Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1883 — A SLAUGHTER-PEN. [ARTICLE]

A SLAUGHTER-PEN.

Frightful Disaster at the New York End of the Brookljn Bridge. Men,,Women, and Children Smothered to Death or Trampled Under Foot.

The New bridge connecting the cities of Now 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 catastrophe There was a crush at the steps of the New York approach to the bridge, and in the padio that followed some fifteen people lost their lives, and many ethers were bruised and crippled in a shocking manner. The particulars of the horror are embraced in the following summary •f the accounts telegraphed from New York: The long line of people on foot on the center walk of the structure, going from and coming to this city, thickened, swelfed, and stopped in Its motion, just at the stairs leaaihg 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, which 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 am 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 feet from the stairway on the New York side, when, of course, those unfortunate enough to be near, and weak and fainting as they were, immediately fell helter skelter, heels over head, down on the jagged, 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 bine as indigo and the lifeblood trickling out of their nostrils, with children and women pale, dishevelled, and dead The roadway on either side of the walk was strewed with dead and dying—a pitiable sight, and yet, it is said, no efforts were made by the bridge officials to stop the people coming on the bridge. The dead and dying were carried off in wagons, carts, etc., improvised on the moment for service, and it was a long time before the police arrived and anything like order was restored or an ambulance appeared Meanwhile teams were rushing both ways at full gallop over the roadways—why no one could 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 way,” and the wagons rattling over the rough stones, and men and women crying in ail directions made it a Bedlam indeed. A party df men in uniform did some service at the spot as volunteer police to clieok 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.