1883年5月30日，布鲁克林大桥的人行道在向公众开放一周后发生了一场令人震惊的灾难。随着企业因爱国假日而关闭，人群涌向大桥的长廊，这是当时纽约市的最高制高点。

在大桥曼哈顿侧附近，一个行人瓶颈变得拥挤不堪，人群的推挤使人们从一段短楼梯上摔了下来。人们尖叫起来。人群惊慌失措，担心整个建筑有倒塌到河里的危险。

人行道上挤满了人。工人们在桥上做最后的润色，沿着桁架冲向现场，并开始拆除栏杆以缓解拥挤。人们抱起婴儿和孩子，试图把他们从头顶上从人群中传递出去。

不到几分钟，狂热就过去了。但有12人被压死。另有数百人受伤，许多人伤势严重。这场致命的踩踏事件给大桥庆祝的第一周蒙上了一层乌云。

关于大桥上混乱事件的详细报道在竞争激烈的纽约市报纸上引起轰动。由于该市的报纸仍然聚集在帕克街附近，距离曼哈顿大桥的尽头只有几个街区，所以这个故事再当地不过了。

桥上的景色

这座桥于1883年5月24日星期四正式通车。第一个周末的交通非常拥挤，游客们蜂拥而至，享受在东河数百英尺高空漫步的新奇体验。

1883年5月28日，星期一，《纽约论坛报》在头版刊登了一篇报道，指出这座桥可能变得太受欢迎了。它不祥地提到，在周日下午的某个时候，桥梁工人担心发生暴乱。

1883年5月30日星期三是纪念日的前身——装饰日。早雨过后，天气变得非常宜人。《纽约太阳报》在第二天的头版上描述了这一场景：

"When the rain was over yesterday afternoon the Brooklyn Bridge, which had its crowds in the morning, but had become comparatively open again, began to threaten a blockade. With the hundreds who came down town to the New York gates were hundreds of men in the uniform of the Grand Army of the Republic. "Most of the people strolled over to Brooklyn, and then turned back without leaving the bridge. Thousands were coming over from Brooklyn, returning from cemeteries where soldier's graves had been decorated, or taking advantage of the holiday to see the bridge. "There were not so many on the bridge as on the day after the opening, or on the following Sunday, but they seemed inclined to loiter. There would be an open space of from fifty to one hundred feet, and then a dense jam."

在一段9英尺高的楼梯顶部，在桥曼哈顿一侧的长廊旁，靠近主吊索通过的地方，问题变得非常严重。人群的拥挤把一些人推下楼梯。

你知道吗？

布鲁克林大桥倒塌的预测是很常见的。1876年，在建造的中途，大桥的首席机械师用缆绳穿过布鲁克林和曼哈顿塔楼，公开展示了对大桥设计的信心。

《纽约太阳报》报道说：“有人大喊有危险。”。“人们普遍认为这座桥在人群中让路了。”

报纸提到，“一位妇女把她的孩子抱在栈桥上，请求别人把它带走。”

局势已变得绝望。摘自《纽约太阳报》：

"At last, with a single shriek that cut through the clamor of thousands of voices, a young girl lost her footing, and fell down the lower flight of steps. She lay for a moment, and then raised herself on her hands, and would have got up. But in another moment she was buried under the bodies of others who fell over the steps after her. She was dead when they got her out more than half an hour afterward. "Men sprang upon the rails at the side and waved the crowds back from both the New York and Brooklyn sides. But the people continued to crowd on toward the steps. No police were in sight. Men in the crowd lifted their children above their heads to save them from the crush. People were still paying their pennies at both gates and swarming in."

几分钟后，疯狂的场面平静了下来。在装饰日纪念活动中，士兵们一直在桥旁游行，他们赶到了现场。《纽约太阳报》描述了后果：

"A company of the Twelfth New York Regiment worked hard at dragging them out. Twenty-five seemed to be nearly dead. They were laid along the north and south sides of the pathway, and the people from Brooklyn passed on between them. Men and women turned faint at the sight of the swollen and blood-stained faces of the dead. Four men, a lad, six women, and a girl of 15 were quite dead, or died in a few moments. They had been found at the bottom of the heap. "The police stopped grocers' wagons coming from Brooklyn, and, carrying the bodies of the wounded and climbing down the planks to the road, laid them in the wagons, and told the drivers to hurry to the Chambers Street Hospital. Six bodies were laid in one wagon. The drivers whipped up their horses and drove with full speed to the hospital."

报纸对死伤者的报道令人心碎。《纽约太阳报》描述了一对年轻夫妇下午在桥上漫步时的悲情：

"Sarah Hennessey was married on Easter, and was walking on the bridge with her husband when the crowd closed in upon them. Her husband injured his left arm a week ago, and clung to his wife with his right hand. A little girl fell in front of him, and he was thrown upon his knees and kicked and bruised. Then his wife was torn from him, and he saw her trampled upon and killed. When he got off the bridge he searched for his wife and found her in the hospital."

根据1883年5月31日《纽约论坛报》的一篇报道，莎拉·亨尼西与丈夫约翰·亨尼西结婚七周。她当时22岁。他们曾住在布鲁克林。

关于这场灾难的谣言很快传遍了整个城市。《纽约论坛报》报道：“事故发生一小时后，在麦迪逊广场附近，有人告诉我们，25人死亡，数百人受伤，在42街，大桥倒塌，1500人丧生。”

在灾难发生后的几天和几周里，悲剧的责任都指向了大桥的管理层。大桥有自己的小型警察部队，大桥公司的官员因未能将警察安置在战略位置以分散人群而受到批评。

这成了桥上穿制服的军官让人们继续前行的标准做法，装饰日的悲剧从未重演。

当然，担心大桥有倒塌的危险是完全没有根据的。布鲁克林大桥在某种程度上进行了翻修，原有的电车轨道在20世纪40年代末被拆除，道路也发生了变化，以容纳更多的汽车。但是，人行道仍然延伸到桥的中间，并且仍然在使用。每天都有成千上万的行人穿过这座桥，而1883年5月吸引狂欢者的风景秀丽的长廊至今仍然吸引着游客。