Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-05-05
TRAGIC MISHAP AT
PARIS EXPOSITION
Nine Persons Killed and Nine 9th
ers Badly Hurt in an Acct
dent Sunday.
TEMPORARY BRIDGE CoLLAPsEs
Structure Gives Way Suddenly Of
Its Own Weight, Burying
Several Persons in
the Ruins.

Paris, May IAN accident Sunday
within the exposition grounds caused
the death OF nine persons and injured
about nine others. A temporary
bridge broke, burying fifty people be-
meath the debris.
The accident threw a pail over the
happiness Of an immense throng who
had profited by the magnificent wealth
CT to visit the exposition.
Yesterday was probably the record
attendance. The c%oncourse was partic-
ularly great along the Avenue de SUI
fren, which forms. the northern boun-
Diary Of the grounds.
Here is situated a big side show, the
celestial globe. A foot bridge, on
which the finishing touches were be-
ing put, crosses the Avenue de
Sufren, connecting the side show with
the exposition. 1t was constructed Of
wood, with n stucco facade and with Il
plaster made tower at each end.
Strangely enough the bridge had been
condemned only Saturday morning as
unsafe by the exposition authorities.
The public was therefore not allowed
TO go upon the structure, and in this
way q disaster even more terrible than
that which occurred was avcrted.
The gay crowd was passing along
the avenue, and some hundred or more
persons were walking beneath the
bridge, when suddenly an ominouS
crash was heard. Before those under
meath could turn aside the structure
fell with n fearful crash, burying near
~ fifty. \ shout Of horror rose from
the spectators, mingled with the cries
Of the victims. Almost Immediately
the crowd attacked the debris in the
effort to release those lying beneath.
The workmen within the grounds,
the police and the republican guards,
together with quite Il number of sol
dicrs, joined i'm the rescue work. The
~promcnaders forgot their Sunday at
tire, and covered themselves with dirt
and CRIME in tearing away the rubbish
with their hands. Messengers wcrcs
dispatched to bring fircmcn and sap
pers with their equipments, and the
first body was found after Il quarter
Of an hours frantic labor. 1t was that
of n little girl about years old, whose
head was horribly crushed. Victim
ulltl Nl'lllI was blollRlll W llSlls
until a row of six mutilatcd corpscS
had been placed on the sidewalk,
and nearly forty other persons, some
badly and others less seriously in
jurcd, had been carried in ambulances
or driven to the hospital.
A family, composed Of father, moth
er and two girls. narrowly escaped de-
]struction. The parents who happen
ed to be Il little ahead, had gone under
Just at the moment of the collapse.
The parents were killed, but the chill
drcn sprang back and escaped with a
few scratches.
The dead are three men, two wo-
men and. one child.
The wcighty plaster towers seem TO
be responsible for the fall of the
structure. Several soldiers were among
the injured, and many of their com
rades were foremost in giving assist
ance. Tonight strong criticism is
lcveled against the exposition authori-
ties for allowing an unfinished struc-
ture to jeopardize the lives of citizens,
fears being expressed that the in
complete state of the works within
the exhibition grounds themselves
might lead to a similar accident.
1t should he said however, that the
exposition authorities are not re-
sponsible for the defective construc-
ton of the foot bridge, which was
erected by the management Of the ce-
~lestial globe.
As Il result Of the accident NJ. Lc-
pine, project of police. has ordered the
closing of several of the shows, the
structural ARRANGEMENTS of which are
considered dangerous.
Some of the victims have since died
at the hospital, so that revised lists
show nine were killed and nine in
iured, the injuries being mostly com
pound fractures of the leg. One WON
an and the child are still unidentified,