Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1883 — BAPTIZED IN BLOOD. [ARTICLE]

BAPTIZED IN BLOOD.

Shocking' Catastrophe on the East River Bridge. A Panic, Followed by a Jam, In Which Many People Perish. The New bridge connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn, across East River, has had its paptism of blood. It was the scene on Decoration day of one of the most singular and shocking accidents in the history of bridge disasters The narrowness of the footway for passengers was the cause of the ootastrephe. There was a crush at the steps of the New York approach tt> the bridge, and in the panic that followed, some fifteen people lost their lives, and many others were bruised and crippled to a shocking manner. The particulars of the horror a r e embraced in the following summary of the accounts telegraphed from New York: The long line of people on foot on the center walk of the structure, going from and coining to this city, tMokened, swelled, and stopped in its motion, just at the stairs leading from the concrete roadway to the bridge proper. Strong men and feeble women, manhood and infancy, were wedged together in that fearful pressure of the crowd, wMch extended miles, one might say, on either end of the line It was a remorseless, fearful, stupid force that held its victims as immovable as the stone foundations of the bridge itself. The stoppage lasted nearly an hour, during which time scores of people fainted. To relieve the jam, some of the bridge officials removed some of the iron paling a few fe-t from the stairway on the New Yqrk side, when, of oourse. those unfortunate enough to be near, and weak ana fainting as they were, immediately fell belter skelter, heels over head, down on the lagged, gravelly road beneath, a mass of bruised, discolored human flesh. Scores were trampled upon instantly, and to stumble was to fall to death. Men were dragged out of that heap of helpless humanity with faces blue as indigo and the lifeblood triqkling out of their nostrils, with cMldren and women pale, dishevelled, and dead. The roadway on either side of the walk was strewed with dead and dying—a pitiable sight, and vet, it is said, no efforts were made by the bridge officials to stop the people coming on the bridge. The dead and dving were carried off in wagons, carts, etc., improvised on the moment ror service, and it was a long time before the polkye arrived anl anything like order was restored or an ambulance appeared. Meanwhile teams were rushing both ways at full gallon over the roadways—why no one oould tell—threatening the limbs and lives of those on foot who were attempting to help the unfortunate victims Men shouted themselves horse to “clear the wav,” and the wagons rattling over the rough stones, and men and women crying in all directions made it a Bedlam indeed. A party of men in uniform did some service at the spot as volunteer police to check the vulgar and curious. The dead and wounded were picked up as speedily as possible and carried to the hospital. When the approach was cleared at last, it was literally covered with articles of clothing and personal property abandoned in the struggle.