Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-01
SCORES HURLED
INTO ICY RIVER
BRIDGE SCAFF0LD BREAKS AT
ST. LOUIS
TWENTY MEN MAY HAVE MET
DEATH IN WATER
Sixty-nine Workers Are Tumbed Into
Stream and Have Fearful Fight
with Ice Pack Before
Rescued
Associated PressI

Associated GfeSSl
ST. LOUIS. Dec. S1.-Three hundred
feet Of false structure of the Mckinley
bridge, now under construction across
the Mississippi river, was knocked OUT
by an ice jam at o'clock tonigh3.
sixty-nine men were thrown into tfe
river, and some may have been
drowned.
One hundred and fifty men were at
work on the structure when the Jam
began to move. Many heard the warn
ing snap of the timbers in time TO es-
cape to the steel work, but slxtg-nlne
others went down in the mass of tim
bers.
Three hoisting engines and q "trav-
eler'' also went down, importing the
struggling men below.
Captain John Short, in charge OF a
tug and two barges, picked up forty
men and got them ashore after two
hours battle with the ice, which is
jammed six feet in many places.
Several times the barges threatened
to crush the tug, and several times the
vessel nearly turned turtle when forced
upon the ice by pressure ibehlnd II.
The twenty men unable to reach the
tug are believed to have reached shore
across the floating ice (iloes, but com
pany officials said tonight they would
not know whether amy lives were lost
until tomorrow, when the men will be
paid off.
The property loss is estimated at
$3.50 600, and completion of the bridge
will be delayed several months. me
bridge is being built by the Illinois
traction system.
Captain Heroic
Company officials said tonight that
many lives would certainly have been
lost but for Capt. Shorts heroism.
Twice his little tug was caught be-
tween the barges and threatened with
destruction, and each time he fought
back the men on board to prevent them
from riskinf their lives on the tioes.
Twice his rudder became jammed,
but he stick to the boat. Once he
risked hisl life to clear the tiller by
climbing town into the ice and pull
ing out the jam. The second time the
rudder TANNED he could not release
It, and the boat drifted helplessly
down stream, threatened with instant
destruction by the barges and ice.
Finally, rescue parties with ropes
reached him from shore after a two
hour battle, and he and his men were
landed Crowds cheered his rescue.
Drift Three Miles
ELEVEN men were unable to get
aboard the tug when the span went
down and clambered on piledriver
ndounted on small barge which
drifted three miles
4 Gus Steimel, a boatman, saw the
gorge begin to move and attempted to
warn the men at work on the bridge
by running across the ice. He was
caught half way to the bridge in the
breaking ice and nearly lost his life.
William Frederick, one of the men
rescued on the tug, said:
Il don't know whether all of those
at work near the river got aboard, as
every man looked after himself. If
many tried to get ashore by jumping
the foes some of them certainly
drowned"
The company has been working on
the bridge from both ends and the two
shore s0ans were connected by the
false work that collapsed.
The river banks are being patrolled
tonight, but there is little hope of find
ing any bodies, in case some of the
men were drowned, as the river is
choked with ice.