Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1899-08-31
several Others Fatally Hurt - Norih
Arch Fell Rirst aud Carried the
Others With lt-KIllod
and InImred.

nay possibly recover and the balance
are for the greater purt seriously in-
iurcd The dead are:
Charles Wulput
Edward Murray.
Rank Logan.
Stephen j.. Thompson.
John FuI1ey.
Richard Sherman.
Theodore Thorn.
Leroy Fenner, workman from To-
ledo, o.
AL Norman, workman from Toledo,
Ohio.
The fatally injured are: John
Marshman, fractured skull and frac-
tured right leg; j. j. Dowd, internal
injuries, both eyes out, both legs
broken; Peter peletier, right arm cut
off at shoulder, skull fractured; John
White, skull fractured, internal in
juries.
Missing and believed to be in the
ruins: Edward Swanson, Joseph King.
Injured, not serious: Cornelius
Toomey, j. II. Marley, John Haw-
thorne, John j. johnson, David Rear
don, II. p. thinner, j. Flack, j. Han
son, Andrew Morrison.
All of the twelve arches were stand
ing, the twelfth and last having been
completed Monday. II was the inten-
ton of the steel contractors, the
Pittsburgh Bridge Company, Of Pitts
burgh, Pa, to turn over its work Mon
day night to the general contractors.
The commission "traveler," or derrick,
which had been used in the erection
of the arches, had been removed and
the agents of the bridge company
were accounting their work as practi-
cally completed, when suddenly and
without the slightest preliminary
warning,the arch last put In place sud-
denly fell over against the one next
to 1t. The weight was too much for
this; it gave way, crashing against
the third, and one by one the great
steel spans fell over to the south, pre-
cisely in the same manner as n num-
Der Of cards would fall
Nearly all the men who were killed
were Mt work on top of the arches,
forty feet above the ground. Some Of
them made futile attempts to slide
down the side of the arches, but be-
fore they could help themselves, they
were hurled to the ground. Many of
them uttered piercing shrieks for aid
as they fell Most of them were killed
outright by the awful nature of their
injuries. The skulls of the unfortun-
ate men were crushed into shapeless
masses; their limbs were cut off as
IL by monster knife, and they were
manglcd beyond recognition.
The immense structure began fall
ing slowly, each arch being sustained
by the cross beams supporting the en-
tire structure. AS the mass gained
impetus, bars of iron inches thick
snapped with q loud report and the
great mass moved faster and faster in
Its descent, to the ground, with q
crash that was heard blocks distant.
the structure fell, leaving the walls
practically uninjured, and sending up
great clouds of dust and dirt.
An immense crowd gathered around
the place, and, despite the efforts of
the police, who were close at hand,
they swarmcd over the mass of wreck
age, making desperate efforts to draO
out the dead and to save the wounded.
1t was only with the greatest diff
ficulty that the police were finally able
to drive back the crowd and give the
hremen and uninjured workmen a
chance to rescue the injured.
That more men were not killed and
injured was almost o miracle. Fully
nIty men were at work in the space
covered by the arches as they fell. A
number Of the men fell into small en-
cavationS, OF which there are many in
the ground beneath the steel work.
and although some were battered I'm
by their tumble, were saved from the
great masses Of steel that crashed
down over them.
several OF them were standing under
the arches when they commenced To
1ali and running to the side walls by
great good fortune happened to stand
IN the space left vacant by the curve
OF the arches away from the side
Walls Had the arches fallen to either
SIDE, the loss of life must have been
much heavier, but they fell true to the
south on n parallel to the sides of
TINE building and none Of them, save
the two southern arches, fell at all
ontside ct the space to be occupied by
the building.
Some exceedingly narrow escapes
were recounted along with the story
o. how some Of the unfortunate work
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