Omaha daily bee., 1916-10-04
STREET CARS FALL
AS CRASH ON BRIDGE
Troleys Loaded With People
Plunge Down as Span at
. Cleveland Collapses.
FOUR BODIES ARE FOUND

Cleveland, O., Oct. 3.-Four bodies
have been recovered, several other
dead are believed to be in the
wreckage and more than thirty are
in hospitals as the total of a bridge
tragedy here early this evening, when
two street cars collided on the West
Third street bridge, causing il to col
lapse and precipitate the cars thirty
feet to the Baltimore & Ohio railroad
tracks below. There were forty per-
sons on one car and twenty on the
other.
The accident occurred when a
southbound Scranton road car, carry
ing a crowd of women shoppers home
at the rush hour of the day, broke
away from the motorman oil a hill
approaching the bridge and tore down
upon the north approach to the bridge
just as northbound car reached the
same point. The runaway car jumped
the track and struck the northbound
car. The combined weight of the two
cars and the shock OF the collision
was too much for the wooden bridge,
which sagged and then gave way.
Operator Sees Accident.
Edna Waddington, a telephone
operator, employed by the Erie rail-
road, saw the accident from where she
sat at her switchboard, and turned in
call for ambulanccs, doctors, and
the fire department.
Hundreds within earshot of the
scene heard the shrieks and cries of
pain and terror as the cars carried
their burden, for the most part wom-
EN-, to death or injury.
The work of rescue began at once
Those who had not been seriously
injured extricated themselves and
then gave aid to those less fortunate
1t was not long until thirty had been
taken out and carried to, hospitals.
Some porbably are fatally injured
The portion of the bridge which fell
is just north of the river. 1t is twenty
five years old. The main part of the
structure was washed away in the
1912 flood and was replaced the same
year by another wooden bridge,
bought in Detroit and brought here.
Promise an Inquiry.
Mayor Harry L. Davis and Public
Utilities Director Thomas S. Farrell
rushed to the scene and promised to
conduct strict inquiry in an effort
to place responsibility for the dis
aster.
Motorman H. T. Daniel of the
southbound runaway car escaped seri-
Gus INJURY, but his conductor is
among the dead. Daniel says the
brakes of his car failed to work and
it dashed down the hill, out upon the
bridge, jumped the track and crashed
into the other car, with him unable to
stop its progress. "1 felt the bridge
tremble when the cars came together
and both cars fell with the bridge"
said Daniel.
The southbound car was smashed
flat by the force of the crash. There
is no part of its framework left intact.
The northbound car was badly dam
aged, but portions of it remain so
that it can readily be distinguished
in the wreckage.
The dead, whose bodies have been
recovered, include Otto Dorchert,
conductor of the southbound car; D
O'Keefe, motorman Of the north
bound car, and two unidentified MEN,
Drivers Fate Not Known.
A delivery wagon and horse,
manned by driver, which was on
The collapsed portion of the bridge,
also went down with the structure
The fate of the driver could not be
learned.
Delay in searching the wreckage
was occasioned by the fear that re-
moval of the debris might cause the
remainder of the bridge to fall. The
entire bridge is 800 feet long.