Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1912 — THIRTY DIE IN NIAGARA [ARTICLE]

THIRTY DIE IN NIAGARA

River Gives Up Some of Dead at Eagle Park. Sixteen Bodies Recovered So Far at Place Where Pier Collapsed— Says Planks Were Decayed. Buffalo, N. Y., June 25.—Up to noon sixteen bodies had been recovered from the Niagara river at Eagle park, the scene of a drowning tragedy, and the official list of identified dead and missing reached a total of thirty. In the confusion of the accident families became separated, and there is a faint hope that some of those listed as missing may be found. There is little doubt, however, that the list of dead will reach twenty. George Richmeyer, who lost his wife and ten-year-old son, saw them carried clear of the wreckage by the current that sweeps past the pier at the rate of ten miles an hour. He was clinging to a pile holding his infant son in his arms and could do nothing to save the other members of his family. George McKee, who also lost his wife and infant son, saw them go down in the mass of struggling people and they did not reappear. Many others, it is feared, were swept away, and until a careful canvass is made the exact number of dead will not be known. The section of the pier which gave way was about fifty feet In width. The rpedical examiner who examined the wreckage at daw’n found that many of the broken planks were decayed. —