The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-06-17
NEW BRIDGE Will.
co Up THIS YEAR
Every Energy to Be De-
voted to That End, Says
Manager
BRIDGE
OFFICIAL HERE
Diver TO Determine How Much of Wreck
Can BE Salvaged, and if Effort Is
Worth Cost Steel VIII BE Removed
-StOrrS Comes Here.

You may assure the good people of
Brattlcboro that the American Bridge
Co. will have new bridge erected befor"
snow flies" said Manager ]. B. Gem
berling of the company when interviewed
BY member of The Reformer staff this
forenoon as he was surveying the wreck
age of the bridge which topped into the
Connecticut river yesterday forenoon
after one of the piles in the falsework
gave way and caused the collapse of the
bridge in process of erection.
Mr.. Gemberling was at the eompany'sI
Office in Philadelphia when news of the
disaster reached him. and he started im-
mediately for Brattleboro. reaching
Springfield, Mass. last night and coming
here this morning.
1T is very gratifying TO US that no.
body was killed or badly injured" con-
tinued Mr.. Gemberling. ''Such an ac-
cident never could happen again with
out more serious results We are sorry
that the accident happened, but we
should have felt much worse if there had
been loss of life. We can replace the
steel without difficulty, but we could not
replace lives lost
When asked if any blame was at
tached to anybody for the collapse of the
structure MI NtdilibtfIli= fFbltu. Nd
somtely not" Supt. Dan Burns was
competent bridge builder. he said and
used every precaution that anybody
could use. The weight of the load was
so distributed. he said. that he did not
believe the pile which broke was carry
ing more than nine or 10 tons. which
was very small amount for piles of that
size to carry.
Mr.. GemberljAg said. however. that lie
did not like the looks of the broken ends
/ of such of the piles as are visible. The
piles used on this lob are Adirondack
4 pines from New York state. which were
+ used as matter of convenience. while
the piles usually used by the company
are southern pine The Adirondack
pines are used by the railroad companies
and carry heavy trains and they are
ISuppoSed TO be ample for every purpose.
Mr.. Gembcrling thought from the ap-
/ pearance of the piles used here that they
might have been more brittle than south
crn pine. He said that southern pine
world be used next time
| This may not have been the cause of
the trouble. Mr.. Gemberling said. as the
/ bottom of the river at the point where
| the collapse began is rocky and the bot
tom end of the pile may have been Splin-
tered on rocks and weakened. or there
may have been a defect in that partic-
Iular pile that could not be seen.
John w. StorrS of Concord. \. H.,
Towns of Brattleboro and HinSdale-
reached Brattleboro by automobile late
Yesterday afternoon and conferred with
the local selectmcn and Town Counsel
II a L. Carpenter. To a member of The
Reformer staff Mr.. Storrs said he could
not see that anybody was responsible
for the accident. as engineers figure that
piles such as were used here should carry
much heavier loads. and do in fact carry
heavier loads He thought there must
have been some defect in the pile that
could not be seen.
} Mr. Gcmberling and Mr.. Storrs agree
that the thing to be done Is to bend ey
i cry energy to putting on another bridge
rs quickly as possible. and Mr. Gemher
ling said today that the necessary ma
chinery and equipment would be sent
here at once. Workmen began this morn
ing to clear away the falsewOrk.
As to what will be done with the stee
i'm the river Mr.. Gemberling was not Ger
tain. First it will be necessary to hay'
In diver inspect the wreck. If ii is fOun,
that much of the steel can be salvagcC
n big derrick boat will be shipped here
and the steel removed. If the steel i
not worth taking out it will be left OF
= the river bottom unless it appears tha
: there is some reason why 1t should no
l be left there. When asked if. in TIL
| event of equipment being sent here TO re
= move the steel it would be feasible to re
move the bridge which was carried on
March 2S. 1920. Mr. Gemberling sai'
that with scrap steel at $40 ton the oil
bridge would not be worth removing.
r These are dun times in the company
business and only about 1000 men an
doing outside erection work. When time
9 are good the company has from 1000 Z
5000 men erecting bridges
The matter of establishing a ferr,
; between the freight yard and the islam
z is being considered by officers of tn
Y Chamber of Commerce. but whether on
will be established viii not be known un
Itil tonight. when the question will b
further discussed.