Many construction workers died during the building of Brooklyn Bridge — the bridge that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan. They all died of the same cause: decompression sickness or “caisson disease.” Usually afflicting construction workers working underwater, caisson disease happens when a person rapidly reenters normal atmospheric conditions coming from the compressed environment of the caisson. Washington Roebling, son of the designer of the bridge and Chief Engineer of the project, whose name is inscribed on the bridge itself, was one of the more famous fatalities of this disease. Seth Lesser, a native of Buffalo, New York, was one of the less famous, though no less honored fatalities of caisson disease who met his untimely death during its construction.
Born on November 11, 1850, Seth Lesser was a well-liked engineer involved in building the Brooklyn Bridge. His colleagues and superiors commended his able direction and his cheerful disposition. Ms. Emily Warren Roebling, widow of Mr. Washington Roebling, knew Mr. Lesser’s wife personally, although Mr. Lesser did not have the privilege of working directly with the former’s husband. Mrs. Roebling, friends and family of Mr. Roebling established a fund to honor the families of fatalities, such as Seth Lesser.
A day after the Brooklyn Bridge opened for public use on May 24, 1884, Seth Lesser was honored along with others who died the same way by Mrs. Roebling. Marceline, Mr. Lesser’s widowed wife, and their three children, Seth, Jr., James and Thomas received a plaque in his honor.
[...] Roebling personally handed to Marceline Lesser — Seth Lesser widow — a plaque honoring the latter’s husband, in the afternoon of May 25, 1884, one day [...]
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