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Show : ' , I ! 6 6ry ry + 4 ' | Adventurers 4Adventurers f 1 , , Club Clubr r r , ! 1 1"Ter "Tel Tel "Ter Ter "Terror Terror " ror of 0/ 0 0Blooklyn o f / Bi Biooklyn Blooklyn ookly ooklyn ooklyb n Bride Bridge'9 Bridge9 Bridge Bridge'9By b ' " " By rLOYD FLOYD GIBBONS GIBBONSFamous GIBBONSFamous Famous Headline Headllnc HunterOU'VE Hunter Dunter HunterJ'VE YOU'VE YOUVE OU'VE OUVE J'VE JVE ' heard stones stories of panics in halls and theatersofpa11lCS theatersofpanics theaters - of- of ofpanics - panics pa11lCS on sinking SIn1-.Ing SIn1.Ing SIn1 .Ing Ing - . ships andin and in crowdedCIrcus crowded circus tents , but It's Its It'sa it'sa it'sa itsa ' a good idea to remember that not all panics happen in enclosed enclosedspaces enclosedspaces enclosedspaces spaces Here's Heres ' one that happenedout happened out in the open An eye- eye eyewItness eyewitness eye eyewitness - witness account of the historic hlstonc panic of Brooklyn bridge , told toldby toldby toldby ofElmhurst by a newspaper man of the day - Timothy T . O'Connell OConnell ' , of ofElmhurst ofElmhurst Elmhurst , L . 1 . I . Maybe some of you remember that panic Maybe some of you youwere youwere youwere were caught in it It was on Decoration Day , 1883 , that Brooklyn brIdge Brooklynbridge was thrown open to the public pubhc Tim 0 Connell was just lust a cub cubreporter cubreporter cubreporter reporter then , . and he felt pretty proud when his paper sent him to tocover tocover tocover cover the ceremony , . "But But " I might not have been so proud , " he says , or so keen on ongoing ongoing ongoing going , . if ' I'd Id ' knownhat known \ what \\hat hat was going gomg to happen " It Was a l n : Happy , Chattering Throng . Things Thmgs went vcnt smoothly enough for a time hme , Tim Tun says The crowd crowdwas crowdwas crowdwas was the usual mob of sightseers , drawn from all aU walks of life hfe There Therewere Therewere Therewere were doctors and laborers , butchers and ana bakers , . parents with theIr theIrchIldren theirchildren theirchildren chIldren , clerks with their sweethearts , and old folks who gazed In Inawe inawe mawe awe at the huge trellises trelhses and networks of great twisted wire cables cablesThey cablesThey cablesThey They thronged the big new bridge , chattering chattermg and laughing laughmg "Itas "It It "Itasan " \\as as was wasan \\asan asan \ \ asan an orderly , . leisurely crowd , " Tim says , "until until " suddenly some idIot idIotyelIed idiotyelled idiotyelled yelIed yelled 'THE THE ' BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN " ' " Such words , . in a place like fike that , are nothing short of verbal verbalmurder verbalmurder verbalmurder murder . The cry cryas \\as as was \ \ \ . as taken up by others There v.crc vcrc were \ \ . ere shouts of fire fireand fireand fireand and an ominous ommous buzzing buzzmg of rumors through the crowd Faces turned turnedwhIte turnedwhite turnedwhite whIte There was a moment when a stupor seemed to settle over overthe overthe overthe the walks jammed lammed with pedestrians THEN , SUDDENLY , CAME CAItiIE PAN PAN- PANDEMONIUMCHAOS PANDEMONIUMCHAOS PANDEMONIUM - DEMONIUM-CHAOS DEMONIUM CHAOS DEMONIUM - CHAOS ' "Men Men " m in panic paUlc " says Tim , "are are " disposed to believe anythmg anything anythmgthey anythingthey anythingthey they hear . The alarms struck terror into mto thousands of heal beasts heaits.There heaitsThere ts . There followed a scene scarcely to be concelvcd-r concelvcd r conceived-or conceived or conceived - { ) - or belleved- belleved believed- believed bellevedby believedby believed believedby - by anyone anyonc who did not witness it itild . \\ild ild "lId lId \ " { \ Isld tumult ! ! Hottling IIo\lIng IIo lIng Ilowlng \ , : : and andshouhngJ andshouting andshoutmgj shouhngJ shouting ; The Thc shrieks of women womeb , some of or them with smallchildren small smallchildren smallchildren children in m their armsho arms , \ who \\ho ho hocre vcre \\cre cre were \ , being jostled , knocked down and andtrampled andtrampled andtrampled trampled by others in m their the1l ' wild haste to reach the end of the thebrIdge thebridge thebridge brIdge . Turned Into a Brutal , Selfish Mob . In the mad rush to save themselves people stripped stnpped themselves themselvesof of all their burdens Handbags , canes , umbrellas umbrelIas umbrellasere umbrelIas.ere , . \\ere ere \.ere .ere were \ \ . thrown aSIde aSIdeThey asideThey asideThey They got under foot making makmg it all the more difficult for those in m the thePanic 4 p ? pI f ? y , I 1 1 1Panic Panic Pamc Stricken Stncken Throng ; on the Bridge Bndge . rear to advance The crowd surged , . and fought , , and trampled A Afather Afather Afather father seized his baby and l lifted ted