Strange Accident at a Draw Bridge

New York, 1895

A party of three men and a hand truck fell through the open draw at Wreck Lead bridge on the Long Beach branch of the Long Island railroad Friday night, and one of them, Anthony Lorenzo, was drowned. The men left Lynbrook at night, and, as there are no trains yet running on Long Beach branch, they proceeded to wild cat it with their hand truck to Long Beach. They approached the draw in the darkness carefully and after lowering the bridge passed across safely. They stopped their truck on the other side to raise the bridge for passing craft in the bay, it being customary to leave the bridge open. The three men then got aboard the handcar and grasped the levers by which the truck is propelled, but in the darkness they did not notice that the wheels were turning backward, and in an instant the truck and its three occupants were precipitated backward into the bay.


Wanted at Hicksville

A general alarm has been sent in to the police of Brooklyn and Long Island City for the arrest of August Hoffarth, an employe of the grocery firm of F. Herzog & Sons of Hicksville. Hoffarth disappeared Friday night. He had been employed by the firm for about five years as collection and delivery clerk. A member of the firm recently discovered that he was short in his accounts. Friday night Hoffarth left town before the firm could do anything towards arresting him.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 24, 1895, p. 5.