Posted on 10/15/2011 10:00:49 AM PDT by savedbygrace
State police have arrested two men accused of stealing a privately owned steel bridge from a secluded area in Lawrence County.
Police said that Benjamin Arthur Jones, 24, and Alexander William Jones, 25, used a torch to tear apart the Covert's Crossing Bridge late last month or early this month.
CLIP
Some people in Lawrence County believe Covert's Crossing might have been haunted. The historical society, in a video about haunted spots in the county, says some residents claim that a beautifully dressed woman haunts the bridge on prom night.
(Excerpt) Read more at postgazette.com ...
These men dodged the bullet. Had the bridge been designated as Historical I think they would be up for a federal rap.
Another observation I will make is that about two years ago a bridge of similar design and size was taken down near me by a large construction company. It took them month or more using large cranes.
The ingenuity of thieves is often remarkable if misdirected.
LOL Put it on a milk carton. “Have you seen this bridge?”
Apparently the state highway people built a new concrete bridge some distance from the truss bridge and left the old one stand (historical concerns...). That took the old bridge out of service. I would guess that the brothers then took apart the truss work leaving the deck and support beams for last (safe since the bridge no longer carried traffic loads). After removing the wooden deck they probably dropped the support beams one at a time (torch cut the ends off or yanked them off the rip-rap abutments with a wrecker)and then skidded them out of the river with the same wrecker (I would have rigged a block up a sturdy tree on the shore so the angle of the winch cable would keep the end of the beam from digging in). I would expect that they cut all the structural steel into convenient chunks to expedite transportation.
Wisconsin has several post and beam (typical old wooden barn construction w/ pegged joins) covered bridges which are out of service with a nearby steel bridge carrying the traffic. The old wooden bridges are interesting to walk through and study the construction. Pity those guys got greedy. They were probably turned in by the people they approached to sell the "salvaged" steel. Metal recyclers are getting pretty savvy about their customers. If they don't know you and you show up with a lot of metal they get suspicious really fast.
Regards,
GtG
I think such a project would be an all or nothing project for thieves.
You could take down one support and sell it but then you would never dare go back because your theft would have been discovered and the bridge would be watched closely for some time.
If they knew the bridge was still occasionally used they would know that they would have to be fast to escape observation dismantling the bridge.
You could not take down the bridge and hide the metal some where because it would be to large an amount to hide and if discovered the authorities would be watching it to see who came for it and you would be arrested the moment you showed your face to load some up to sell.
Such a theft is all or nothing unless all you want is a little beer money.
Perhaps they needed to find a known crooked recycler. (If that is how they were discovered).
Or sold.
Now take this little baby I have for sale:
Hardly used!
Apparently, it was first reported stolen October 5th, and last known to be there on the previous Tuesday. The story was published on the 7th, and a certain recycler notified police in the last couple days that they'd bought 15 tons of steel from someone who showed a picture of the bridge to the recycler...
So they took down this bridge in 7 days or less. Damn impressive. Their take? $5,000.
I hate to say it, but..
I’m kind of impressed!
I wonder where the ghost that haunted the bridge will go. See short video at: http://www.lawrencechs.com/haunted_lawrence_county.html
However, the main legend in the area is the green man which, I learned years later from a local newspaper, may actually be a somewhat true but sad story of disfigurement as the result of an electrical accident.
Regards
Union labor, no doubt.
lol
Of course.
A government funded project almost has to be, especially because it happened in Ohio.
On the other hand these men did not have to worry about dust generation, OSHA regulations or government mandated breaks.
Now that they have been arrested it will come out how long it actually took them. Some report may get to talk to them after their conviction. Should be an interesting story.
I am curious to know what their regular jobs were if they had one.
Too take down that bridge that quickly without being noticed I think they must be experienced in demolition. But they are rather young.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.