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The Municipal Bridge Vision: Difference between revisions
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=Municipal Bridge video= | =Municipal Bridge video= | ||
< | <youtube>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPxLLO61lE4</youtube> | ||
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|'''Editor's Note:''' | |'''Editor's Note:''' | ||
The video above contains an error in that it indicates that there were no fatalities in the building of the Municipal Bridge. | The video above contains an error in that it indicates that there were no fatalities in the building of the Municipal Bridge. Based on research performed by [[Searching for Vindication]], there were 2 fatalities in the construction of the bridge as noted below. However, the conclusions reached in the video remain the same. | ||
However, | |||
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[[Image:Tab30.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge as seen from Jeffersonville, with Louisville, Kentucky in the background]] | [[Image:Tab30.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge as seen from Jeffersonville, with Louisville, Kentucky in the background]] | ||
William Branham often told of a vision he had as a young child of 16 men falling to their deaths while building a bridge across the Ohio river. | William Branham often told of a vision he had as a young child of 16 men falling to their deaths while building a bridge across the Ohio river. | ||
=Prophecy= | =Prophecy= | ||
''I was playing marbles out with my little brothers, out in the front yard. And all at once I had a strange feeling come on me. And I stopped and set down aside of a tree. And we were right up on the bank from the Ohio River. And I looked down towards Jeffersonville, and I seen a bridge rise up and go across that, the river, span the river. And I seen '''sixteen men''' (I counted them) that '''dropped off''' of there and '''lost their lives on that bridge'''. I run in real quick and told my mother, and she thought I went to sleep. But they kept it in mind, and '''twenty-two years from then''' the Municipal Bridge now (that many of you cross when you cross there) crossed the river at the same place, and '''sixteen men lost their life building that bridge across the river.''' It's never failed to be perfectly true.'' (My Life Story, Los Angeles, April 19, 1959) | |||
=About the Louisville Municipal Bridge= | |||
Originally called the '''Louisville Municipal Bridge''', the '''George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge''' is a four-lane cantilever bridge crossing the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana, carrying US 31. The bridge was designed by Ralph Modjeski and Frank Masters, consulting engineers. The contract for construction of the substructure was signed June 1, 1928 with the Vang Construction Company of Pittsburgh, the low bidder, and construction began soon thereafter. The contract for the construction of the superstructure was signed July 5, 1928 with the American Bridge Company of New York, the low bidders for this portion of the work. The contract specified a penalty if the this portion of the work was not completed by December 1, 1929. | |||
The American Bridge Company developed a new method of erecting the cantilever structure which was known as the "guy derrick system of erection." This system was so successful it allowed completion of the bridge one month in advance of the deadline. The bridge was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover at its opening on October 31, 1929. | |||
It was during this time that William Branham was working as a cowhand in Arizona. He returned to Jeffersonville after he received news that his brother Edward had passed away on June 20, 1929. When he returned to Jeffersonville, the new bridge would have been opened or very close to completion. In 1949, the bridge was renamed in honor of George Rogers Clark. The bridge was rehabilitated in 1958, and is still in use today. | |||
=Problems with the Prophecy= | =Problems with the Prophecy= | ||
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==Problem 1: No evidence of 16 fatalities== | ==Problem 1: No evidence of 16 fatalities== | ||
There are no historic documents or evidence supporting the statement that 16 men died during the construction of the Louisville Municipal Bridge. '''In a telephone conversation with George Smith, William Branham's son-in-law, he admitted that this vision was not fulfilled.''' | |||
Additionally, it is clear that William Branham stated that the 16 men died by drowning: | Additionally, it is clear that William Branham stated that the 16 men died by drowning: | ||
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:''Twenty-two years, when I was a little boy, just a little bitty lad about five years old, or six years old, when the Angel of the Lord appeared in the bush... You've heard me tell that haven't you, when I was packing water?'' | :''Twenty-two years, when I was a little boy, just a little bitty lad about five years old, or six years old, when the Angel of the Lord appeared in the bush... You've heard me tell that haven't you, when I was packing water?'' | ||
