Personal Accounts

Leonard Coatsworth: Editor for the Tacoma News Tribune

"Just as I drove past the towers, the bridge began to sway violently from side to side...I jammed on the brakes and got out, only to be thrown onto my face against the curb...On hands and knees most of the time, I crawled 500 yards or more to the towers...My breath was coming in gasps; my knees were raw and bleeding, my hands bruised and swollen from gripping the concrete curb...I believe that right at this minute what apppalls me most is within a few hours I must tell my daughter that her dog is dead, when I might have saved him" (Tacoma Narrows Bridge history - Eyewitness accounts).

"Leonard Coatsworth", The Tacoma Times

Professor F.B. "Burt" Farquharson: Engineering Professor at University of Washington

"When I arrived at about a quarter to ten o'clock, the bridge was moving in the familiar rippling motion...About half hour later, it started a lateral twisting motion. It had never done that before...I saw the suspenders snap off and a whole section caved in. The bridge dropped from under me. I fell and broke one of my cameras...I kneeled on the roadway and stayed to complete the pictures" (Tacoma Narrows Bridge history - Eyewitness accounts).

Winfield Brown: 25 year-old college student who survived Galloping Gertie.

"It was swaying quite a bit. About the time I got to the center, the wind seemed to start blowing harder, all of a sudden. I was thrown flat...Time after time I was thrown completely over the railing. When I tried to get up, I was knocked flat again... The knees were torn out of my pants, and my knees were cut and torn" (Chronicling America).

"Winfield Brown", The Tacoma Times

The Wreck

Effects