The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-09-03
.Precipitated Scores of Wcrkmen
Into the River
No Definite Figures Obtainable-
ateamer With 80 Doctors and Newspa-
per Men on Way to Scene-Bridge
Mile and Half Long and Was
Nearly Completed.

from Quebec reports that the ne"
bridge under construction i've miles
below that city collapsed this after
J noon and scores of wOrkmen were
thrown into the river.
REPORTS place the loss OF life all
the way from 80 up to 200, but no de-
finite figures are obtainable at this
hour.
Tugs have started down the rive
from here and special train is being
made up at Quebec.
Quebec, Aug. ga steamer with
80 doctors and newspaper men left here
at 8:15 for the scene of the bridge dis
aster.
1t is reported that the loss OF life
was over fifty. Nearly half OF the
bridge beginning with the south shore
fell into the river.
The bridge was about mile and a
half long and was nearly finished.
A section of the new bridge across
the ST. Lawrence river, five miles be-
low this city, collapsed late today car
rying scores of bridge workers and
mechanics into the water 1t is estl-
mated that the loss of life is more than
sixty and may exceed that number by
twenty.
The bridge was a mile and a half
in length and half of it from the
lAguth shore to mid-stream, crumpled
up and dropped into the water.
Ninety men were at work on this sec
ton of the structure and the whistle
ha dust blown at $50 for them to
quit work for the day when there came
a grinding sound from the bridge
mid-Stream
The men turned to see what had
went up "the bridge is falling" The
men made a rush shoreward, but the
distance was too great for them to es-
cape.
The falling section of the bridge
dragged others after it, the swapping
a crash of artillery.
Terror lent f1eetness to the feet of
the frightened workmen as they sped
shoreward but only a few Of them
GeEhed safety before the last piece of
i1 work on the sOuthshOre was drag
ged 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 hos
pital at Lewis.
The steamer Glemont had just clear
ed the bridge when the first section
fell
The water thrown up by the debris
went clear over the bridge of the steam
er. 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 its 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 ,he st. Lawrence river as it
} swept along toward the gulf. All the
men drownd were employees of the
PhoeniXville Bridge Company and SUBJ
contractors f Quebec and Montreal
At 10 o'clock tonight sixteen bodies
had been picted up and Of the eight
men in the Lewis hospital, two are
2et expected % live throughout the
The Quebec tridge was begun about
seven years age and it was to be fin
ished in 1909
Subsidies had been granted by the
fe1eral and provincial governments
and the city o fQuebec and the esti-
mited cost of the work was S1O,000,-
s0t.
The Phoenixville Bridge Company of
pennsylvania had the coE<ract for the
construction of the bridge and were
working from both sides Of the river,
The horror Of the situation is increas-
et by the fact that there are a num-
hr of wounded men pinned in the
Vreckt-se near the shore. Their groans
and shrieks can be plainly heard
by the crowds who have gathered at
. the waters edge, but nothing can be
done so far to relieve their sufferings
There are no search lights available
and by the feeble lights of lanterns
it is impossible to even locate some
Of the sufferers.