:''Well, about two weeks after that, I was playing marbles with my little brother. And I thought I'd got sick, some real funny feeling came on me. And I went and set down by the side of a tree. And I looked down at the river, and there went a bridge, a big, great big bridge going across the river. '''And I counted sixteen men that fell off of that bridge and drowned.''' And I went and told mother. And I told her I seen it. And they thought I was crazy or something. They thought I was just at a little nervous hysterical child.'' | :''Well, about two weeks after that, I was playing marbles with my little brother. And I thought I'd got sick, some real funny feeling came on me. And I went and set down by the side of a tree. And I looked down at the river, and there went a bridge, a big, great big bridge going across the river. '''And I counted sixteen men that fell off of that bridge and drowned.''' And I went and told mother. And I told her I seen it. And they thought I was crazy or something. They thought I was just at a little nervous hysterical child.'' | ||
:''And twenty-two years from that time, on the same ground went the municipal bridge across, and sixteen men lost their lives on it. See? Wasn't nothing that... It's--it's God sent it. Your prayers brought it. See?'' | :''And twenty-two years from that time, on the same ground went the municipal bridge across, and sixteen men lost their lives on it. See? Wasn't nothing that... It's--it's God sent it. Your prayers brought it. See?''<ref>William Branham, EXPERIENCES, Phoenix, AZ, 48-0302</ref> | ||
Based on research done by [[Searching for Vindication]], | Based on research done by [[Searching for Vindication]], there were only 2 fatalities in the construction of the bridge: | ||
*On Wednesday, June 19, 1929, Richard Pilton died after being hit in the temple with an iron crank. He did not drown. | *On Wednesday, June 19, 1929, Richard Pilton died after being hit in the temple with an iron crank. He did not drown. | ||
*On September 10, 1929. Lloyd McEwen lost his footing and fell, landing on a barge below the bridge. He did not drown, but rather | *On September 10, 1929. Lloyd McEwen lost his footing and fell, landing on a barge below the bridge. He did not drown, but rather died from the injuries caused by his fall. | ||
Additionally, Life Saving Station #10 on the river at Louisville, KY was in service from 1881 until 1972. This station was located near the falls of the Ohio River because it was considered the most dangerous section of the river. The station was manned around the clock and operated as a bonafide Coast Guard Station. Over the years, there were three different vessels that served as the Life Saving Station. The last vessel was put into service in 1929. | |||
The research documented on the | Life Saving Station #10 maintained dailiy logs containing the daily records of the station, including records of every rescue and recovery operation that the Coast Guard participated in from 1881 until 1972. The station was located less than a half-mile from the municipal bridge, the Coast Guard would be the first responders to any event on the bridge where someone fell into the river. The people at Searching for Vindication traveled to the offices of the National Archives and Records Administration in Atlanta to examine the logs. They photographed every page of the log books from from May 1, 1928 through December 31, 1939 to determine whether there was a significant drowning event related to the bridge. They extended it to 10 years after the completion of the bridge to ensure that they would find any incidents that happened during the construction of the bridge or in any of the maintenance of the municipal bridge in the 10 years after the bridge was completed. | ||
There were no events from the logs that included anyone drowning related to the construction or maintenance of the bridge from 1928 to 1939. | |||
The research documented on the Searching for Vindication website refutes any claim that the records in 1929 were inaccurate, and that the 16 fatalities were simply not recorded. | |||
We would highly recommend those interested in this issue to read the research performed by [[Searching for Vindication]]. | We would highly recommend those interested in this issue to read the research performed by [[Searching for Vindication]]. | ||
==Problem 2: Similar fatalities on another bridge== | ==Problem 2: Similar fatalities on another bridge== | ||
Our research indicates that many deaths occurred during the construction of the Big Four Bridge, which is a railroad bridge a half mile upstream from the Municipal Bridge that opened to the public in 1895. | [[Image:Masthead_North_Carolinian_1890_01_22.png|thumb|500px|right]] | ||
[[Image:Pg_4_North_Carolinian_1890_01_22.png|thumb|250px|right]] | |||
Our research indicates that many deaths occurred during the construction of the Big Four Bridge, which is a railroad bridge a half-mile upstream from the Municipal Bridge that opened to the public in 1895. | |||
A summary of | Construction of the Big Four bridge began on October 10, 1888. A summary of the fatalities during the construction is as follows: | ||
#12 people died working on a pier foundation when a caisson flooded | #12 people died working on a pier foundation when a caisson flooded (about a year after construction started); | ||
#4 people died when a wooden beam broke in a different pier caisson | #4 people died when a wooden beam broke in a different pier caisson (several months after the first accident); and | ||
