The Republican journal., 1870-05-05


down with another fearful crash smothering
and crushing the living and struggling mass
of victims beneath. A ledge of about twelve
feet, on which the bench was located, did not
60 down, and on this many lives were saved,
including the judges and reporters. AS soon
as the fearful crash had occurred those who
could clutched hold of the windows, stepped
out of the gallery and ran out to other rooms,
thus many others were also saved
The scene which followed is utterly beyond
description. Between the two bodies of the
floor and ceiling was the mass of people, the
force and power of the latter, with the gal
lery falling upon them, forever silencing
their cries for help. 1t was scene of horror
| it. TO those who remained about and who
ventured to look down into the vacant space
of the court room, nothing was visible but a
cloud of thick dust, through which the frantic
cries of the victims yet alive could be heard
vainly appealing for help.
One by one they We're brought forth from
the mass of debris through the windows and
doors, those unhurt first making their APP
pcarance begrimed with dust and with torn
and battered clothes. Next came the dead
and wounded, who were deposited on the
grass plots OF the square, which soon re-
sembled the scene after battle, with atfiict-
ed relatives, male and female, wandering
about in search of some one missing since the
announcement of the catastrophe When the
corpseS were brought out and exposed on the
square, scarcely one of them could be rccog-
nized, so fcarfully disfigured were they, and
the broken-hearted wives, sisters and mothers
of several even failed in some instances to
recognize the victims. The faces of all the
dead We're fearfully swollen and blackened,
it is supposed from suffocation, and about the
mouth and lips was a sort of cOagulated trOth
tinctured with blood, which was hardened
and stitfened with dust. In the case of DIR.
ID. j. Brock, reporter of the Enquirer. ii is
said his wife failed to recognize him, and a
brother reporter only discovered his identity
by searching his pockets. An incident Of the
lamentable occasion is that both the Mayors,
Ellison and Cahoon, who were the most in
tercsted parties present, went down with the
floor into the yawning room beneath, Ellison
escaping unhrrt, while Cahoon was slightly
injured
A gentleman who narrowly escaped with
his life, describing the scene, says:
! was seated at one of the tables with the
reporters when the floor cavcd in and the
crash OF ceiling, floor and tmbers followed
My chair thus half fell and / went over the
ledge, but happily grasped the floor and was
for q time suspended. Iinyoluntarily prayed
and heard a clinging companion say, ''Lord
have mercy upon me, | am gomez 1t was q
terrible moment, which l shall never forget.
The crashing of the floor, the shrieks of the
mass who went down in their death slaughter,
and the frantic efforts Of some to escape, with
my own slight chances of life, were all fear
fully presented in a single instant, When |
recovered and got myself back on the plat
form had tainted, and was hurried by some
body from the fatal apartment.
PARTICULARS FROM ONE WHO ESCAPED.
A member of the Legislature describes his
fall rs follows:
Il heard 4 low rumbling sound and felt
myself sinking rapidly, l was facing the
gallery and saw ii falling towards me, but
fortunately it did not reach me. | saw men
scrambling over each other in the gallery,
and heard what seemed to be one unearthly
yell of agony, Then came the crash, and |
sank into darkness. I found myself under q
mass Of rubbish with a dead man over me,
wounded man under me, and another at
my Side. The poor fellow under me said,
'Ah me, but ii | only could fear God always
as do now. How wicked l have been all
my days. Oh God forgive me, spare me and
will be a true follower of Jesus The man
at my side exclaimed, Oh DEATH where is
thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory 2
l heard u number of cries all about me- some
speaking about their wives, others Of their
children while others were begging for air
| believe many of them died from sutfocation,
for although but little hurt myself l should
have died from suffocation if l had not been
removed when | was.''
TOUCHING INCIDENTS.
There were many touching incidents con
nected with this catastrophe. Wives in
search of their husbands, sisters in search of
their brothers, and mothers anxionsly inquil-
ing OF every one the whereabouts of their
sons--all with grief on their countenanccs
and despairing looks. 1t was 4 sight to
touch the hardest heart. And as friend met
friend, q hearty thank God Went up, bad as
matters were, that they We're not worse We
saw men q few hours before proud in the
of manly strength, who, when
taken from the wreck within the Hall of Del
egateS, were as helpless rs babes. A few
moments more and they were raving in the
agonies of death. Ofsuch is life. Now men,
women. and children flock to the scene of
disaster from every quarter, and the conven-
tionalities of caste We're forgotten as each in
quired of the other, have you seen my father,
my brother, or my son. There We're brave
men there at work just as brave as ever
faced 4 cannon or charged redoubt. Their
sole purpose seemed to be to see who could
do most to help the wounded and make COM
Portable the last moments of the dying. We
know they care not to have their names pub
liShed, but we saw some whom we will not
forget while memory lasts The situation of
the fallen timbers and the debris from the |
courtroom was such that as they rescued one
sufferer they could hear the piteous means of
y dozen more; and who can tell the agony
this gave them as they toiled on in their sad
work. May God bless them
A Shakespearian scholar comes to the rescue of
the Womail-sutfragists with this quot alton
'FThe imperial vot'ress passed on
In maiden meditation fancy free"
A smart minister in Toledo, within ten months
married couple, baptized the first child, preached
the husbands funeral sermon and married the wild
oW.
DON'T Poison your head with those miserable |
filthy compounds which have done so much mis-
chief, but use NATURES HAIR RESTORATIVE which
cleanscS the scalp restores gray hair, and checks