The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 9

PAGE 9 Big Thrill For Dime Mystery Man on Span Revealed as Student Last Man Over Span Like Twisting Serpent Says Dr Jess Read THE TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE Disintegration a huge section of the 9G40M)00 Tacoma Narrows bridge goes plunging 190 mt into Puget Sound as the structure breaks up The arrow points to the car abandoned by Leonard Coatsworth News Tribune staff member who crawled off the bridge to safety Crawled Off how Leonard Coatsworth member of the editorial staff of The Nows Tribune looked after he had crawled from hie automobile which ho was forced to abandon on the center span of the Narrow bridge a few minute befon It eollapoe Thursday morning The picture dramatically show how Coatsworth won the knees out of hi trouser and the toe out of hi shoes getting himself to safety -7 25 Share In Bridge Loss Insurance Farmed Out Among Many Companies Lsst man to drive across the Tacoma Narrows bridge befon Its destruction Thursdsy Dr Jess Read declares he derives little pleasun from that thought Wishing to get some photographs of the bridge when it was bouncing he and Wilbur Raleigh drove to the span Thursday morning and crossed to the Gig Harbor side Just befon it began its twisting motion that wncked it Driving across was like riding a roller coaster he says but the motion was all up and down as he had seen it befon "We drove over on one of the Gig Harbor bluffs and watched the bridge It was then we realized the bridge doing Just its usual windy day frolicking but was like an angry serpent with its head and tall fastened A truck came Into view was caught by a twist of the bridge and turned over The two occupants a man and a woman hung on to the bridge for dear life until rescued The motion was so terrific they could not stand up With such twisting and grinding It seemed inconceivable that the bridge could go through such tortures long "We Just stood with our mouths open speechless Just befors It broke coast guard cutter went under the span A man working on a pile driver on the edge of the bluff kept tooting his whistle In warning which with the haunting screeches of iron and steel gave us the helplese feeling that nothing leu than the end of the world was coming As the span finally wrenched Itself free and with a thunderous crash landed in the water taking the truck with it there were great sparks in the air from wires shorting "Like live nerves the amputated erds started waving in the air then the east end of the span broke with a mighty explosion and the west end crashed with another explosion The towers stretched apart the steel girders waved and the ground under us Signboard Slogan Loses Value When Big Bridge Falls Collapse of the Narrows bridge Thursday caused prompt reaction on the paht of one of Tacoma's well known institutions For months this busineu firm has maintained a huge sign on the route to the bridge proclaiming it waa secure as the Narrows Within an hour after the central span of the bridge dropped beneath the waters of the Narrows a crew of workmen were busy taking down the sign CHUNK OF SPAN HITS VESSEL A piece of the crumbling Tacoma Narrows bridge hit the coast guard cutter Atalanta as it passed beneath the structure Thursday forenoon Lieut Hogan officer in charge said "We saw the roadbed above us twisting and turning and pieces of it had begun to tear and chip off" he said small piece hit the deck but did no damage" Bicycles Found Police Captain Fred Gardner of the juvenile detail Is anxious to locate the owners of two nearly new bicycles and two tricycles which have been found abandoned on Tacoma streets in the past two weeks Game refuges in Arizona have a total area of 4117762 acres Eastwood Told Of Bridge Crash By Pen Inmate News of the Narrows bridge disaster traveled through an lips Into a convict's ears before it finally reached Safety Commissioner Holmes Eastwood visiting Kirby prison in Montgomery Ala Thursday evening According to a report received by Police Chief Einar Langseth Eastwood was notified of the collapse by a prison Inmate Paul Davis former Seattle resident who heard it during a radio broadcast "Mr Eastwood expressed gratitude no people were hurt" said Chief Langseth The safety commissioner is en route home from a business and vacation trip in the east A Little Want Ad does many a BIG job Police Find True Friend In Ab Bergersen Works Commissioner A Bergersen' new suede gloves came in mighty handy for some other people during the jam at the Narrows bridge after the collapse Thursday "On my way to the bridge I met Officer Rick Johnson waving cold blue hands at traffic" related Bergersen- "He asked if I had some extra gloves I said and tossed him a brand new pair I had in my Johnson and Capt Tom Ross took turns using the gloves according to Bergersen who credited the police with doing a masterful Job of traffic handling The United States is the outstanding sulphur producer of the world (Continued From Faro One) for pleasure" the student recount ed "When I got up the wind was blowInR hard and I thought how the bridge must be swaying so I drove down so I could walk on It while It was swinging "I was on It before 10 o'clock It was rippling more than usual and was having a lot of fun I walked across and back People were go ing by in cars all the time and were laughing and having a gay old time because of the rippling motion decided to walk across again be cause I saw a coast guard boat coming and wanted to watch it go under the bridge "When wns nearing the middle the rippling motion stopped and the bridge began to sway madly from side to side A car was Just going by mo and It smashed Into the curb and a men jumped out (This was Leonard Coatsworth News Tribune reported who abandoned his car and crawled off the bridge) bridge was cracking and groaning and I was scared As I watched the man jump from his car I was thrown to the pavement He went down too We tried to get up but the motion made it impossible for us to get to our feet "Finally I got up I noticed the other man couldn't stand at all Then he started to crawl and so did I was about 20 feet ahead of him When I got opposite the bridge tower the swinging so violent