The Bridge's Suicide

‘Some lawyers think they have to treat the ‘other side’ like the enemy. Even when that ‘other side’ is the victim’s family. Even when the victim is dead. Show compassion. Sometimes you have to say things that hurt the victim’s family, sometimes that is inevitable but some lawyers go too far.’ She thought about Danny now as she turned to look back at Ashleigh’s family and past them at Jo. She’d asked him once, ‘How do you make sure you give your client the best chance, fight for them, if you allow yourself to feel sorry for the victims?’ He’d smiled at her: ‘Surgeons must be very careful/When they take the knife!/Underneath their fine incisions/Stirs the culprit, --Life!’ He’d quote Dickinson in response to her questions. Sometimes this was frustrating but after a while she’d come to look forward to hearing the poems, and they did give her answers to her question even if it took her a while to decipher them. In his office, he sat in a leather armchair, in front of a large window that looked across
In a month’s time it will be the 40th anniversary of the Bridge’s collapse. Thirty-five men died during the construction of the bridge, it was one of many hundreds of industrial accidents we have had in this country. On the morning of the 17th October 1970, a span of the Bridge was hoisted to the top, but when they put the bolts in, the span didn’t fit, didn’t line up with the adjoining span, the engineer managing that day’s work told the men to remove the bolts that were holding two spans together. It was a mistake. Bad judgement. Poor judgement. He was not drunk. He was not on drugs. He was probably stressed and under a great deal of pressure. The companies involved in the construction, the unions, the government, the media, everyone wanted the Bridge to be finished. The bolts had been removed on the other side of the Bridge and the removal of the bolts had worked had allowing the men to straighten the