Cheyenne record., 1917-05-31
CHAPTER vi.
The Failure.

VoAT En- y"
@-
The Failure.
In spite of himself and his confidence
In the bridge. Abbott felt little un-
easy the next morning. At bottom ne
had more respect for Meade's tech
nIcnl knowledge than he had displayed
or even admitted to himself. Ihe
Younger engineers terrified alarm. MS
ntter forgetfulness of the amenities be-
tween them, his frantic but futile eff
forts to telephone, of which the op-
orator told Abbott inp the morning. MS
hurried departure to New York, were'
to say the least, somewhat disquleting,
much more SO than he was fain to ad-
mit to himself.
Although it involved hard and
somewhat dangerous climb DOWNWARD
and took upwards of half hour OF his
valuable time, the first thing the erect
ing engineer did in the morning was to
20 down to the pier head and make
thorough and careful examination of
the buckled member. C-lO-R was, OF
course. a part Of the great lower chord
of the huge diamond-shaped truss.
which, with Its parallel sixty feet away
on the other side Of the bridge and Its
two opposites across the river, support
ed the whole structure. If anything
were wrong, seriously, irreparabD
wrong. with the member and 1t gave
wav the whole truss would go. The
oth,s. truss would inevitably follow
auit. aud the cantllever would fmmedi-
ately collapse. Abbott realized that,
Of course, as he climbed carefully
down to the pier head and stood on the
shoe.
Abbott, as he stood by the member
md surveyed it throughout its length,
could easily see that 1t had buckled, al
though the deviation was slight, about
two inches at its maximum In sixty
feet. He brought with him line and,
with Infinite care and pains, he drew
1t taut across the slight concavity ike
A bow-string. He had estimated the
Gambler, or the distance between the
center Of the bow and the string at
one and a half inches. AS he made
more careful measurements, he discov-
cred that 1t was slightly over one ana
three-quarter inches. In seven nun
dred and twenty that was scarcely no.
ticeabIe. and it did not seem very
much to Abbott. AS he stood there
feeling himself an insignificant figure
amid this great interviewer mass Of
steel, agnin the sense Of Its strength
and stability came to him overpowering-
ly. SO much so that he lnughed aloud
in a rather grim fashion at the un-
wonted nervousness which had been
induced In his mind by Meade's words
and actions.
But he was conscientious man. so
he pursued his Investigations further.
He climbed up on top of the member,
which was easy enough by means of
the criss-crossed lacing. and carefully
Inspected the lacings Mt the center OF
ttsc -encavity, or sidewise spring from
the right line.
He noticed. by getting down on his
face aud surveying the lacing bars
closely, a number of fine hair-line
cracks In the paint. surface traceries
apparently. running here and there
from the rivet holes. The rivets them
selves had rather a strained look. Some
Of the outer rivets seemed slightly
loose, where before they must have
been tight, for the members, like NIL
other parts Of the bridge, had been
carefully inspected at the shop and
any iooseness of the rivets would GER
tainly have been noticed there. But
Abbott's obsession as to the strength
Of the bridge had grown stronger. LIN
Ing 1t out, crawling over 1t. feeling Its
rigidity. he decided that these evident
strains were to be expected. OF course
the lacings that held the webs together
would have to take up terrific stress.
They hnd been designed for that pur-
pose. Largely because he did not find
anything very glaring. and because he
wanted to believe what he believed. the
chief of construction left the pier head
and clambered up to the floor with
more satisfaction in his heart than his
somewhat surprising anticipation.
vaich had 80 unwillingly grown under
the stimulus of Meade's persistence.
had led him to expect. Ii n
The whistle was just blowing for the
commencement Of work when he got
back to the bridge floor. He could not
but reflect, as the men came swarming
along the tracks to begin their days
work, that the responsibility for their
.Hves lay With him Well Abbott was
Q big man In his way. he, had assumed
responsibilities bsfOre and was pefe
Aes- ~~s,,su. - ~ N amin both Tar