Year: 1879




there is no survivor. There have been
kindred accidents in which the loss of life
rivals what occurred with the Dundee train
that plunged into the Firth of Tay Sunday
night. The disaster at Norwalk, in Con-
necticut. where train ran into the
gap of an open drawbridge and fifty pas
sengers were drowned within two hours
ride of this city. is still vivid in public rec
ollection, though it happened twenty-six
years ago. But it is the recent catas-
trophe at Ashtabula, in Ohio, which re-
Cured to every Americans mind at the
news of the tragedy in Scotland. There,
on fierce winter night of wind and snow
and biting cold, o train at full spood pushed
an iron truss bridge from Its supports and
dropped into narrow chasm nearly a hun
dred feet deep with one hundred and forty
seven passengers, of whom half were killed
some outright by injury, some by the cold
as they lay mangled and helpless, and some
by the fire of the burning train, from which
they could not escape because they were
held down by the wrecked material Of the
cars Now, the last Sunday train which
left Edinburgh for Dundee on the North
British Railway. just at dusk ON winter
evening, and reached the south bank Of
the Firth near seven o'clock, started
to traverse an iron bridge two miles
long and disappeared in the middle of its
course. The moon was shining brightly.
There was no unusual commotion of the
weather except in the wind. That was
blowing with extraordinary force, but none
of the reports hints that its severity caused
suggestion from any of the railway officers
that the train should postpone the cross
ing, although the possibility of such delay
seems to have been discussed among resi-
dents in Forfarshire. At nine minutes past
seven the signal was given from the Fife
shire shore that the train had entered
the bridge. Some Of the residents had
arrival. When it grew late and they caused
inquiry to be made why it did not come it
was found that telegraphic communication
was interrupted. A multitude of horror
stricken people was soon gathered from
Dundee Then two of the railroad officers
crawled out along the iron spans three
quarters of mile or more, and came to
yawning abyss half mile wide. at the bot
tom of which was flowing the tide of
the Firth. One-third of tho whole
structure had fallen. Crawling back
with bleeding hands they reported
Whist they had Witnessed, and then it was
recalled that at about the time the train
must have been near the middle of the
crossing strange appearance had been OBJ
served of shower of fire hurled downward
at that point, which was, perhaps, the con-
tents of the furnaces Of the locomotive
dashed out in its fearful career from the
level of the bridge to the water. Between
the man who had signalled the beginning of
the passage from Ffeshire and those who
waited opposite the train of seven cars
had vanished, leaped from the rails. torn
through the open framework of the spans
and plunged ninety feet downward into the
sea. Probably the passengers were all
locked into their compartments, as is usual
on railroads in Great Britain.


We append to our special dispatches q
carefully prepared and illustrated descrip-
ton Of the bridge, in which it is noticeable
that notifications were made from its orig
inal design concerning the spans over the
deepest part Of the Firth. Before the be-
ginning of its construction in 1871 no span
but the structure as finished in 1878
comprised thirteen spans of two hundred
and forty-fve feet each, and it is precisely
these which were torn away, leaving the
piers standing Upon these wide spans,
where the accident occurred, the trains ran
between the latticed girders, the platform
for the rails resting on the bottom booms,
but across all the other spans the
upper booms Immediately sustained the
platform. Cheapness of construction was
one of the motives OF the change. We do
not venture an opinion whether life has
been sacrificed to parsimony. The inquest
upon the dead must determine that ques-
ton. We also call attention to the evil
dence wo cite that tho capacity of the struc-
ture to resist any possible pressure OF
wind was particularly considered by its
architects. by reason of doubts which were
publicly suggested on that point, and
it was asserted in their behalf that "the
most severe hurricane on record would
equal only one-half of its resistant power 4"
Theories as to the precise cause of the
dramatic calamity will naturally be plenti-
full, for the imagination speculates upon
such startling occurrences with morbid
activity. The pride of British science is
mortified by an event which puts to shame
its most boastful recent structure. In
vesligations will be Immediately made
by competent engineers-indeed, they
have already been begun by Sir
Thomas Bouch, upon whom rests the
heaviest responsibility-and they may
discover facts which will take all the
mystery out Of the occurrence. Yet this is