and I got to my feet and got ashore The man 30 feet behind me was still on his hands and knees was I glad to get ashore I was terribly seasick just laid on the ground High Wind "I felt for sure that I wasn't going to make it when I was out there I could hear the other mpn hollering hut I couldn't tell what he said The wind was howling and the cement was splitting The light standnrds were bending and suspender cables cracking Pieces of concrete chipped out of the roadbed would go whistling by" Brown said the bridge's from a longitudinal ripple to a lateral changed In only a few seconds "Something seemed to suddenly snap" he added The student said the wind was so strong that a ski cap he had pulled down over his ears just tom off my "I must have been on the bridge at least 45 minutes It took me at leest 10 minutes to crnwl off to safety" COFFEE URGES PROBE OF FALL (Continued From Page One) vestigated to determine where responsibility lies 17 work to get the bridge it is outrageous that it should collapse in a few months" he said "When the question of the collapse is straightened out we are going to have another bridge that will stand and one the people will not be afraid to cross would like to know why people were allowed to cross the bridge right up to the time it broke up in view of the fact that engineers knew of the twist in the bridge and were worried about it "The disaster horrified me I am no engineer and do not know where responsibility lies but I think it can be determined and I think it is obvious the bridge was inadequate What we should have over the Narrows Is a bridge costing about $15000000 Intend to work for one that will be safe and adequate and I know all the groups and interests that supported and helped get the first one will demand the same thing Bridge Open PORTSMOUTH Nov jp A new interstate $3155000 two deck bridge spanning the Plscntaqua river between Portsmouth and Kittery Me was opened today at ceremonies attended by the governors of Maine and New Hampshire A Little 'Want Ad does many a BIG job Twenty-five original underwriting Insurance companies and many ethers to whom parts of the responsibility were farmed out will stand the loss entailed in the bridge collapse Officials said the structure was insured for $5200000 or about 80 per cent of its value Bondholders were insured as to the principal amount of bonds outstanding against the bridge One insurance company official explained that in the event the bridge wns not rebuilt bondholders would receive double interest during the time it would have taken to reconstruct the bridge The interest indemnity is guaranteed under a "use and occupancy" clause which guarantees double interest up to a total of $240000 About $3250000 of the bridge bonds outstanding are in the hands of the public and an underwriting syndicate headed by A Allen and Company of Chicago Some 40 to 50 bondhouses throughout the nation are part of the syndicate ITS JR 11 fj Ferries Get Permission To Operate PrOUd Moment Is the beautiful Tacoma Narrows bridge at the time of completion and opening on July 1 this year scarcely four months ago Many Taromans wen not too proud to shed tears Thursday at the tragedy pictured by other views on these pages OLYMPIA Nov Temporary permission has been granted by the public service department for operation of ferries between Point Defiance and Gig Harbor The action was taken after the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge which connects Tacoma with the peninsula Permission to operate was granted Pierce county and the Washington Navigation company Jointly or Individually for 15 days only Rates for the service are those which were filed by the company on June 28 1938 BUILDER HAD PLAN TO FOLLOW SAN FRANCISCO Nov Swigert president of the Pacific Bridge company whose firm was one of the major con- Easy to make too with Fisher Blend Flour Butterscotch Peach Pic tractors In construction of the now fallen $6400000 Tacoma Narrows bridge said tonight he would go to Tacoma shortly to study the wreckage "This Is purely a design he said only contractors We were handed plans and specifications and we built the bridge according to those plans and specifications" Alaska derives its name from an Indian word meaning "great country" When a recipe specifies Blend Fleur there's no need to wonder "Will it be successful if I try it?" This sll-purposo family flour is milled from a carefully selected blend of the very finest wheats grown in the West No other mill in America has FILLING cups canned or fresh sliced peaches Yi cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons Blend Flour teaspoon salt cup butter 2 teaspoons lemon juico FASTRT 1 i cups Fisher's Blend Flour i cup shortening Yt teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons cold water more modern methods of milling Blend Flour is slways the same high quality whenever wherever you buy it Get a sack of this versatile flour todsy and try Mary Mills' tested recipe for this luscious Butterscotch Peach Pie: Slice peaches and pises la pastry lined pan Combine sugar flour and salt Add butter Cook until thick Remove from the heat and add the lemon juico Pour over the peaches Sift flour measure and combine with salt Work in shortening until particles are size of a pea Add liquid tossing lightly with fork Line pie pan Make twisted lattiee crust on the top Bake at 425 for 39 minutes Builders Watch Solemnly ImildiTN of a lirtdw stand Hlrntly while their iiiniiiinirnt fall into the water of Sound Here i a picture flint ha almost murh drama In It a the photo of the bridge's actual detraction From left to right are Patrick Henry Winston secretary of the Wah-ington Toll Bridge Authority: lames Davis aeting head of the state highway department! Clark Rldrldge resilient engineer of the Tacemis Narrows hrklget Andrew general engineer of the Toll Bridge Authority and furlng them I Prof Bert Farqiihannn engineering professor of the University of Washington who was helping state officials In thrlr attempt to take the vibration out of the structure dMalMUtlinHiHnn'iHtto Wreckage IlailffUIR Like Strings picture shows the Narrows bridge soon after it cracked up and with wreckage still hanging like strings from the crater section.