The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-04-19

CldnkluS OF ITuCkS, grinding OF Wneels'
the deep breathing Of locomotives,
mingled In an unharmOniOus diapasOn
of hOrrid sound.
Abbott was right above the pier head
now. He looked down at 1t through
the struts and floor beams and braces,
fastening his gaze on the questioned
member. There 1t stood satisfactorily,
Of course. Yet, something impelled him
to walk out on the nearest floor beam
to the extreme edge Of the truss and
look down at 1t once more, leaning far
out to see 1t better. He could get a
better view of 1t with nothing between
1t and him. It still stood bravely. 1t
was all right, Of course. He wished
that he had never said word about it
to anyone. He did not see why he could
not regard 1t with the Indifference that
1t merited. AS he stared down at it
over the edge Of the truss the whistle
for quitting blew.
Every sound of work ceased after
the briefest Of intervals, except here
and there a few riveters driving home
a final rivet kept at it for a few sec
Ond, but only for few seconds. Then,
for moment q silence like death it.
self intervened. 1t seemed as If the
ever blowing wind had been mOmen-
tarily stllled. That shrill whistle and
the consequent cessation of the work
always affected everybody the same
way. There was inevitably and in
variably pause. The contrast be-
tween the noise and It's sudden stop
page was so great that the men in
stinctively waited few seconds and
drew breath before they began to
light their pipes, close their tool boxes,
pick up their coats and dinner pals,
and resume their conversation as they
strolled along the roadway to the
shore.
1t seemed to Abbott that 1t had never
been so silent on the bridge before.
There was almost always breeze,
sometimes a gale, blowing down or up
the gorge through which the river
flowed, but that afternoon not breath
was stirring.
Abbott found himself waiting in
strained and unwOnted suspense for
the next second or two, his eyes fixed
on the member. The long warm rays
of the afternoon sun Illuminated 1t
clearly. In that second Immediately
below him, far down toward the pier
head he saw a sudden flash as Of break
ing steel. Low, but clear enough in the
intense silence, he heard popping
sound like the snap of great finger.
Then the bright CLEAN Of freshly
broken metal caught his excited glance
The lacing was giving way. Meade was
right. The member would go with it
The first pop or two was succeeded by
little rattle as Of revolver shots
heard from distance, MS the lacings
gave way in quick succession. Abbott
was man with powerful voice and
he raised 1t to its limit
The idle wOrkmen, just beginning to
laugh and jest, heard great cry:
"Off the bridge, for Gods sake"
Two or three, among them Which
ings, who happened to be within few
feet Of the landward end, without I'M
derstandlng why, but impelled by the
agony, the appeal. the horror in the
great shout Of the master builder,
leaped for the shore. On the bridge
itself some stepped forward, some
stood still staring, others peered down
ward. The great sixty-foot webs of
steel wavered like ribbons in the wind.
The bridge shook as If in an earth
quake. There was heavy, shuddering,
Swaying movement and then the GOO
foot cantilever arm plunged down
ward, as a great ship falls into the
trough Of a mighty sea. Sharp-keyed
sounds cracked out overhead as the
truss parted at the apex, the outward
half inclining to the water, the inward
half sinking straight down.
Shouts, oaths, screams rose, heard
family above the mighty bcll-like re-
QUEEN of great gfrders, struts and ties
shifting other members and ringing in
the ears of the helpless men like doom.
Then, with fearful crash, with Il
mighty shiver, the landward half col
lapsed on the low shore, like house of
cards upon which has been laid the
weight of massive hand. The river
section, carrying the greater load at
the top and torn from it's base, plunged,
like an avalanche Of steel, 200 feet
down into the river, throwing far
ahead of 1t, as from a giant catapuIt,
the traveller on the outward end of the
suspended span and locomotive on
the floor beneath.
WilChings, and the few men safe on
the shore, stood trembling, looking ut
the bare pier head, at the awful tan
gled mass Of wreckage on the shore
between the pier and the bank; floor
beam and stringer, girder and strut,
bent twisted, broken in ragged and
horrible ruin, while the water, deeper
than the chaSm it had cut, rolled it's
waves smoothly over the agitatlons of
the great plunge beyond the pier. They
stared sick and faint at the tangled,
interviewer mass Of steel, ribboning In
every direction-for in the main the
rivets held so 1t was not any defect
of joints, but structural weakness In
the body of the members that had
brought it down-and inclosing as In
a net many bodies that Il few seconds
before had been living men.
They had seen body after body hurled
through the air from the outward end
and, as they gazed fearfully in horror
here and there dark figures floated to
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