Evening star., 1921-09-21
BRIDGE BUCKLESAS
TRUCK HITS G!RDER;;
F|VEPERS0NS HURT
Four-Ton Lorry Carries Sav-
age Bridge With 1t in
Plunge to River.
TELEPHONE CONNECTION
WITH NORTH SEVERED
Big Cables Break When Span Col
lapses-Driver of Truck and As
sistant Pulled From River.

Three men and two women were
slightly injured. the Savage bridge
across the Little PatuXent river on
the Ba!timore-Wa Washington pike was
broken down and all telephone COM
munication between Washington ad
the north and northeast was severed
today when four-ton truck. loaded
with concrete, met a touring car
midway on the bridge little be-
fore o'clock this morning, swerved.
crashed through the rail and brought
down the bridge on tor of it in the
river, twenty feet Dcrow.
The injured are Howard +. Germ
roth, 225 South Fulton avenue, Balti-
more, Md, driver of the truck.
Frank Henson, colored. 1U5 North
Mount street, Baltimore, workman
on the truck.
]. W. johnson, 174s NJ street north
west, driver of the touring car. and
his two woman companions, who re-
fused to give their names.
Bridge Too Narrow.
The bridge which spans the Little
PatuXent river about two miles the
other side of Laurel, Md. is narrow
and permits only one vehicle to cross
at a time. On the other side of
the bridge is long hill. A little
before o'clock this morning a truck,
belonging to F. A. Albert. con-
tractor of Baltimore, loaded with
concrete for repair work on the
streets at Laurel. came down the
hill at what eye-witnesses say was
an excessive rate of speed.
AS il neared the span a touring car,
going from Washington TO Baltimore
reached the bridge on the other side
and started across. The driver of :le
truck saw the touring car as he ran
on the bridge. but was unable to stop.
was grazed by the truck, which hit it
glancing blow and crashed off the
bridge. carrying the railing with it
and striking in its descent an iron
girder The bridge buckled in the mid
die and crashed down on top of the
truck. The touring car was suspended
virtually in midair. both front wheels
hanging over the river and the rear
end remaining on what was left of
the bridge.
Third Car Escapes Plunge.
Another touring car, a light ma
chine. was following the truck down
the hill. Just as the bridge buckle
and crashed into the river below. the
car reached the edge of The bridge
and stopped. it's two front wheels
hanging over the ravine.
Samuel Watts and Lawrence O'Don-
ovan, both of Savage. Md, were the
only eyewitness of the accident.
They aided in the rescue of the driv-
er, Germroth, and his helper. Henson,
from the river. Neither man was Sc
verely injured. although both suffered
from shock and cuts about the face
rel and treated by DIR. Thomas w.
Linthicum, and Germroth was after
ward sent to the Franklin Square
Hospital. in Baltimore.
Mr.. Johnson, who had just begun an
automobile tour with his two woman
fv~ao tod fnr t,y1,f
juries and shock by Dr. F. E. Shipley
of Laurel. The three refused further
medical aid and returned to Wash
ington Immediately.
Telephone Cables Break.
The American Telegraph and Tele-
phone Company'S two big underground
cabes, by which all telephone COM
munication between Washington. the
north and the northeastern part of the
United States is maintained, were sew
cred when the bridge buckled. Work
men We're Immediately sent from
Washington to splice an emergency
detour in the line by way of Gathers
burg. The work had not been COM
pleted at noon today and communica-
ton by telephone over this line was
still interrupted.
The break in the bridge held up hun
dreds of automobile tourists between
Washington and Baltimore. They were
forced to make detour by way of
Savage, distance of only a few miles
out of the way.
For some time there has been an at
tempt made by citizens of Maryland
to have the bridge over the Little
Patuxent widened. There is another
narrow bridge on the road between
here and Baltimore, and the accident
today is expected to start renewed
agitation for improved and wider
bridges on the much Travelled Bafti-
more-Washington pike.