Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1917 — PRO-GERMANS BURN BRIDGE [ARTICLE]

PRO-GERMANS BURN BRIDGE

BRIDGE ON NEW YORK CENTRAL DESTROYED BY FIRE FRIDAY NIGHT. A bridge spanning the Iroquois river, 3 miles northof Morocco, was destroyed by fire some time Friday night and is believed to be of incendiary origin. As a result, traffic on the road is paralyzed arid word reaches this city, through W. J. Wright, that there were no less than six trains stalled in that city at 6 o’clock this Friday morning. The I work is believed to have been committed by pro-German sympathizers and Morocco and surrounding territory is agog with excitement. Road detectives and officials hurried to the scene and a country-wide search for suspects was being made. Road officials and section men are firm in their belief that the burning of the bridge was committed by alien enemies, basing their belief on the fact that the material of the bridge was such that a chance spark from a passing engine would not have been sufficient to start the fire. They assert that the bridge would have had to be thoroughly saturated with oil before a sufficient fire could have been started to destroy it.

The New York Central is a very heavy freight road, carrying much material designed for war purposes and also foodstuffs and this fact only tends to increase the belief of the officials that they are right in surmising that the deed was perpetrated by enemies of this country. A heavily loaded freight train due in Morocco some time during the night was brought to a standstill when only an extremely short distance from the burning bridge The freight was traveling at a high rate of speed and was rapidly nearing the bridge when the fire ahead was detected by the engineer, wh.i brought his train to a* standstill just in time to avoid being hurled into eternity. A warning was quickly sent out and all traffic was ordered halted.

Nothing will be left undone to apprehend the guilty parties and it is expected by officials that the day’s search will round up a number of suspects. In such times as these, when there are so many German sympathizers within our borders, extreme caution must be exercised and no doubt guards will be placed along the New York Central right-of-way through this section to avoid a recurrence of this sort. Workmen were immediately rushed to the scene and the work of erecting a temporary bridge was under way early. Not much time is expected to elpase before the wheels are again turning. AH of the large bridges of the country have been guarded by American soldiers for the jast several weeks and it is probable that ab‘en enemies will .'onfine their efforts to the small bridges in the ’ out-of-way places in the future in an effort to strike a blow for the Kaiser and his soldiers.