PHOTOGRAPHS

NEWS ACCOUNTS

- from The Oxnard Daily Courier October 15, 1924, Oxnard, CA

One Dead and Others Believed Caught in Collapse of Bridge

(by International News Service)

WHEELING W. Va. — At least one man was killed and it is feared the bodies of others may be found in the ruins of a section of the steel bridge over the Ohio river which collapsed here today.
Alfred Coulter, one of 35 workmen engaged in repairing the structure, dropped 50 feet to his death when the girders gave way with a crash heard for blocks.
A crowded street car had crossed the bridge just before the accident.

- from The Beckley Evening Post, October 16, 1924, Beckley WV

WHEELING BRIDGE FALLS; ONE KILLED

(By I.N.S. District Wire)

Wheeling, W. Va., Oct. 15 — Just after a crowded street car had passed, a section of the steel bridge over the Ohio river here connecting the city proper and its suburban island section collapsed yesterday with a crash that was heard for blocks. Albert Coulter, of Moundsville W. Va., one of the thirty-five men employed in repairing the structure, was dropped fifty feet to his death.
 

- from the Athens Messenger October 15, 1924, Athens, Ohio 

BRIDGE COLLAPSE FATAL TO WORKER

Wheeling, W. Va., Oct. 15 — Just after a crowded street car had passed, a section of the steel bridge over the Ohio river here connecting the city proper and its suburban island section collapsed yesterday with a crash that was heard for blocks. Albert Coulter, of Moundsville W. Va., one of the thirty-five men employed in repairing the structure, was dropped fifty feet to his death. Debris is being searched and an hour after the crash it was not known whether others may have met death in the crash.
 

- from The Motorman and Conductor, October 1924, Vol. 32, No. 11, Detroit, Michigan.
 

FATAL BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Wheeling, W. Va.--The Wheeling Traction Co. suffered a great loss on October 15, as a result of a portion of the south sidewalk of the steel bridge and the death of A.M. Coulter, a workman on the bridge and employee of the Company. Thirty-four other workers on the bridge at the time narrowly escaped the same fate. Brother Harry Cline, operating a one-man car crossed over the bridge about one minute before the collapse. The collapse was due, according to the coroner of Ohio county, to the piling of a tremendous weight of timber in excess of the bridge's capacity at that point.

The collapse of the bridge has caused considerable inconvenience to the patrons because of transferring to buses which crossed the river on the suspension bridge for the rest of the week. by the time the company had the steel bridge in fair shape by propping so that the cars could run over with caution, and at the present writing, the bridge is in good condition and all traffic is going over with safety.