The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-08-31
Engineer in Charge of the
Bridge Work Sent Tele-
gram but it Was Delayed
SAYS He FEELS GUILTY
Many Americans on List of Dead,
Which Now Contains Seventy
Eight Names.

bridge across the st. Lawrence river
at Quebec Thursday afternoon at $50
o'clock might have been saved If a
telegram sent from New York Thurs
day morning had been received and
needed, according to a statement made
today by Theodore Cooper of As Broad
way Mr. Cooper has been the consult
ing engineer in charge of the work.
Mr.. Cooper feels keenly the accident
that cost SO many lives, and reproaches
himself for not having visited the work
in two years, though his ill health has
kept him close to town, and he has
tried to obtain his release from the re-
sponsibility of serving as the consult
ing engineer in this work because of
his poor health.
Warned by Inspector.
Thursday morning my inspector
came down to my Office" went on Mr..
Cooper, and told me that things did
not look well for the bridge. He
thought that it ought to be looked into
Immediately I wired the man in charge
of the work there to get off the bridge
and stay off it until it could be exam
ired.
II don't know what happened to the
telegram. 1T may have been delivered
during the morning or afternoon or it
may be that the strike of the tele-
graphers tied 1t up until it got to the
bridge too late. 1 have not received
any details of the accident myself,
! though late Thursday 1 got word that
| the bridge had collapsed. 1 ordered my
| inspector to go there at once and gath
er all the details he could When he
comes back I shall possibly be in a
position to advance some theory as to
the cause of the accident"
Since a message got through to Mr..
Cooper all right Thursday within a
reasonably short time after the acct
dent. it is most likely that his telegram
which was sent earlier in the day,
reached the men in charge of the actual
work on the bridge. They received
1t, perhaps. during the afternoon, and
said reassuringly:
20. WELL it won't fall before night,
any way. Wen just finish the day"
Already Feeds Burden.
"As for myself" went on Mr. Cooper
this afternoon. speaking bitterly. Il
feel a little guilty about this. 1 sup
pose commissions will investigate and
locate the responsibility. If it is found
that any blame for this loss of life
rests on me I shall take my medicine.
/
THE work was begun on the bridge
in 1900. Two years ago I found that
my falling health would not permit me
to visit this important work as much
as I thought 1t ought to be visited
/ by a consulting engineer and I asked
to be released. The builders would not
listen to that and so I retained the
position. 1 sent an inspector to look
after the work from my point of view
I haven't seen the bridge in two years
! "Of course, we believe that the work
as planned was absolutely safe, though
| in dealing with even an old type of
work on a hitherto unparalleled scale
new and unexpected problems with in
fanibility about something we never
knew before"
| Mr.. Cooper is one of the most distin-
guished engineers in this country as
well as one of the most experienced.
Fix Blame for Disaster.
Quebec, Que, Aug. 30.-(Special)-
Some unexplicable miscalculation IN
the tensile strength of possibly a sin
gle piece of steel entering into it's con-
struction is blamed by engineers for
the collapse of the huge bridge of the
st. Lawrence. Experts who visited the
wreck today say the weak spot had
given way, under the strain of hun
dreds Of tons of steel, and that this had
at once upset the balanced proportions
of the structure and caused its fall
According to a statement given out
today by officials of the Quebec Bridge
company. the number Of dead as a re-
suit of the fall of the bridge is at least
seventy eight. They say that fourteen
bodies have been recovered, nine men
were rescued alive, and sixty four are
still unaccounted for. Among the dead
are believed TO be Chief Engineer Birks,
formerly of Peoria, ILL.,; General Fore
man Gansel; Foreman Idaho. and Fore
man J. w. Whalley. all American en-
ployes.
| Twenty Americans Killed
Twenty American mechanics and
thirty Canadians persisted. The rest of
the victims were Indians, employed as
laborers.
Early this morning rowboats were
sent out to examine the superstructure
showing above the water near the shore
| to ascertain if any of the workmen
were imprisoned in the mass of twisted
iron work. None was found alive. The
terrific drop of the great steel struc-
4 ture from $50 feet above the surface of
the river crushed the bodies of many
of the workmen in a frightful manner
and it is feared many Of them never
| will be found.
The immediate cause OF the smash Is
supposed to have been the running of
heavily loaded material train out %
the end. 1t is evident that this merely
FASTENED the disaster. since every hour
the weight at the outer end of the
. structure was being increased as the
a girders were riveted into place.
! Bridge Falls Under Heavy Train.
A locomotive and several freight cars
loaded with steel girders We're moving
out upon the bridge just before Tx
Istructure collapsed. Engineer Jess, who