**(Conclusion)**

“My conscience is clear. It was no fault of mine for I did all that I should have done. The lights were on and the gates were locked.”

So said bridge tender Thomas Dodson, four days after one of B.C.’s worst public transit disasters in history, third only to the collapse of Victoria’s Point Ellice Bridge on May 26, 1896, and a collision between a railway car and a streetcar in November 1909 that killed 15.

This photo of the Fraser River crossing at Ladner is dated as having been taken in the 1930s. That may be so but the car is much older, as was the ill-starred and overloaded McLaughlin-Buick of our story. Note the incline to the bridge—turn the car around, and this is much as it would have been like on the November night in 1916 when driver George Smith approached at high speed, crashed through the wire gate, and into the chilly waters of the Fraser. —*Delta History and Heritage*

As originally reported in the Nov. 12, 1916 Vancouver News Advertiser (and here in last week’s BC Chronicles), “Nine are thought to have perished when the Ladner auto stage plunged into the river through the draw of the North Arm bridge in South Vancouver at 7 o’clock last evening...

“A little girl and two men were rescued. The body of another little girl was recovered, but up to the time of going to press, no more bodies have been found. It is believed that the bodies of one woman and seven men are still in the water...”

Bridge tender Dodson obviously was anxious lest blame be pointed his way. Beneath the blaring headline, Lights Were Burning On Bridge When Auto Plunged Into the River, he reminded a News-Advertiser reporter that he’d been standing within feet of where the laden passenger vehicle had plunged into the river, “with his lantern in his hand, the green light of the bridge behind him and the dark waters faintly rippling by”.

One of the grim headlines of the Vancouver *News Advertiser* reporting the Fraser River disaster. —*www.newspaperarchives.com*

The red and green traffic light, it should be noted, was positioned overhead, “among the beams of the overhead draw,” not one on each side as was widely suggested after the fact. Another bus driver on the same run claimed that he always thought the lighting system was dangerous, that the red light became obscured when the bridge was fully open. As a result, “one could easily run straight ahead under what appeared to be a safety light” and crash through into the water.

As to the question of the state of the headlights of the ill-fated McLaughlin-Buick seven-seat touring car that driver George Smith operated as a “motor stage,” this driver said he’d help Smith to install new ones just days before the accident.

Described as short, stocky and about 45, Dodson wore a soft hat and “an old suit of clothes” as he was on duty at the time of the interview.

He likely was responding to survivor Henry Hutchinson who, as we saw last week, was adamant that no red light showed on the bridge as they approached, and that they were going slowly. “I was looking ahead from my seat immediately behind the driver and I saw no lights. Neither did the driver, for the first thing we saw was the closed gate.

“Smith said, ‘Oh, my God,’ and put on the brakes. But we went right on through. The windshield was clear and the view of the road perfect.”

Smith, he said, had done his best to stop the vehicle “but it was impossible in the short distance between the gap and the gate”.

As the bus began its plunge, both Evans girls, travelling with their mother, clutched his arm. He thought the bus turned over twice before hitting bottom; when he “tore his way through the curtains,” the girls released their hold and he next saw them floating on the water as he began swimming towards a pier.

Within minutes he was paralyzed from the waist down, then an arm went numb, and he struggled to stay afloat until he was picked up by the tugboat.’s captain. By then, he said, he was “nearly done”.

The first railway/automobile bridge across the Fraser being built 1893.—*Vancouver City Archives*

Fellow survivor Thomas Shortreed couldn’t remember how he escaped the bus although he thought the canvas top had been torn off. Others were struggling in the water when he surfaced and, like Hutchinson, he was soon benumbed with cold.

“At the time the accident happened I was looking up the river,” he said. “I did not notice a light on the bridge but I do not think I should have seen one in any event. When the car went over I was looking through the side window at the river. I noticed the light of the moon on the water and thought I saw the hull of a boat above the bridge [upstream].

“There was nothing to alarm me until we struck the gate. Just an instant before we struck there was a shout—whether it was in the auto or outside I do not know.

“If anybody made any noise before that I did not hear it. I did not look toward the gate until I heard the shout. Of course, when we went through the gate we went straight over, because the gate was closed to the draw.

“I am not a strong swimmer and I was hampered by my clothing.

“Another thing that troubled me was that I could see no point to make for. I saw the bridge and thought I saw others struggling around me. There was a good strong current and it carried me downstream, how far I could not say. I tried hard to swim to what I thought was the shore, but it must have been the swing bridge...

“I saw a man swimming ahead of me. I do not know whether it was Hutchinson or not. He seemed a good swimmer. Another swimmer was behind me and once my coat was caught. Finally I was picked up by a boat which already had another man in it. We were put on the bank so the boat could return for more.”

At the time of their interviews both men were at home, Hutchinson recovering from exposure and Shortreed “still sick, his arms...stiff and his ribs sore”.

Supporting the Dodson’s version of events were Alex Mitchell and his wife who’d arrived on the scene within a minute of the accident, and J.B. Weir, who’d passed over the bridge just before. They all assured police that the lights were in working order.

Had he believed otherwise, declared Richmond Police Chief Waddell, he’d have arrested Dodson on the spot.

The fact remained, it was Dodson “about whom interest in connection with the tragedy now centres.

