New-York tribune., 1921-09-12
Trained Bear
And Rusty Bolt
Cost "a Lives
Chester Bridge Collapse Due
to Rush of Crowds When
Youngster Fell I'm While
Watching Bruins Antics
Footpatl Support Snaps
Struggling Mass Caught in
Deep Water and Unable
TO Scale Slippery Walls

CHESTER, Pa, Sept. lt.-~Twenty-
four persons were drowned and five
others seriously injured in the collapse
last night Of the bridge spanning the
Chester River at Third Street, in the
heart of the city's business district.
The police made this announcement to-
night after divers had definitely deter
mined that no more bodies remained in
the water
A small wrought-iron gusset plate,
part of the support fo~ footpath
along the side Of the structure. which
had been half eaten by rust, gave way
under the weight of nearly a hundred
persons. who were attracted to the spot
by the cries of drowning boy.
The last body to be dragged from
the mud at the bottom of the river, was
that of eight-year-ol Charles Apos-
tolus, whose death was the inadvertent
cause of the accident.
Trained Bear Attracts Crowd
All OF the dead were residents of
Chester and most Of them had just
reached the business district, en- route
to theaters or stores. The Apostolus
boy was in a group Of children who
were standing on the river bank in the
=
OF bear, which was to appear in the
show. In some manner he was knocked
into the river by one of his excited
playmates and his cries for help, to-
gether with the tumult that accom-
panied the accident, attracted the
crowds on Third Street.
J. Several hundred persons dashed for
the bridge and others were trying to
push onto the structure when, without
warning, one end of the footway
.buckled. The victims were caught in
= death trap. At the point of the ac-
cident the water is 16 feet deep. The
river is scarcely more than 20 feet
wide and factory and store walls are
built to it's very edge. Those who
could swim found it physically i'm
possible to scale the slippery walls
and not splinter of debris to which
they might cling had fallen into the
water. The footpath simply dropped
and hung to twisted supports.
In constructing the bridge the en-
gineers had attached the walk for
pedestrians to the main structure by
means of wrought iron supports. All
>,iveted, while the one that broke was
holted. Thirty years of constant strain
.nnd the ravages of rust had caused
3 inches of its 15-inch depth to crack,
and the sudden strain of last nights
crowd resulted in it's giving way COM
~pletely. Not more than Is feet of the
walk collapsed and the victims were
thrown one on top of another down
this chute into the water.
Several boats pulled to tho scene.
One young canoeist who hurried to
the rescue was upset by frantic per-
sons. The young man swan to safety,
towing a child with him.
Boatman Rescues Eleven
Soap" George Pierce, q Chester
River boatman, drove his boat into
the midst of the drowning mass and
brought to safety eleven persons Re
turning he dived and recovered five
bodies before he was forced to quit
from exhaustion.
Miss Mary Meehan, nineteen years
old, was one of those dragged from
the water unconscious.
"I was on my way home" she said
later, when a woman ran past me
crying, "A poor little boy is drowning!
| had to cross the bridge, but had only
gone a few feet upon it when the
crowd became so thick I could not
move. An instant later / felt as If
were going down in an elevator. There
was no noise-just sickening sink
ing sensation, and minute later I
found myself in the water. A wild
eyed woman looked at me and screamed
For Gods sake save me!' Then |
sank. ! sank once more and remem-
Der that a man grabbed me around
the neck. The next thing I remem-
Der I was being carried from the am
bulance."
Mrs. Roy S. Hawkins had been stand
l.4g on the bridge with her two little
children, Roy jr., four, and Ruth, three
The mother was saved, but the children