# | #On December 15, 1893, a construction crane was dislodged by wind causing the supporting truss to collapse which resulted 41 workers falling into the Ohio river. 21 workers died as a result.<ref>Kleber, John E. (2000). Encyclopedia of Louisville. University Press of Kentucky. p. 89. ISBN 0-8131-2100-0. Retrieved April 8, 2014.</ref> | ||
In William Branham's vision, 16 people died when they fell off the bridge. With the Big Four Bridge, 37 people died in the construction of the bridge. All of these fatalities occurred before William Branham was born. | |||
Was this the reason that William Branham did not tell the story in his home town, Jeffersonville, until 1960? Did he simply make up the story knowing that no one would be able to check the facts? People would have remembered a lot of people being killed in the construction of a bridge many years in the past but would have been unable to differentiate between the Big Four bridge and the Municipal Bridge. | |||
===Deception by message followers=== | |||
An article from page 4 of the North Carolinian newspaper on January 22, 1890, is contained on the right-hand side of this page. The article is entitled "Sixteen Men Killed" and tells the story of 16 men who fell to their death in the construction of the Big Four bridge in Louisville, Kentucky in 1890. It incorrectly reports a death toll of 16 people when other newspaper reports listed only 12 men as dying in the accident (4 men died several months later). | |||
This article has been the subject of deceptive social media posts by a few message followers who state incorrectly that the article is from the late 1920's and specifically relates to the construction of the Municipal Bridge. This was done as proof that the municipal bridge vision was fulfilled. Sadly, this is a lie promoted by some in the message who have no regard for the truth. | |||
The text of the January 22, 1890 newspaper report is as follows: | |||
::::'''''Sixteen Men Killed''''' | |||
::::'''''A Most Appalling Accident in Louisville, Ky.''' | |||
::::'''''Workmen Meet Their Death by a Falling Bridge Caisson.''' | |||
:''Sixteen lives have been lost by the giving way of a caisson at the new bridge now building across the Ohio River at Louisville, KY. Most of the victims were colored.'' | |||
:''The caisson, known as No. 1, was about one hundred yards from the Kentucky shore. As the workmen of the pumping station were looking for the men in the caisson to put off in their boards, leaving work for the night, they suddenly saw the low, dark structure disappear in the dashing white waves, and heard, before they could realize what had happened, the roar of the furious maelstrom. A runner was despatched to the life-saving station and three skiffs were manned and pulled to the scene of the wreck. | |||
:'''''The site of the bridge is at the upper end of the city, just below Towhead Island.''' Within an hour from the disappearance of the caisson 3000 people were on the shore straining themselves trying to see something of the wreckage. Dozens of boats were plying about over the spot where the caisson had stood and lights danced to and fro with them, but there was no trace of the massive structure of stone and timber which had kept off the hungry river, to give hope to the anguish-stricken mothers and wives who stood in the throng on the shore.'' | |||
:''The men saved are Abe Taylor, Lewis Couch, James Murray and Frank Haddox, all colored. The last man out of the caisson was Frank Haddox. He was barely saved by Murray, who dragged him from where he was caught waist deep in the quicksand. Taylor says he stood nearest the iron ladders, by which they got in and out of the caisson. He heard a rumbling and there was a rush of air almost at the same instant. He jumped up the rungs of the ladder, followed by the other men. They had hardly got clear of the caisson when the water burst through the manhole in a surge knocking them all into the river, where they were picked up. Haddox says he saw Ham Morris, who was climbing next below himself, swiftly drawn under the sand and heard his cries for help, but could do nothing. | |||
:''John Knox, the gang boss, took charge of the work three days before. The colored men who escaped say he had them dig too deep before letting the caisson settle, and the digging was too close to the shoe of the caisson. Just before the accident Knox gave some order to Rober Baldwin, the keeper in charge of the upper door to the exit. Baldwin then opened the door, and the compressed air which kept out the river rushed out, letting in the stream. The men say they were working in an ugly quicksand at the time. The caisson was about forty feet by twenty, and built of timbers twelve inches square. It was protected by a coffer-dam, but the river is very high and the pressure of the water very great. | |||
:''The most plausible theory as to the cause of the accident is thus given by one of the survivors, Louis Crouch, and his story receives not a little credence from the Superintendent of the work. Knox, the foreman, had been seen near the key which controls the air supply, and it is believed that he cut off the air more than he really intended to, causing the caisson to sink into the sand.'' | |||
==Problem 3: The timing of the vision== | ==Problem 3: The timing of the vision== | ||
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=Excuses for the failed vision= | =Excuses for the failed vision= | ||
[[Image:The Bridge Prophecy explained.jpg|thumb|250px|right]] | |||
