Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1948-02-13
3 Die, 2 Hurt
As Bridge At
Inlet Falls
CONTINUED from nrst PAGE,

Inc cOllapSe occurred Tuesday as
three vehicles carrying eight en-
ployees of the, Electric COnstruc-
ton Company Of Philadelphia were
/ crossing the span, heading south
toward Bethany Beach.
The first, carrying the foreman,
Edmund L. Wells and his two sons,
John and Richard S. Wells, all of
RehobOth, had cleared the span and
reached the south shore.
The bridge section gave way di-
rectly under the second vehicle. a
truck operated by Adams. Only the
front wheels of the truck were on
the receding section of the bridge
as it broke away, and the truck
/ turned a sOmersault as the bridge
fell.
The third vehicle, a passenger
car containing the four other men,
and driven by Quesada, followed
the truck onto the sagging bridge
section. The four men jumped or
fell out of the car.
The collapse of the bridge was
seen by Seaman First Glass Charles
G. Wendell, who was on watch in
the tower at the inlet, few hun
dred feet east of the bridge. He no
tilted the Indian River Lifeboat
station a mile north of the inlet and
a motor lifebOat was sent.
Adams disappeared in the inlet
with the truck, which sank with the
car and the bridge section. Capone
jumped or fell into the water and
was seen sinking. WagamOn was
pulled from the icy waters by the
Coast Guard but died on the way
to the Beebe Hospital.
The Wells family, occupants of
the first car in the trio, rescued
! Clark, who was swimming near the
/ south bulkhead of the inlet. Que
sada was picked up by the Coast
Guardsmen, who managed to get
| their boat into the narrow strip of
water left by the ice.
! The two men picked ND by the
Coast Guard we're taken aboard the
lifebOat from the top of the sedan,
where they had climbed as the
bridge and the two vehicles settled
Efforts were made to open the
door Of the overturned truck to
rescue Adams, but they failed, and
he remained trapped in the cab as
the vehicle disappeared.
The employees of the electrical
contracting firm made their head
quarters in RehobOth Beach. They
had been working on a contract for
a local utility, erecting a line along
the Ocean Drive, and were on their
way to the job when the bridge fell.
John Wilson, maintenance en-
plOyee of the State Highway De-
partment, happened to be at the
bridge at the time of it's collapse.
He is reported to have seen the
bridge crack a few minutes before
the section fell away.
The first person to reach the
scene after the collapse was Will
liam Henning, Jr., of RehOboth,
driving a student driver training
car. He arrived about three min
utes after the bridge fell. He said
that he found the north gate was
still open and therefore parked his
car across the roadway to block it.
Boyer Hooker of Ocean View, the
bridge tender, said he did not see
the actual collapse. He is reported
to have gone to telephone Mr.. Rose,
the division engineer, after seeing
a crack in the bridge.
Rose said he received a call from
Hooker reporting the bridge in
dangerous condition and few min
utes later was informed the bridge
had fallen.
State police have had the road to
the bridge barricaded, with warn
ing signs some distance from the
bridge.
No information was available on
plans of the State Highway Depart
ment to repair or replace the span.
The bridge, built in 1888, is well
known to thousands of vacatiOnists.
1t is the span which carries the
Ocean Boulevard over the inlet on
the highway from Rehoboth Beach
to Bethany Beach, and is the only
direct link between the two com
munities. Traffic now is being de-
toured around Rehoboth Bay and
Indian River Bay, by way of Mills
boro and DagsbOrO.
The bridge has a concrete cen
trail pier on which the middle sec
ton turns to permit the passage of
boats through the inlet. The sec
ton which broke away was sup
ported by pilings.
The ocean lies about 1000 feet
east of the bridge.
Mr.. Rose said that piling pro-
tecting the center section of the
bridge were torn away by ice last
week.