“When the inquest opens today at 1 p.m. in South Vancouver, [he] will doubtless be the star witness. Upon his evidence and the evidence of his daughter, who was with him, the verdict will likely be based.”

In reality, the case against deceased driver, George Smith, was steadily building, both Dodsons having emphasized that the vehicle was travelling at about 15 mph, well above the posted “walking pace” speed limit. (Automobiles and traffic systems were in their infancy in 1916, I remind readers—TWP.)

Dodson said he’d previously warned Smith about his fast driving over the bridge.

By this time the car, “a great heavy McLaughlin-Buick four,” had been pulled from the water—still in high gear but with its emergency brake on. As the coroner’s jury watched, five men pushed the bus while the brake was engaged—and the rear wheels turned. (Need it be said that, if Smith had been slowing down as he approached the bridge, he’d have geared down?)

Even under ideal circumstances—and with good brakes—the 2800-pound vehicle with its estimated passenger load of 1800 pounds, would have taken several car lengths to come to a stop.

Lawyer George H. Cowan, appearing for Richmond Municipality, had it placed on record that the posted speed for the bridge was eight miles an hour.

Survivor Shortreed testified that, rather than slow down as they approached the bridge, the vehicle appeared to speed up once it topped the incline. Bridge tender Dodson, after demonstrating how he’d waved his upraised lantern from side to side, gave a more detailed account of those last horrifying moments:

“The bridge was about three-quarters open when I saw the auto coming... I leaned over the side of the draw, watching the boat (the tug Isaac which had just passed through). The car had beautiful searchlights [sic], I noticed. My daughter said, ‘He does not seem to be slowing, Father.’ I said, ‘No,’ and then I lifted my lantern, swung it, and yelled, ‘Hey, stop down there!’ But in a few seconds he had dashed through the gate.”

In answer to a juror, he insisted the stop light was on and said he didn’t think “the machine slackened speed at all”.

Capt. Charles Grandholm of the Isaac then testified to hearing cries and launching a boat to assist those in the water—adding that Thomas Dodson was the “best bridge tender on the river”. Earlier, he’d told a reporter that the bridge light for his tug was green—meaning that it had to be showing red to road traffic.

He didn’t see the bus plunge into the water, just what he thought was a falling lantern. He did hear Dodson shout “not to go through” and, realizing that something was wrong, he moored the tug, alerted his engineer, the only other man on board, and launched the rowboat. After pulling a man from the water, he attended to a second man—holding him by his hair while fumbling to tie him to the boat with the painter.

That done, with obvious difficulty, he grabbed him by his coat and trousers so he could “heave him into the boat”.

By this time it had been learned there had been no fewer than 12 passengers and driver Smith in the McLaughlin, a second Chinese man who’d survived having gone to ground in Vancouver’s Chinatown after refusing to give his name.

The Fraser River bascule bridge near Main Street 191-. *Wikipedia* defines a bascule bridge as “a drawbridge that continuously balances a span, or leaf, through its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or double-leafed.—*Vancouver City Archives*

Even before the inquest, the legalistic dust was beginning to fly, the Municipality of Richmond already facing lawsuits in excess of $50,000. One plaintiff had lost her husband in the tragedy. The other was survivor Hutchinson—he who’d sworn that the lights were working. His grounds for litigation weren’t immediately given.

Because three motor vehicle experts weren’t immediately available and Hutchinson wasn’t up to testifying, the inquest had been adjourned for several days. When it resumed on the 18th, the verdict as to culpability was a foregone conclusion, and the News Advertiser blared, Driver Of Car Is Blamed By Jury for Auto Tragedy.

Survivor Hutchinson testified that he thought that the car had slowed slightly to between 10 and 15 mph, that he definitely saw Smith pull the emergency brake when they saw the gate, and further stated there had been a passenger riding on the running board. He remained convinced there were no lights on the bridge but admitted he’d been looking straight ahead, not up toward the superstructure of the bridge where the light was positioned.

He said lights were needed on the gates, not just on the moving bridge.

Two of the experts differed over the condition of the McLaughlins foot brake but agreed that the emergency brake was faulty. After 40 minutes’ deliberation, the jury returned with several suggestions: The gates be moved 200 feet back from the river; more red lights be installed; passenger cars not be allowed to carry more than their seating capacity; and “all drivers of passenger machines be made to pass examinations”.

Progress: Between Delta and Richmond, the George Massey Tunnel, ca 1959. It’s the only vehicular tunnel crossing of Fraser River and the first to use immersed tube technology in B.C. –*Wikipedia*

It all sounds so obvious, so simple, so avoidable.

Owner-operator Smith had been driving this route for years. As primitive as was this Fraser River bridge crossing, and as slow as 15 mph sounds to us more than a century later, he appears to have been driving at twice the posted speed. Had he become so used to the fact that there was rarely any river traffic at that hour of the morning that the draw bridge would be open to him?

Whatever, his heavily-laden ‘bus’—in reality, just a seven-seat touring car—was carrying 13 people including Smith and one clinging to the running board. If patches of fog had also been a factor, why didn’t he slow down?

We’ll never know the answer.

As so often is the case in disasters, human error—this time that of George Smith—appears to have been the primary villain. Although respected as a competent chauffeur, he was driving an overloaded vehicle too fast, where and when he should have been exercising extreme caution.

In a matter of minutes, he killed himself and eight of his passengers.

Swept to Death

(Conclusion)