Are you looking for a simple and easy way to ignore the facts above? If so, this is called [[Cognitive Dissonance|cognitive dissonance]]. It is a term that explains why intelligent people will often settle for answers that are not reasonable, in order to ignore the real issue. | Are you looking for a simple and easy way to ignore the facts above? If so, this is called [[Cognitive Dissonance|cognitive dissonance]]. It is a term that explains why intelligent people will often settle for answers that are not reasonable, in order to ignore the real issue. | ||
==The failed interpretation theory== | |||
The followers of Junior Jackson, who are on the fringes of the message in that they reject some of William Branham's plain teaching, have a theory that William Branham simply misinterpreted the municipal bridge vision. However, this theory has several problems: | |||
===A lack of biblical precedence=== | |||
As proof for this theory, the Jr. Jackson followers quote a portion of Acts 10:17 which reads: | |||
:''Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean...<ref>The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ac 10:17.</ref> | |||
But they fail to address the fact that it quickly became very clear to Peter what the vision meant. In fact, all that one has to do is to read Acts chapters 10 and 11 to understand the meaning of the vision. | |||
As a result, we can conclude that the use of Acts 10:17 to justify William Branham's failed vision is in itself an act of deception. | |||
===William Branham lied about the interpretation=== | |||
As indicated above, William Branham stood underneath the Municipal bridge, and indicated to Pearry Green the exact section of the bridge that fell into the river. But this was a lie! | |||
William Branham's prophecy and the story that he used to prove its fulfillment are both false. The was not simply an incorrect interpretation. The story of fulfillment that William Branham told was false. | |||
==The "suicide" theory== | |||
This theory holds that William Branham did not have the correct interpretation of the municipal bridge vision: | |||
#William Branham was living in Arizona during the construction of the bridge and so was not aware that there were only 2 fatalities in the construction of the bridge. | |||
#He was also confused by stories relating to the construction of the Big Four Bridge in which a number of people did die. | |||
#Based on these bad facts, he incorrectly interpreted the vision. | |||
#The correct interpretation of the vision is found in the fact that many people have died committing suicide by jumping from the bridge. | |||
The problem with this "interpretation" of the vision is that it ignores some of the details that William Branham provided with respect to the vision: | |||
:''...Sixteen men dropped off in—into the water and perished. And '''I seen a big sign, it said “twenty-two years.”''' I run in and told my mother. Oh, she said, “Son, you’re nervous. You went to sleep and you were dreaming.” I said, “No. No. I saw it.” So they wrote it down on a piece of paper. And twenty-two years from then, the great bridge crossed the river, and twen—sixteen men dropped off of it and—and drowned in the river. Every time, it’s perfect.<ref>55-0626A - My Life Story</ref> | |||
William Branham saw a big sign that said "twenty-two years." | |||
As a result, we must conclude that this flawed attempt to "correctly" interpret the vision also fails to answer the fundamental problems with any proposed theory for the fulfillment of the vision. | |||
==William Branham was young when he had the vision== | ==William Branham was young when he had the vision== | ||
If William Branham was young when he had the vision, perhaps he simply forgot it. Kids forget a lot of things and get memories messed up. That would explain why the vision was not fulfilled properly. | If William Branham was young when he had the vision, perhaps he simply forgot it or misremembered it. Kids forget a lot of things and get memories messed up. That would explain why the vision was not fulfilled properly. | ||
If this is the case, then it could still be fulfilled in the future, when the bridge is being repaired | |||
There are several problems with this explanation: | There are several problems with this explanation: | ||
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==The men drowned in concrete== | ==The men drowned in concrete== | ||
John "Jack" Vissing, the son of the late Richard Vissing, a former mayor of Jeffersonville, stated that: | John "Jack" Vissing, the son of the late Richard Vissing, a former mayor of Jeffersonville, stated that: | ||
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:''The story of the bridge collapse was not given to me by my Dad or by Brother Billy, but by my grandmother, Maud, and by a lady named Dorothy Phillips. She was about my dad’s age and went to church with us at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ. She was telling me about being a little girl watching the construction from the river bank. Remember, that although the depression had not “officially” begun, things were not very good economically in Jeffersonville at that time. Many people had no diversions, and spent time watching the construction of this bridge, as I am sure Brother Billy and my dad did as well. Dorothy recalled seeing scaffolding up around the piling in the first water pile, and she recalled it collapsing while there was a major cement pour and she saw men falling into the cement who were never removed. It was a tragedy at the time, and many people were appalled. | :''The story of the bridge collapse was not given to me by my Dad or by Brother Billy, but by my grandmother, Maud, and by a lady named Dorothy Phillips. She was about my dad’s age and went to church with us at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ. She was telling me about being a little girl watching the construction from the river bank. Remember, that although the depression had not “officially” begun, things were not very good economically in Jeffersonville at that time. Many people had no diversions, and spent time watching the construction of this bridge, as I am sure Brother Billy and my dad did as well. Dorothy recalled seeing scaffolding up around the piling in the first water pile, and she recalled it collapsing while there was a major cement pour and she saw men falling into the cement who were never removed. It was a tragedy at the time, and many people were appalled. | ||
