| Show ak adventurers clu b pak jt terror of brooklyn bridge cy by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter heard stories of panics in halls and theaters of panics Y YOUVE on oil sinking ships and in crowded circus tents but its a good idea to remember that not all panics happen in enclosed spaces here I 1 s one that happened out in the open an eyewitness eye witness account of the historic panic of brooklyn bridge told by a newspaper man of the day timothy T oconnell of elmhurst L 1 I maybe some of you remember that panic maybe some of you were caught in it it was on decoration day 1883 that brooklyn bridge was thrown open to the public tim oconnell was just a cub reporter then and he felt pretty proud when his paper sent him to cover the ceremony but I 1 might not have been so proud he be says or so keen on going if id known what was going to happen it was a happy chattering throng things went smoothly enough for a time tim says the crowd d was the usual mob of sightseers drawn from all walks of life there atheree were doctors and laborers butchers and bakers parents with their children clerks with their sweethearts and old folks who gazed in awe at the huge trellises and networks of great twisted wire cables they thronged thron ged the big new bridge chattering and laughing it was an orderly leisurely crowd tim says until suddenly some idiot yelled THE BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN such words in a place like that are nothing short of verbal murder the cry was taken up by others there were shouts of fire and an ominous buzzing of rumors through the crowd faces turned white there was a moment when a stupor seemed to settle over the walks jammed with pedestrians THEN SUDDENLY CAME pandemonium CHAOS men in panic says tim are disposed to believe anything they hear bear the alarms struck terror into thousands of hearts there followed a scene scarcely to be conceived or believed by anyone who did not witness it wild tumult howling and shouting the shrieks of dwoinen women some of them with small children in their arms who were being jostled knocked down and trampled by others in their wild haste to reach the end of the bridge turned into a brutal selfish mob in the mad rush to save themselves people stripped themselves of all their burdens handbags canes umbrellas were thrown aside they got under foot making it all the more difficult for those in the 14 vl I 1 IL jill 1 ai 51 panic stricken throng on the bridge rear to advance the crowd surged and fought and trampled A father seized his baby and lifted it from its carriage just in the nick of time ten seconds later the carriage was demolished no pen could describe all the horror and brutality of that scene and tim oconnell claim that his old typewriter can either but like a good reporter he caught the spirit of terror as it stalked across that bridge and sent it to me in whole pages of fine moving description the panic had started near the manhattan end of the bridge T there h ere a deadlock of tightly packed humanity was jamming the exit before two minutes had passed the dread maniacal fear had spread to the center of the span and more thousands of people rushed toward the manhattan side doubling the congestion and adding to the havoc the crowd now as one pulsing terror stricken sea of heads milling fighting screaming stalwart men trampled over prostrate bodies ONE GIANT OF A MAN GONE completely BERSERK PLUNGED THROUGH THE struggling MASS KNOCKING OVER WOMEN AND CHILDREN As far as tim could see there was nothing but bedlam and shrieking and scuffling of feet to save himself from being ground under them tim started to climb a trellis of wire cable others followed his lead and tim was forced to climb higher to enable them to get a foothold clinging there with bruised hands he looked down on the scene and nd then like a good reporter HE STARTED TO TAKE NOTES tough k job tor for an ambitious reporter his notebook had fallen from his rocket pocket so he tore off his cuff a stiff three inch one of the kind worn at that period he balance it against the swaying aws ying cable hold it and write with his one free hand the cuff slipped away and fell into the river he tore out the stiff bosom of his shirt and tried that that too slipped from his bruised fingers A cloud of black smoke from a river craft rose from below an and d enveloped him in its suffocating folds he was getting dizzy and fixed his eye on the horizon to steady himself his head was spinning na but he hung on until the bridge cleared a bit and a res rescue cue squad forced force d its way through the crowd assuring people that there was nothing the matter that they were victims of a false alarm tim and his companions on the trellis were assisted down to the roadway their hands torn and bleeding on the way down tim rescued a kitten that was mewing pitifully carried it ft with him into the improvised ambulance the ambulance took them to a nearby saloon where they were given an alcoholic restorative and the kitten got a dish of milk some months later tim says 1 I saw that same kitten curl curled ed up in a chair outside that same saloon but there was no recognition in her closed drowsy eyes gratitude for you but for me it would have been floating in a watery grave O service |
