Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1901-04-10
A Big BRIDGE COLLAPSES
Trolley Car Full Of Passengers Falls
Into a Canal at Syracuse, N. Y.
NONE KILLED, BUT MANY INJURED
The Car Falls Thirty Fcct-Mnpy Pcde.
trians and n Lumber Wagon Also Go
Down With the Wreck - Water Had
Been Drawn on Many Would uay,
Pcrished-The Work OF Rescue.

Syracuse, \. Y.-While car OF the
Syracuse Rapid Transit Company was
crossing the James Street Bridge over
the Oswcgo Canal, In the heart of the
city. the bridge suddenly gave way,
dropping the car and Its sixty passen-
gers TO the canal bed. thirty feet be-
low. Several persons who were cross
Ing the bridge at the time went down
with the car, while n horse and loaded
lumber wagon piled on top of the heap.
No one was killed and about forty
persons were injured.
The bridge was unusually large.
being wide enough to accommodate
TWO drlvcways, street car tracks. two
sidewalks and Il towpath. 1t was re-
Gently Inspected by State officials and
declared safe, but local authorities
had FOR some time been fearful OF an
accident. The structure was built In
1857.
The car was outward bound to the
fashionable suburb along East James
street 1t was crowded to the doors.
The majority OF the passengers were
women and children. When in about
the centre of the bridge the motorman
felt the structure sag. and opened his
lever wide in IN effort to send his car
across before the threatened collapse
came.
He was too late, however. and with
n crash the bridge fell The car struck
the towpath below and then slid into
the mud nj the bottom ot the canal.
The water had fortunately been drawn
81 hnl Of
would have pcriShed AS ii was the
car was smashed To splinters.
Shricks and cries came from the
wreckage. and the people above could
see blOodstaincd faces and bodies
mixed together in confused mass.
The drop OF thirty feet made 1t impoS-
siblc TO get at the injured people until
ladders were brought. then the work
OF rescue was quick. A hurry call for
hook and ladder trucks and ambu-
lanccs brought scores OF pieces OF ap-
paratuS TO the scene.
The scenes rs the work OF rescue
progressed were pitablc. yet at times
almost cOmical. Women whose faces
were cut and smashed almost beyond
recognition were crying and moaning
over the loss OF new Easter hats. rib
DonS or lunches Of roses and violetS
Others who Were not injured were
more concerned over ruined dresses
than the fate of their companions.
Little girls, badly cut. were dragged
from under the broken timbcrs by
men who were so badly hurt they
could hardly speak or see. One hero
helped take two women to places OF
safety before it was learned that he
lad broken arm and disloCatcd ankle.
In the middle OF The canal bed. in
mud up to its knees. stood the horse
that had been attached to the lumber
wagon. The wagon was u wreck and
the driver badly hurt, hut the horse
was uninjurcd.
For more than year there have
been criticisms of the condition of the
bridge. many predictions being made
by the press that unless II was speedily
strengthened an accident would hap
pen. The bridge was about eighty feet
feet long and sixty feet wide. 1t was
broken sharp of at both embank-
mcnts. the entire structure going into
the canal