The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-09-06
BRIDGE COLLAPsEs; 81 LOST
Ten Escape and Six Expected to Die
of Injuries.


of Injuries.
Quebec, Que. Especially The i'm
mense new $10,0o0,000 steel bridge.
which was in course of construction
across the st. Lawrence River at
Lewis, two miles above the city of
Quebec, collapsed, carrying down
nearly 100 workmen mostly steel
workers and riverters.
Now the vast mass of steel work
lies a tangled wreck across the St.
Lawrence channel A careful esti-
mate places the loss of life at "a.
The accident was SO terrible in its
effectiveness in wiping out the lives
of the men employed that very little
is known as to the cause of the dis
aster.
The bridge was about a mile and
half in length, and half of 1t, from
the south shore to midstream, crump-
led up and dropped into the water.
Ninety men were at work on this
section of the structure, and the
whistle had just blown at $50 for
the men to quit work for the day,
when there came a grinding sound
from the bridge midstream. The
men turned to see what had happen
ed and an instant later the cry
went up 1.-THE bridge is falling"
The men made rush shoreward,
but the distance was too great for
them to escape. The fallen section
of the bridge dragged others after
it, the swapping Orders and cables
booming like crash of artillery.
just Missed Steamboat.
of the frightened workmen as they
sped shoreward, but only a few of
them reached safety before the last
piece of iron work on the south shore
was drggead into the river.
Near the shore the wreckage of
the bridge did not go below the sur
face of the water, and eight work.
men who remained above water were
rescued and taken to the hospitals
at Lewis.
The steamer Glenmont had just
cleared the bridge when the first sec
ton fell. The water thrown up by
the debris came clear over the
bridge of the steamer. The captain
at once lowered boats. The small
boats piled backward and forward
over the sunken wreckage for half
an hour, but there was no sign OF
life.
The twisted iron and steel had it's
victims in a terrible death grip. A
few floating timbers and the broken
strands of the bridge toward the
north shore were the only signs that
anything unusual had happened.
There was not a ripple on the
smooth surface of the St. Lawrence
as it swept along toward the Gulf.
Structure Overloaded.
The collapse, thought to be due
to the overlooking of the superstruc-
ture with bridge materials, occurred
at an hour when the workmen were
all in their places, preliminary to
finishing the work for the day.
When the fall of the giant struc-
ture came the big steel structural
work with which it was being built
prevented many of the workmen
from drowning in the st. Lawrence
River. Those who were not stunned
by the terrible tumble from the sup
erstructure seized the big steel grid
ers which we're carried to the river
bottom, and were thus saved from
drowning.
All the men drowned were en-
ployes of the Phoenixville Bridge
Company and subcontractors of Que
bee and Montreal.
At 10 O'Clock p M. 16 bodies had
been picked up, and of the eight men
in the Lewis Hospital, two of them
are not expected to live throughout
the night.
Roar Like Earthquake.
The southern extension of the
bridge, which collapsed, was rapidly
nearing the zenith of the immense
seel arch which was to span the riv-
er. For 500 feet from the shore
the massive steel structure reached
an arch with no support save the
piers from the shore and one pier in
the river, about $50 feet from the
shore, while the outward extremity
was $50 feet above the water.
The end of the half arch bent
down a trif1e,, and a moment later
the whole enormous fabric began to
give way, slowly at first, then with
a terrific crash, which was plainly
heard in Quebec, and which shook
the whole countryside so that the
residents rushed out of their houses,
thinking that an earthquake occur
red.