The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-12-15
BRIDGE CARRIED AWAY.
Continued from Page H.

in the current of the river, and mixed
I with it we're many pieces of ice which had
attained a thickness which added much
to the pressure against the temporary
structure.
Such a calamity as the loss of the
bridge had not been dreamed of, and so
quickly was ii brought about that there
was not much opportunity TO take steps
TO prevent it, although possibly a boom
might have been constructed to the north
in time to have prevented the disaster,
although even that is doubtful."eA freshet
at this time of the year is unusual, but
the conditions were right for one, the
ground being frozen, preventing the alb
aorption of much of the rain by the
ground.
4 quantity of ice came down the river
yesterday morning and lodged against the
piles, but when MILESTONE brook, began
to rise it cut a channel in the ice and
broke it un into small section so that it
went safely through between the piles.
Then the Connecticut began to respond.
and at s o'clock this morning IL feet of
water was going over the-GOnnecticut
River Powers Co.'s dam at NerHens repre-
senting a rise of five feet. At Bellows
Falls, "a miles north of here, the rise was
eight feet and at White River Junction
six feet.
lSlHIu dEh WAS CUM pEtLttN ChbAltA SNA
and the water rose to about two feet from
the floor of the Island Park pavilion. c.
V. Grant. who had a pile of lumber on
the island, started to remove ii Yesterday
iafternon with a Ford truck, but the rear
Irwheels broke through the frozen earth
Ccrust and settled in sand, making it nee
essary to leave the truck. and during the
night it became submerged.
When Road Commissioner Charles j.
ThVvIn ay1 mon want #n thu hwTlnn this
morning at Z o'clock to finish the con-
crete work for the approaches to the steel
bridge which is to be erected soon they
found that sufficient debris had accumu-
lated to cause a noticeable downstream
sag in the section over the current of the
river. and instead of going on with the
concrete work the road commissioner put
the men to work with pike-poles, boat and
tools to remove the accumulation.
In two bents. the piles were moving up
and down, showing that they did not touch.
bottom, and it could not be determined
definitely whether this was due to the
parting of piles where they had been.
Spliced on account of the great depth of
water or whether this was the point
where the pier of the old wooden bridge
was located and where it was impossible.
to drive the piles into the river bottom be-
cause of the rock crib which forms a part
of the pier.
After a time, as the pressure increased,
the middle section was we feet out of
true, then three feet, then four. Timbers
gave an occasional warning ,groan, sug-
costing that it probably would not be pos
sible to save the middle three or four
bents, but the road commissioner, Select
man w. +. Stellman and others thought
that when the break came it would cause
a comparatively small gap. -
When the sag had reached a point
where it seemed that the collapse would
not be much longer delayed, Road Com
missioner DUDE called to his men to leave
their work, which they did promptly. and
then everybody stood by and waited for
the inevitable.
Seventy-hve or more persons had assem-
bled at the west end Of the bridge, and a
number were gathered about the east
end.
At 11.45 o'clock the middle section
gave way, moving gradually. as the big
timbers which supported the roadway
were fastened securely together. Then it
became apparent that the damage would
be greater than was anticipated, because
the timbers failed to separate and in a
few seconds almost the entire bridge was
being dragged down.
Mt last the timbers parted, and as two
large sections ioated down stream all that
remained was. two bents on the east end
five on the west end, or a total of about
100 feet.
On the bridge were several poles carry
ing electric wires, and when someone gave.
warning that there was danger from.
broken wires the crowd quickly moved
back. The wires snapped, but they all
remained on the downstream side and did.
not hit anybody.
The bridge had been closed all the
forenoon. but several men went out on
it until it was about to collapse. Just be-
fore the crash came Charles Abbighausen,
who lives on the east side of the river,
ran across the structure. reaching the east
end only a few seconds before the bridge
went down. geM
This narrow escape recalled the death
of Cornelius Flanagan, who lost his life
when the steel bridge at the same site
was carried off by ice the night of Sunday,
March %, of this year. Mr.. Flanagan
lived on the. island and, disregarding
warnings, started for his home Just as the
bridge went His badV uavar hos baap