Cleveland, OH Beverle's Park Foot Bridge Collapse, Jun 1890

The Bridge Gave Way.

CLEVELAND, June 15. -- There was a serious accident this evening at Beverle's Park, a summer resort in the southern part of the city. At least 5,000 people had assembled to see a man jump from a cable stretched across a miniature artificial lake. The people stood all around the lake and a hundred or more were on a rustic foot bridge about ten feet above the ground extending from the bluff out across the lake. The jumper made the descent at about 6:30 o'clock. He struck the water near the shore and the people on the bridge made a rush for the place. Nearly all of them were massed on a 35 foot space adjoining the bluff, and the structure fell with a crash, going down in the middle.

The foot paths under the bridge were crowded with people, upon whom these timbers fell, while those on the bridge were thrown in a heap in the center of the span where it struck the ground, and at least twenty-five persons were injured more or less seriously, but only eight were hurt so badly that they had to go to the hospital. The following is a list of those seriously injured:

JAMES SANFORD, 52 years, 240 Lake street, right leg fractured and internal injuries, probably fatal; RUDOLPH WOODRICK, 28 years, 44 Louis street, right leg fractured and head bruised; MRS. RUDOLPH WOODRICK, spine and shoulder hurt; JESSE CALDWAELL, 17 years old, of Broadway, ankle fractured and arm badly injured; BERTHA MUNTER, 15 years old, of 819 Clark avenue, right hip fractured and internal injuries; ANNIE THOMAN, 14 years old, of 831 Clark avenue, right ankle broken; MARY THOMAN, 22 years old, back and head injured; an unknown one legged man, arm broken.

Sandusky Daily Register Ohio 1890-06-16
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!