An Appalling Street Railway Accident.
Drowned Like Caged Rats.
Five Bodies Recovered, and Two Still in the River.
Causes of the Catastrophe.
Rails Were Ice-Coated, a Dense Fog Prevailed and the Bridge Draw Was Open.
Portland's second street railway catastrophe within a year occurred early yesterday morning [Wednesday, November 1, 1893], when the electric car Inez, bound from Milwaukie to this city, plunged through the open draw of the Madison-street bridge and sank in the river. There were 18 or 20 passengers aboard when the car started to cross the bridge, and all but seven of them saved their lives by leaping from the vehicle ere it dived. Five corpses have been recovered from the water, and a man and a boy are missing. The dead are:
Paul Oder, foreman of the bottling department of the Gambrinus brewery, and Charles S. Albee, a 14-year-old lad employed by Henry Berger, paper-hanger, are missing.
It was about 6:45 o'clock when the car arrived at the bridge. A dense fog developed the river, and the sharp frost of the preceding night had covered the rails and trolley line of the railway with a coating of ice that made locomotion very difficult. The draw span had been swung open to allow the steamer Elwood to pass up, and the bridge-tenders had taken the usual precautions against accident by closing the gates at either end of the draw and keeping the red signal light hoisted. The steamer was within a few yards of the draw when the car crashed through the rail barrier and slid along the ice-covered rails until it went headlong into the river. The details of the awful affair can best be gleaned from the statement of witnesses. Those of Motorman E. F. Terry and conductor W. C. Powers were sworn to before Mayor Mason and Chief of Police Hunt, who released the men on their own recognizance, and are given verbatim:
“I am a motorman for the East Side Railway Company, and live at Milwaukie. I left the station at Milwaukie for Oak Grove at 5:45 A. M., and took on five passengers at Oak Grove when I turned there for Portland. I do not know how many people got on after that. The track was somewhat slippery all the way in, but worse on the bridge than anywhere else. I made reasonable stops wherever I found it extremely slippery, and threw off the power, as usual, while coming onto the bridge. I threw the power on about one turn after getting on the bridge and do not know exactly how long I kept it on, but am sure that it was a very short time, as we always expect to meet teams on the bridge. When I got into the fog, which was heavier on the bridge than anywhere else I had seen it this morning, I tried my brake. Then the car was about three spans east of the draw. The brake worked all right and held the wheels, but I found that the wheels slid on the track. By this time I was within one span of the draw, and then for the first time I saw the red light. I then reversed the switch and put on the power. It seemed to have no effect. The wheels continued to slide, and the power was on the reverse when the car went into the river. I stayed with the car until it broke through the gate. Then, seeing that I had done all in my power, I jumped, landing on the sidewalk. I held to the outside railing of the bridge, and my feet were hanging over the outer edge. When I got up the car had sunk out of sight. I did not see it go into the river, nor do I know how many passengers were aboard it at the time.”
“I am a conductor on the East Side railway, and room at Milwaukie. My family lives at 226 Grant street [now 120 SW Grant Street]. I left the station on the car Inez at 5:45 A. M., and reached Oak Grove at 5:55 A. M. with five passengers. The track and trolley were very frosty all along the line. It was very foggy. At Sellwood we took on some passengers, but do not know how many, and at Midway we took on two or three more. Coming through East Portland several others came aboard, and one of them was a lady. When we went on the bridge the car was not running very fast. When we arrived about the middle of the bridge I went through the car to inspect the register, and to look for a red light. I saw that the motorman was also looking out for the light, and had the brake on, so I did not caution him. I then took my register. As soon as I saw the red light I opened the door and saw that the motorman could not hold the car, so I called to the passengers to save themselves and jumped off at the front end just as it struck the gate. I saw a number of people jump off before the car left the bridge, and heard a lady crying for help. Going to her rescue I found she was Miss Thayer. She thought she was injured, but after I walked a short distance with her she said she was all right and would go to work.”
Policeman J. J. Flynn, whose duty it is to regulate the traffic at the east end of the bridge during the early hours, was at his post yesterday morning when Inez arrived. He said: