Omaha daily bee., 1907-08-31
Few Bodies Of the Canadian Bridge
Disaster Are Recovered.
LIST MAY NUMBER EIGHTY-FIvE
Many Americans Are Caught When
Big Structure Gives Way.
CAUSE OF ACCIDENT IN DOUBT
Allegation is Made that Some Work
Was Defective.
woRKMEE CAUGHT N RUINS
Men in Rowboat See Bodies of Men
under water, but They Can
net BE Reached at
Present.
woRKKEx CAUGHT N RUINS

QUEBEC. Aug so.-wRh the first break
Of dawn. half q co1sn government and
Quebec Bridge conlpeny tugs began
search Of the ST. Lawrence river for the
victims ol last nights catastrophe.
The dead caused BY the collapse OF the
ETeat br5dge. number At least seveutT-fve.
and may reach sighty-hve Up 10 an early
hour today less than twenty bodies hae
been recovered The terrific drop Of the
great steel structure from 80 feet above
'he surface OF THE river crushed the bodies
u many CT the worknen ta 4 frightful
manner. ard Il 10 feared many will never
~ found
Many Of the dead were Americans
SrouRht here BY the Phoenix Bridge CON-
Ssny OF PhoenixvIlle. Pa. which had the
sontract for the iron work on the bridge.
Among the known dead are;
b A GANsEL. foreman for the Phoenix
bridge company.
CHIEF ENGINEER BIRRs.
FIREMAN DAVIS. OF the bridge switch
nEfne.
JOHN wHALLET. foreman
JTM TDAH. Indian foreman
ABOUT THIRTY CACGHNAWAGA
fNDfANs. employed as laborers-
VICTOR JAMES AND HENRY HARDY.
brothers. Of New Liverpool Que.
wILFRED PROULEX Of New Liverpool,
Cue.
ZEPHRIAN LA FRANCE. Quebec
Early this morning row boats were sent
out TO examine the EuperEtructure showing
above the water near the shore. TO ascer-
tain II any Of the vorkmen were I'm
pr1soned In the mass Of twisted ironwork-
None vas found alive Just below the Eur-
face OF the water two bodies were seen, but
q viii be impossible TO reach them until
the tide goes cut
Both the local and the Dominion author1-
tSes have taken steps 70 investigate the
cause of disaster and IL possible FIX the re-
EponalbIlity. Some OF the workmen ex-
p51Ssed the belief that the anchor pier
gave way under 1he tremendous strain OF
the everhanginE steel work N p Davis
Of Ottawa the contractor who built the
pierre. nade hasty examination last night
hgvever. and reported them to be in good
condition. although the steel supsrstruc-
ture had fallen upon them.
A looOmetivs and several freight cars
loaded with steel girderz were moving out
upon the brsdgs just before the structure
collapsed Engineer Jess. who was on the
locomotive. went into the river with his
engine. but was picked up 800 feet below
the bridge Fireman Davis perikhed- En-
gineer Jess was removed 10 Lewis hospital.
where be rapidly recovered from the shock
Of bis plunge into the river. According to
his story. the portion Of the bridge over
hanging the river was the first 20 show
signs Of weakness At the FIRST sign OF
dAnger Jess shut on steam. but his locomo-
tive c0ntinued TO move toward the end Of
the bridge which had begun TO totteT and
q moment later the engine went into the
river.
Ninety Men at work.
The bridge Was about a rnIle and a half
in length and haif Of s. from the south
shore 10 midstream. crumpled Up and
fropped into the water. Ninety men were
al work on this section Of the structure.
and the whistle had blown a; s-s0 for the
men to quit work for the day. when there
came grinding sound from the bridge in
midsineam- The men turned 10 see what
had happened. and an instant later the
CRY went Up. The hr1dge is fallingr' The
men made 8 rush shorewarc. but the dis
tance was too great for them TO escape
The falling section Of the bridge dragged
others after IT, the swapping girders and
cables booming like a crash Of artillery.
Terror lent neetness TO the feet OF the
frightened wcrkmen as they sped shore
ward. but only a few Of them reached
safety before the last piece of ironwork on
me SCUM tLNIE Aat QrhAECo lEAo the flNtI-
Near the xnore the bridge ci5 not 20 be-
low the surface Of the wHteE and eight
workrnsn who remained above water were
rescued and taken to the hospital Al Lewis.
Few Men Are Rescued
The steamer Glsnmont had Just cleared
the bridge when the section fen Ths water
throxn up by The deh1is came clear over
the bridge Of the steamer. The captain
al oncs lowered boats and 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 gT1p. few Coating ttmbers and
the brokea stTznds q the bridge toward the
nor1h Support were the only nEns that
anything unusual had happened There
was not q ripple on the smooth surface OF
the St. Lawrence as Il swept Aiong toward
the gulf
The ousseo bridge WAS begun about
sevsn years ago and Il Was 70 be finished
IN 100 Subsidies had beer granted hy
the Dominion and provincial governments
ana the city OF onebee. Hnt the estimated
cost of the work Was u0 ooo.0a
The PhOenixvilie Bridge company %
ReunsylvaniEn had the contract for the
NgDsiracfion of the bridge and the crews
TeFe working from both sides % the river.
STRATA Too Great steel
Several engineers visited the scene today.
il WAS svsdeut shsT said. that there had
been a miscalcuiArion OF the tensile
BtreaESh IN some spot. that the weak spot
had given way under the strain Of hun
dnsds of thousands q tons q steel. ard
hat this had upset the balanced proper
tons q the strDcture and caused the COD
lApss.
TOoSy bridge snplOyes we're busy booking
for bodies among the piles of tron which
fen On The shore Women were sitting On
logs vesptnE. and a body UAs brought
ASHORE there wEs q Wild ruxh 10 see II II
wAx that q . lest relative As the bodies
we're foand they were carried 10 ons Of
ths eompGnys buadingS
The general estimate of the Aumber of
Lad h ssFenty. The humber q dad VIC
tirna. a. stated a the ofsos q the Phoenix
Aridgs ooupAny tocay. Il siEhtssn Cana
oouussuu.a ru $500 Par~B