Arizona republican., 1905-03-22

public and it took but moment for
it to spread through town. All who
I could possibly get away left for the
scene of the catastrophe to lend what
aid they could to the injured and it
was some little time before there was
| a positive certainty that the train had
crossed safely. The train had not been
across a moment more than twenty
minutes.
AS was mentioned in yesterdays pa
per. the second pier from the north
toppled over, falling to the northeast.
This wrenched the first span away
from the first pier, breaking the rails
off short over the center of the pier.
The north end of the span was car
rIed down stream by the current and
when first seen after the accident the
span was partly in sight. Yesterday.
however, both pier and span were
completely out of sight
The south end of the second span
was thrown a very little to the east
by the fall but instead of turning over
as the other did, it simply dropped into
| the water but very little out of line
of the standing bridge. The rails were
not broken on the third pier as they
were on the first and on the span that
} fell they were pulled loose from the
! ties and yesterday were still hanging
from the standing spans to the one in
the water. The rails We're broken on
the bridge just sixty-five PAGES south
of the third pier and were pulled over
the ties a distance of about twelve
feet, SCATTERING ties and pulling spikes
as they went. The fallen span At it's
south end is almost intact but the end
nearest the pier that fell over is
mas. of Cd he
and the remainder of the bridge seems
/ to be none the worse for the falling
| of the two spans.
! General Agent L. II. Lands came
over from Phoenix yesterday morning
: on a special train which returned, tax
ing with it those passengers from
I Florence and the south who were will
ing to walk the NJ. & 2. bridge. By
mid afternoon yesterday a Wire had
been run across the river at the NJ
& p. bridge and Geographic cOmmun-
icatiOns had been established again.
, The train from Florence left there yes
! terday morning before they could be
stopped TO bring in the bridge ganE
stationed there and they returned in
the afternoon, coming back last night
with all the men and material that
! could be spared. The work train from
scene today and active operations will
! be commenced toward repairing the
/ bridge. For the present a pile struc-
ture will be built across the chasm and
steel viii he put in At Il later date.
On account of the uncertainty Of the
rivers condition and the fact that the
span now in the way will have to be
removed before any work on this enc
of the gap can be commenced, there is
no telling when traffic will be resumed,
but all haste possible viii be made.
The scene Of the disaster was visited
by hundreds Of people during the day
yesterday from Phoenix and Mesa. The
students of the rural school and those
of the higher grades in the Alma school
came in a body with their teachers
and there We're rigs coming and going
all day long. It was a sight not often
seen in this part of the world and one
worth going some distance to see.
Probably no one aside from the rail
road company regrets the accident
more than Louis Corbeu, the young
man who carries The Republican from
Phoenix every morning. For the past
year he has ridden the 80 train tC
Phoenix every evening, returning il
the morning on his wheel with the pa
pers. For the present and until the
bridge is repaired he will have to pusf
a wheel both ways. He is congrat-
ulating himself, however, on the fac
that the train passed twenty minutes
before the bridge fell, otherwise he
might not have been obliged to carry
papers at ell.