' | ===Problem #1 - The age of Jack's grandmother=== | ||
I called Jack Vissing regarding questions that I after reviewing his story about his grandmother. In my conversation with Jack Vissing, he stated that it was his grandmother who had witnessed this as a young girl. | |||
If so, this is a clear case of Jack Vissing getting the Big Four bridge confused with the Municipal Bridge.''' If Jack's father was 14 in 1929, then it is obvious that his grandmother could not have been a young girl at the same time. However, she would have been a young girl in 1895, when the Big Four bridge had 3 different fatal accidents as noted above. Also, the 16 men that died in the construction of the caissons (on two separate occasions) would appear to be very close the description of the accident that she saw. | |||
===Problem #2 - Nothing reported in the newspapers=== | |||
Jack states that "t was a tragedy at the time, and many people were appalled." | |||
If this was widespread knowledge at the time it happened, '''why was it not reported in the local papers when two other deaths made the front page?''' | |||
If sixteen men died, how could this be kept secret given the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and wives of the people that supposedly died. How would you keep all of them quiet? | |||
There were two men who did die in the construction of the municipal bridge and whose deaths made the front page of the Jeffersonville newspaper. The fact that there was no reporting of these deaths argues for it never having happened. Again, we think Jack's grandmother confused this with the death of the men on the Big Four bridge. | |||
===Problem #3 - The myth of men drowning in concrete=== | |||
From an engineering perspective, this story is so implausible it is funny. But that is the lengths that people will go to because of [[Cognitive Dissonance|cognitive dissonance]]. | |||
This story is also told with respect to the construction of the Hoover Dam. The story goes that a number of workers were entombed in concrete as the pour couldn't be stopped and they were left dead in the concrete. However, this has been proved to have been not possible. There is an article on this subject on the [https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/bodies-hoover-dam/ Ripley's Believe It or Not] website. | |||
The reasons that clearly indicate that it COULD NEVER happen are as follows: | |||
#The structural integrity of the concrete would fail with even one body in it, let alone sixteen. The concrete pier would have crumbled and collapsed a long time ago. The reason for this is that the human body decomposes in concrete and leaves a massive air pocket. Imagine that there are sixteen such large air pockets. The bridge pilon would have collapsed after a few years. | |||
#Rebar is used extensively in concrete to provide strength. This means there is no room for a single body to be submerged in the concrete. Could sixteen bodies have been submerged? It is impossible. | |||
#This would have been reported in the engineers' report. | |||
===Problem #3 - Jack's client is Voice of God Recordings=== | |||
We talked on the phone with Jack Vissing and he confirmed that that Voice of God Recordings was a client of his law firm. Would you trust the testimony of a man who was getting paid by the people he was testifying for? This is clearly a conflict of interest. | |||
=A Big Question= | =A Big Question= | ||
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*The Jeffersonville Evening News reported two deaths on its front page on Thursday, June 30, 1929. One death was Edward Branham, William Branham's brother, who died of rheumatism of the heart. The second death was Richard Pilton, the first fatality during the construction of the Bridge, who died when an iron crank he was using struck him in the temple. | *The Jeffersonville Evening News reported two deaths on its front page on Thursday, June 30, 1929. One death was Edward Branham, William Branham's brother, who died of rheumatism of the heart. The second death was Richard Pilton, the first fatality during the construction of the Bridge, who died when an iron crank he was using struck him in the temple. | ||
*[http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/04/06/Summary-Of-Municipal-Bridge/ Summary of historical data on Searching For Vindication] | *[http://searchingforvindication.com/2013/04/06/Summary-Of-Municipal-Bridge/ Summary of historical data on Searching For Vindication] | ||
{{Failed Visions}} | |||
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[[Category:Prophecies]] | [[Category:Prophecies]] | ||
[[Category: Visions]] | [[Category: Visions]] | ||
[[Category: Credibility | [[Category:Honesty and Credibility]] | ||