QUEBEC BRIDGE DISASTER.

Evening Post, Issue 51, 29 February 1908, Page 5

QUEBEC BRIDGE DISASTER.

REPORT BY ROYAL COMMISSION. By Telegraph.— Vrtsa At3oaiatloa.— Copyright. (Received • February 29, 9 a.m.) OTTAWA, 28th February. A Royal Commission at Ottawa finds that -the collapse of the Quebec Bridge was duo to a defect in the dssign, namely lack of proper provision for a maximum strain on the central span, which \vas too great for supporting its members. Tho cantilever bridge built over the St. Lawrence JUvpr, near Quebec, collapsed in August last. Not only was tho disaster fatal in its results, but £800,000 worth of steel construction went to the bottom oi the river. The men on the bridge at the time wore employed by the Phoenix Iron Works, Pnoonixvillc, Pennslyvania, and the cause of tho disaster 13 given by one correspondent as faulty construction. There had been fears, he/ says, among tho workmen that something might happen to the bridgo section, as there had been rumours that some of tho rivets had started. As a result, many of the regular workmen refused to go to work on the day of the disaster. Ninety men were labouring on the structure when it collapsed. The disaster camo just before the men •« err to quit work for the day. There wan no premonition : the bridgo simply swayed, and, with a great lVsoundinß crash, that could be heard for mike around, it shot out fi*om tho direction of the shove into tho fflicidla of thu St. Ljiwrojioe River. So appalling vas tho disaster that eye-witnesses were stunnod by the sight, and were slow to render assistance to the survivors. It was an hour and a half before medical aid arrived for the injured.