AN OHIO CALAMITY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 444, 8 February 1890, Page 4

AN OHIO CALAMITY.

FOURTEEN KILLED. A FEARFUL ACCIDENT AT THE NEW BRIDGE. Thk most appalling accident known in Louisville in many years occurred on January 9th about 6 p.m. Caisson 1, about 100 yards from the Kentucky shore, used in the construction of the new bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville, suddenly gave way, and the workmen employed in it were either drowned or crushed to death by the stone and timbers. As the workmen at the pumping station were looking for the men in the caisson to put off in their boats, leaving for the night, they suddenly saw the low, dark structure disappear in the dashing white waves. The life-saving station was immediately notified of the accident, and three skiffs were manned and pulled to the scene of the wreck. Word was also sent to the police station, and a squad was at once ordered to the ground to aid in the work of recovery. The site of the bridge is at the upper end of the city, just below Tow Head Island. Within an hour from the disappearance of the caisson 3,000 people were on the shore, and strained their eyes trying to see something of the wreckage. Dozens of boats were plying about over the spot where the caisson had stood, and lights danced to and fro with them, but there was no trace of the massive structure of stone and timber. It was soon known that only four of the eighteen men w'ho were at work at the time of the accident had escaped.

The last man out of the caisson was Frank Haddix. He was barely saved by Murray, who dragged him from where he was caught waist-deep in quicksand. Abe Taylor, one of the saved, says he stood nearest the iron ladder by which they get in and out. He heard a rumbling, and there was a rush of air almost ac the same time. He jumped up the rungs of the ladder, followed by other men. They had hardly got clear of the caisson, when the water burst through the manhole, knocking them all into the river, where they were picked up. Haddix says he saw Morris, who was climbing next below himself, swiftly drawn under by the sand, and heard his cries for help, but could do nothing. - 1