The Arkansas advocate., 1832-06-06

A
 of L3fe.-ISareiJ does ii fall to our Iot
 10 record a more affective and unex #Pected calamity, than onthc present oc lcasion. At aquarter before six 0 clock
 yesterday afternoon, the large new structure, 1belongiVg 10 Phelps ailt
 Peck, on the corner Of Cliff Gs7iliiiiti. ans ifuiton streets, and occupied as counting rooms and q warehouse for the very extensive business of that firm, suddenly fell in
 with a startling and tremendous crash. icauslng the foundations of the build- ings in the whole neigbborhood to trem- bic. Inc cdiilee was of brick, six sto- fIes nigh, resting upon granite base ment of upright blocks or pilastcrs. of the description ordinarily muse. The building occupied about 100 feet on fClifi street, ard 75 upon Fulton. Two thirds of the pile, comprising the whole irontnpon Cliff, and say fifty upon Full ton street, were severed perpendieu- iaily from top to bottom, and fell at once into q heap of broken ruins. So sudden was the giving away, and the tall, that gentleman, who was at the instant passing on the opposite side, Tn Cliilstreet, saw the granite blocks as 1t were, start out from the waIl.-
 He supposed it to be an optical illusion oceasioned by the glaneing of the eye; but ln the same instant, looking upward. the whole ediliec was simultaneously tanblinsss down, and .l.s hs slsi!iss agility alone enabled him to escape.
 The whole building to the topmost loft, was filled with goods of great weight and intrinsic value. The low CT stories were stored with iron and lin, and the three upper lofts crammed to their utmost capacity, with cotton.-- ihe loss of property, independent of the building, will be very great. But this loss weighs as the dust only in the. balance, la comparison with the loss of He which IS at this moment wringilg omany bosoms with anguish, and the unspcakahie agonies of the mangled though not lifeless bodies, that have been taken from the ruins. The num- Der oi lives lost in this distressing event. IS not yet known. At the time of its occurrence, we were on tho way to meet committee, of which Mir. Phelps was one. He had left his counting room short time before, and was at the mo- ment oithe catastrophe in attendance 7atthe monthly meeting of the Board of Public Schools. The other partner, Mir. Peck, is in the country.
 Mir. Thomas H. Goddard, thc book keeper, and Mir. .IosiahStoises, tlsc ooii-:H tldential clerk, were in the counting room on the second floor, engaged in. writing at their desks, at the time of the fall; and Mir. Alfred K. Seymour, another clerk, was in the counting-roomi on the first floor. All three were whel- med in the ruins and crushed to death.
 Mir. Pilkin, also clerk, was standing at the front door, on Cliff street. and saved himself by jumping on .ote side the moment he heard the cracking, and running across the street. Mir. O'Ncal, of Utica,a customer, was ascending the first flight of stairs at the moment, and as it were, by a miracle escaped with only few slight bruises, having worked his way out of the ruins about fifteen minutes after the walls fell iii. A carts man named Barney Jackson, who was on the side walk, was partially buried in the ruins, but was fortunately rescu- ed in about two hours, with oply a bro ken arm, and q few bruises. His horse was killed, as was also one belonging to the corporation, which was standing in the street.
 ltis impossible even yet to give an accurate account of this melancholy occurrence, in all particulars. One or the other of our firm was at the scene | Of the calamity most of the night; and
 NC have spent several hours there this morning but such is still the confusion, and so great the unremoved piles ofru- ins, that the extent of suffering and death Is not yet ascertained.
 or the laborers at work in the store, three were talSen.out alive before nine o'clock, one of whom it was reported, Idicd in q few minutes, and the otl.er tt,=so eoioFet enaeii, were talSensifi the lsfrst instance into AIr. Simonson's drug agist shop, on the corner of Fulton and ! Gold streets, and were kindly attended Ito. One of them was found 10 be very badly injured, his head being deeply cutand covered with blood, ai.e one of ] his shoulders dislocated, besides other l wounds. some of which apneared 10 he