Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-08-31
HAD ORDERED ALL
MEN FROM BRIDGE
Not Surprised That Huge Struc-
ture Fell But Blames Superin-
tendent In Charge For Not
Obeylng His Positive In
StruCtionS In Tine.

New York, August sl.-Theodore
Cooper. consulting engineer In charge
of the work on the huge cantllever
bridge across the st. Lawrence river
which collapsed Thursday evening.
feels keenly the accident which cost
the lives of 40 workingmen. In
statement to reporter. he reproaeh-
ed himself for not having visited the
works In two years. though IN health
kept him here, and he tried for that
reason to obtain a release from the
responsibility of his position.
Cooper said that Thursday morning
after an Inspector had told him things
did not look wen for the bridge he
sent telegram to the man In charge
of the works to get off the bridge and
stay off until the trouble could be
remedied
"Of course we believe the bridge as
planned was absolutely safe" said
Cooper. though in dealing with even
the old type of work on a hitherto
unparalleled scale, new and unexpect-
ed problems now and then arise"
10 Missing.
OF the total seventy-nine dead and
missing. sixteen are skilled American
mechanics.
Some of the bodies of the unfortu-
nate men can be seen below the sur
face of the water, tightly wedged Ia
the inextricable network of steel,
where it is utterly impossible to reach
them.
Although tugs and rowboats are
patrolling the waters over the
wrecked bridge, the net result OF their
work was the discovery of one body
which was fakcn from the wreckage
at low tide This victim was al
most cut In two when found. and the
body had to be taken out I'm two
parts. Another body was located near
the anchor pier, and an effort was
made to take II out This was found
impossible, however. the whole lower
portion of the body being held In a
grip of steel which 1t was found inn
possible to break.
Bodies Taken from Wreckage.
Bridge employees were still busy to-
day looking for the bodies among the
piles of iron on the shore. Women
were sitting on the logs weeping, anu
as body was brought ashore there
was Wild rush 20 see II it was that
of lost relative. AS the bodies were
found they We're carried to one of the
company's buildings and from thence
taken to the mOrgue. The general
estimate Of the dead Is seventy-nine.
The estimate given out at the Phoe-
nix Bridge companys ONCE Is Cana
dians. IS; Indians. rs; Americans, II.
The officials refused to give out any
I
that five Canadians, four Indians and
three Americans are among the in
Jured at the Point Lewis hospital
The Quebec Bridge company Off
cials place the number of dead at
seventy-eight.
The two piers of the bridge appear
TO be still solid and IT Is evident that
| the accident did not occur through
the given away of the masonry, bun
seems to have been caused by the
weight of the iron.
Inspect the Piers.
The Dominion government has ap-
pointed a commission consisting OF
Deputy Minister Of Railroads Butler
| and Collingwood Schrleber. chief en-
gineer, to investigate the cause of tho
disaster. The special commission will
be assisted by Chief Engineer Hol-
gate, of the city of Montreal.
| Several engineers visited the scene
| of the accident today II was evident,
! they said. that there had been mis-
| calculation of the tensile strength OF
| the material in some spot, and that
/ the weak spot had given away under
| the thousands OF tons Of steel, and
| that this had at once upset m, ball
| ance and proportion of the strut,uts
| and caused the c0liduse