New Iberia enterprise and independent observer., 1907-08-31
STEEL. BRIDGE CALAMITY.

Quebec, Aug. "a section
OF the new b.iGgc across the 81.
Lawrence r yer, five miles be
low this city, collaps ID last night
carrying scores OF bridge work
ers and mechanics ln-o the water.
1t is estimated that the loss OF
lite is 81.
The bridge was about mile
and half in length, and halt OF
it from, the south shore to mid
stream, crumbIed up and drop
ped into the water. Ninety
men were at work on this sec
ton of the structure.
The whistle had just blown at
5:3o o'clock for the men to quit
work for the day when there
came a grinding sound from the
bridge at mIdstream. The men
turned to see what had happen
cd, and an instant later the cry
went, up "The bridge is falling.
The men made a rush shore
ward, but the distance was too
great for them to escape. l he
fallen section of the bridge drag
ged others after it, the swapping
girders and cables booming like
a crash of artillery.
Terror lent heetness to the
feet of the frightened workmen
as they sped shorewards, but
only few of them reached safe
ty before the last piece of IRON
work on the south shore was
dragged into the river. Near
the shore the wreckage OF the
bridge did not GO below the
surface of the water, and eight
workmen who remained above
water were rescued and taken to
the hospital at Lewis.
The steamer Glenmont had
Just cleared the bridge when the
first section 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 halt an
hour, but there was no sign OF
lite. The twisted iron and steel
had its victims in a terrible
death grip. A few of the float
ing timbers and the broken
strand of the bridge toward the
north shore were the only signs
that anything unusual bad hap
pened. There was not a ripple
on the smooth surface Of the St.
Lawrence as it swept toward the
gulf.
All the men drowned were
employees OF the PhoenixvilIe
Bridge Company and subcon-
tractors OF Quebec and Mont
real. At 10 O'Clock tonight
sixteen bodies had been picked
up and of the eight men in the
Lewis Hospital two are not sx-
pected to live through the night.
The Qlebec Bridge was be-
gun about seven years ago. 1t
was to be finished in 1909.
Subsidies had been granted by
the Federal and Provincial Gov
ernments and the city of Que
bee. The estimated cost of the
work was SIo,ooo,ooo The
PhoenixvilIe Bridge Company,
of Pennsylvania, had the con
tract tor the construction of the
bridge. Men were working
from both sides of the river.
Nearly every man working on
the structure was an American.
The Quebec bridge, when
completed, would have been the
greatest cantilever bridge in the
world, and more wonderful in
many respects than the huge
cantllever bridge over the Firth
of Forth in Scotland. The
cost of the structure complete
was to exceed $4,000, 900, and
about 100000 has already
been expended. The concrete
work alone, which has been
completed for nearly three years,
and for which 10000 barrels
were used, cost about 81 ,ooo,-
900. 1t took more than fifty
years of agitation on the part OF
the business men of Quebec to
get the bridge under way, and it
was finally started under one OF
the provisions of Canada's arti-
cles OF confederation, which pro-
vided that the city should be
connected with the maritime
provinces.
Rome, Aug. 26.-Within
few days an extraordinary SEN