DIXON AND ELGIN BRIDGE DISASTERS.
Blendon, Kan.
Please state the date and the occasion of the Dixon bridge disaster, with the number of killed and wounded.
Subscriber.
Answer.—This calamity occurred on Sunday afternoon, May 4, 1873, resulting in the death from drowning and injuries of over forty men, women, and children, and the serious injury of nearly forty others. Its immediate cause was the overcrowding of the bridge by spectators of an immersion service of the Baptist Church of that city. The real cause was the faulty construction of the bridge, which was an iron structure, known as a Truesdell truss. It was a wagon and root bridge of five spans, each about 120 feet long. Both shore spans fell into the water while the three middle ones, resting entirely upon stone piers, remained suspended by the wrought-iron members of the main cords from six to eight feet below their proper place, dropped down between the piers. The number of persons on the first span that went down was variously estimated to be from 150 to 200, representing a weight of not more than 30,000 pounds. A Truesdell bridge, erected over Fox River at Elgin, fell in December, 1868. This was rebuilt by Mr. Truesdell. On Monday, July 5, 1869, a crowd of about 300 persons gathered on the bridge to witness a tub race, when the east span, 68 feet in length, fell, precipitating about one hundred men, women, and children into the water. Fortunately the stream was but about four feet deep at this time, and no persons were drowned and but two or three deaths followed from injuries received.
CONGRESSMAN GEORGE W. JULIAN.
Neodesha, Kan.
Was the Hon. George W. Julian a Republican? Describe in brief his life.