it 1t from its carriage just lust m in the nick nickof nicko1 nickof of o1 time Ten seconds later the carriage carr13ge was demolished " No pen could describe all the horror and brutality of that scene sceneand , and Tim 0 Connell doesn't doesnt ' claim that his old typewriter can either either.But eitherBut . . But like a good reporter he caught the spirit SP1l'It SP1lIt ' of terror as it sta11.ed sta11ed stalked sta11.edacross stalkedacross stalkedacross . across that bridge and sent it to me in whole pages of fine , movmg moving movmgdescrIptIon movingdescription movingdescription descrIptIon The panic had started near the Manhattan end of the thebrIdge thebridge thebridge brIdge There , a deadlock of tightly packed humanity was Jammmg lamming lammingthe Jammmgthe jammingthe the exit Before Eefore two minutes mmutes had passed , the dread , maniacal mamacal fear fearhad fearhad fearbad had spread to the center of the span and more thousands of people peoplerushed peoplerushed peoplerushed rushed toward the Manhattan side , doubling doublmg the congestion and addmg adding addmgto addingto addingto to the havoc . The crowd now was one pulsing pulsmg ' , terror-stricken terror stricken - sea of he\ds he ds heads headsmilling . ' \ , mlllmg milling , fighting , screaming screammg . Stalwart men trampled over overprostrate overprostrate overprostrate prostrate bodies . ONE GIANT GIAr.T GIArT . OF A MAN , GONE COM COM- COMPLETELY COMPLETELY COMPLETELY - PLETELY BERSERH BERSERK , PLUNGED THROUGH TIIROUGD THE TIlE STRUG STRUG- STRUGGLING STRUGGLING STRUGGLING - - GLING MASS , KNOCKING INOCIUNG { OVrROlIrN OVER OVrR : \\Ol\IrN Ol IrN VOMEN \ OMEN \ : AND CillLDRrN CHILDREN CHILDREN.As CHILDRENAs : . As far as Tim could sec see there was nothing nothmg but bedlam , and andshrieking andshrieking andshrieking shrieking and scuffling scuflImg of feet . To save himself from bemg being bemgground beingground beingground ground under them , Tim started to climb a trellis trelhs of wire cable cable.Others cableOthers . Other Others followed his lead Icad and Tim " was "as as ttias forced to climb higher higherto higherto to enable them to get a foothold . Clinging Chngmg there with bruised bruisedhands bruisedhands bruisedhands hands be he looked down on the scene , and then , like a good goodreporter goodreporter goodreporter reporter HE Hr : STARTED STARTrD : TO TAKE NOTES NOTrS : . Tough Job for an Ambitious Reporter . His notebook had fallen falIen from his pocket , so he tore ofl of oft ! his cuff- cuff cuffa cuffs cuff cuffa - a s stiff , three inch mch one of the kind kmd worn at that period He couldn't couldnt couldn'tbalance couldn'tbalance couldn'tbalance couldntbalance ' balance it against agamst the swaying swaymg cable-couldn't cable couldn't couldnt cable - couldn't couldnt ' hold it and write wIth wIthl withhis withhis l his s one free hand The cuff cull slipped a\\ay a ay a\.ay a.ay .ay away \ \ . and fell feU into mto the river rIvcr . He Hetore Hetore Hetore tore out the stiff still bosom of his shirt and tried trIcd that That too shpped slipped shppedfrom slippedfrom slippedfrom from his bruised fingers fingersA A cloud of o1 black smoke from a river craft rose from below and andenveloped andenveloped andenveloped enveloped him in its suffocating suflocating folds He was getting gettmg dizzy , and andfixed andfixed andfixed fixed his eye on the horizon to steady himself His head was spmmng spinning spinningbut , , but he hung on until the bridge cleared a bit and a rescue squad forced forcedits forcedits forcedits its way through the crowd assuring people that there was nothing nothingthe nothingthe nothingthe the matter-that matter that matter - that they were victims Vlctuns of a false alarm . Tim Tun and bis hIS companions on the trellis trellls were assisted down downto downto downto to the roadway , their hands torn and bleeding bleedmg . On the vray way down downTim downTim downTim Tim rescued a kitten that was mewing plt pitifully-carried pitifully carried pitifully ully-carricd ully carricd - carried it with withlum withhim withhim lum him into the Improvised ambulance . The ambulance took them themto themto themto to a . nearby saloon where they were given an alcoholic restora restora- restoratIve restorative restorative - tive and the kitten got a dish of milk . , " "Some Some " months later , " Tim says , "I I " saw that same snme kitten curled curledup curledup curledup up in a chair outside that thnt same saloon . But there was no recognitionIn recogru.tIonin recogru.tIon recogrutIon recognition . in her closed , drowsy eyes That's Thats That.s ' . gratitude for you YOlL . But for me it itwould itwould itwould would have been floating in a watery grave " i-WNU i WNU Q-WNU Q ( ) - 0 - WNUStrvlc Srvlce Service ( . * . I , |
