was saved, although thrown into
the water.
III the course Of the next half hour
bodies were recovered from the
water, and those were taken to the
nearby freight house and laid out
awaiting Identification.
The Cambria came from Bar Harbor
with four physicians and n special
train was hurried from Bangor with
physicians and nurses. President Will
son, of the Maine Central railroad, was
near at hand when the disaster oc-
Cured, and he gave orders to spare
exertion in relieving the distress.
The sufferers from injuries will not
be as numerous as those who suffered
shock and exposure due to the
immersion in the water. Several were
reported last night to be in a critical
Miss Sweezy, of Bangor, was
taken to the Hotel Bluffs, suffering
from pneumonia; George Spaulding, of
is also at the Bluffs, and may
not recover. Mrs. George Brooks, of
Ellsworth, will recover, although her
case was once pronounced hopeless.
the bodies in the freight house
had been identified the ron gave
permission to have them removed, and
relatives and friends soon after took
each in charge and attended them to
their respective homes.
After the first moment of stupefac-
ton the work of rescue began. Ropes
and life pr%eservers were thrown to the
but in the panic the people in
the water clutched n another, and
many sunk thus In groups in a death
struggle.
Many taken from the water were un-
conscious and were revived with diff
Doctors were summoned from
all directions, but il was half an hour
before the first arrived. The freight
house at the ferry was turned into a
the bodieS heinz taken there