THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE DISASTER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 986, 4 July 1883, Page 4

THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE DISASTER.

The San Francisco mail brings the. following account of the terrible catastrophe which occurred recently in New York:—On the afternoon of May 30th, aix days after the bridge in New YorF had been open' to the -public,' U • terrible disaster occurred, resulting from'a email t at the New York approach, involving the hilling of fourteeh people and wounding many others. The crush began shortly before four o’clock. At that hour there were thousands of people on the bridge, mostly coming from Brooklyn. The air was dear'and brisk, and the people walked as rapidly as they could to approach the short flight of steps. Those in front jumped back for tear they would b~ precipitated over the flight a distance of about sis;,fset; these people, in drawing Igusk from the steps, made a nucleus for a panic, for thousands behind them pushed «p r - Almost instantly people begun to shoilt, " Stand back “ Give us room.” Meanwhile the crowd from New York, which was at the foot of the steps, got blocked. Men at the of the New York crowd fought their way back, leaving clear space at the steps. The shouting and crowding from Brooklyn still increased, and people .in the advance guard of the Brooklyn'crowd were pushed forward. They seemed to have a horror of. going over the steps. 'They locked arms and pushed furiously back against 'thousands cording steadily over from Brooklyn. In minutes at a- point near the five steps, there was a slew yielding of the frightful pressure from behind, and the front of the crowd was, forced forward near the edge of the steps. Women and children were crying for -help, men standing confusedly,,and parcels and cases were throwxffcver by 4 people who needed their hands InTlHhli Quiii uiirnnt of |the desperate crowd. At last, with a single shout that cut through the clamor of a thousand voices, a young girl who lost her-foot-ing on the perilous edge, fell head long and struck the hatchway at the foot of the steps, and lay for a moment. She raised herself on her hands and would have got up, but in another moment she was buried four deep under the bodies of others, who fell over the steps after. She was dead when they got her out more than an hour after. Men sprang up on the rails at the side and waved the crowd back from the New York end, but people continued to throng forward to the steps. The police were in sight, and the very great excitement grewworse. Men in the crowd lifted their children above their heads to . save them from the crush. People were still paying their pennies at both gated and squeezing in. At last the people at tjie New York end > f the bridge understood what was happening. The gates were closed, and the word was sent to Brooklyn to close the gates. Then messengers were sent to the police station in Oak street. But before any outside help cameto the bridge the police, assisted by citizens, pressed two grocers’ waggons into an ambulance service, and they were loaded up with dead and dying, and driven off the bridge, followed by crowds of distracted people. The' waggons were followed off the bridge by women crying for their children and men crying for their wives. Several of the woman were hall-naked, many had only rags on. One woman had both her shoes torn off, and almost all were bare-headed. There were hundreds of them dishevelled and crying. Their faces were white, and in many instances were covered with dust and dirt. The stoppage lasted nearly an hour. The cause of this terrible calamity ' appears to be that son\e ruffianly young men who thought the people in front of them did not move quickly begaU to push.