Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1900-05-03
DISASTER AT PARIS
ACCIDENT AT EXPOSITION GROUNDS
COSTS NINE LIVES.

COSTS NINE LIVES.
Foot Bridge Falls Without Warning Upon
Crowd Walking Underneath, Burying
Nearly Fifty-Six Are Taken Out Dead
and Three Others Die of Their Injuries.
PARIS, al ril 3O-An accident within
the exposition grounds caused the death
of nine persons and injured 40. A tenn
porary bridge, unable to Withstand the
Sunday crowd, broke. The dead are
three men, two women and one child.
Three of the injured died.
The accident threw pail over the
happiness of an immense throng who
had profited by the magnificent weather
to visit the exposition. Not merely the
interior of the grounds, but the pre-
cincts also were crowded and the con-
course was particularly great along the
Avenue de Sufren, which forms the
northern boundary of the grounds. Here
is situated big sideshow, the Celestial
Globe. A foot bridge, on which the
finishing touches were being put, crosses
the Avenue de Sufren, connecting the
sideshow with the exhibition.
Strangely enough the bridge had just
been condemned as unsafe by the expo
sition authorities. The public, there
fore, was not allowed to go upon the
structure, and in this way disaster
even more terrible than that which oc-
CURED was averted.
The gay crowd was passing along the
avenue and some hundred or more per-
sons were walking beneath the bridge
when suddenly an ominous crash was
heard. Before those underneath could
turn aside the structure fell with fear
full crash, burying nearly so.
A shout of horror rose from the spec.
tators, mingled with the cries of the
victims. For moment nothing could
be distinguished but a cloud of dust and
plaster A scene of the greatest excite
ment and confusion followed.
Almost Immediately the crowd at
tackled the debris in an effort to release
those lying beneath.
The workmen within the grounds who
had witnessed the accident, the police
and the republican guards, together
with quite number of soldiers Joined in
the rescue work. The promenaders for.
got their Sunday attire and covered
them selves with dirt and CRIME in tear
ing away the rubbish with their hands
The victims first recovered were only
the injured, the dead being found late1
beneath the center of the structure
Messengers We're dispatched to bring
tiremen and sappers with their equip
ments and the first body was found
after quarter of an hours frantic La.
Dor. 1t was that of little girl about
years Of age, whose head was horribly
crushed. Victim after victim were
brought to light until row of six mu
tilated corpses had been placed upon the
sidewalk and nearly forty persons, some
badly and others less seriously injured
had been carried in ambulances or driven
to the hospitals.
The weighty plaster towers seem tc
be responsible for fall Of the structure
The disaster was the leading topic OF
discussion in the cafes and at the other
Paris resorts. and strong criticism was
leveled against the exposition authori.
ties for allowing an unfinished structure
to jeopardize the lives of citizens. fears
being expressed that the incomplete state
of the works within the exhibition
grounds themselves might lead to sim.
liar accident.