, 1866-08-08
SHOCKING ACCIDENT.
Falling OF the IRON Roof Of the New
Central Freight I1ou~c-So Lives Lost
"a Number of Persons Injured.

~ AS0AAkUEx VI E1NNt3S xH3AANus
From the Detroit POSI-, August 6th.1
On Saturday afternoon, ut quarter to six
O'Clock, terrible accident happened at the
of n large number Of men were endangered,
and number escaped almost miFucnlously-
The workmcn employed in constructing the
new freight houec at the lower end Of the de-
pot, while engaged To their work, hcArd and
eaw signs that indicated thu falling Of tho
out Of the way, It came down.. buryiug
nbout dozen men In the ruins, and fnIuriuE
the most of them severely. The work ofput-
ting up the roof had progressed npldlT,
eight rafters fifteen feet apart having been
s aa When tRc 1oef sueag III
eastward and inward. About thirty men
were employed in antl around the place, and
1t Is really wonderful that so few were iniur-
Cd. The raftcrs were very heavy, being
T rail, six inches wide and about forty feetin
length, yet SO great wus their Weight that
the {ait bent many Of them in two. The mas
sive supports Of the roof were twisted md
bent in every shape, and some broken offli
reeds. -.
During the morning number Of those who
were engaged In putting on the roof noticed
that the Eanc work had slipped westward
two or three inches, and the attention Of the
contractors being called to It, it was pulled
back by means OF ropes and guys, and sup
posed to be perfectly secure
The cause OF the accident has not as yet
been asccrtaincd, but 1t Is thought that The
weight was too great for the strength Of the
tntcrial, and the beams not fastened securely
enough In the masonry. This, however 10
merely the opinion OF those who were at
work on tie building, and It u most probable
TINT they were excited md frightened, and
consequently unable to form q correct tudg-
mcnt- But In one thing they all concur, and
that is, had the roof been finished to the Gn-
Bile ends 1t never could have fallen. There
will probably be Il thorough Investigation Of
the cause Of this Incident, aud it will then
be determined whether the fault lies with
those who contracted to put up the roof Or
the architect who drew the plans.
The greater portion Of the injured men
belonged in Cleveland, and consequently It
Ia difficult to learn their names and circun1-
stances, but those who were hurt badly we're
carefully attended, and will: probably re-
cover. Their names are 15 follows: Ha1eu-.
tine Lee, bruised about the head and several
ribs broken; Michael Fallahe. skull broken
and otherwise hurt Thomas Fallahe, badly
bruised about the body John Nallace, On
whose chest one of the rafters fell, very bad
ly crushed These men lre al residents OF
this city. Lee lives at the Larned House,
the two Fallahes on Porter street, between
Fifth and Sixth streets, and Wallace On the
corner Of Dudley and Baker Streets MORT
Williams, of Cleveland, who was undetneath.
the roof riyeting the lower side Of the ircH
home last evening on the City Of Cleveland.
A number Of others were more or less hurt,
but III the excitement it was impossible to
ascertain their names. Several had narrow
escapes. having just left the building before
the accident.