Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-04-29
charge of the grounds was left at a later
hour to the three watchmen who are on
duty regularly all night on the grounds.
THE COLISEUM AS 1T STOOD

duty regularly all night on the grounds I
THE COLISEUM AS IT STOOD.
10 get an accurate idea of the disas-
ter it will be well to state the exact con-
ditlon of the work when the gale struck
it. The southern wall and towers had
been so far advanced as to form an al
most complete section, the roofs having
been placed upon the minor towers, and
the roofing laid up to the central tower
on either side The feet of the trusses
had been drawn in powerful purchases
to the positions which they were design
ed to occupy, and the roofing was COM
plete from either end up to distance of
sixty feet. The purlines were much fur
Their advanced, and few hours would
have seen the front and first section of the
Coliseum so closely connected as to insure
increased support for the remaining trus-
ses. The truss of itself was of sufficient
strength to uphold ten times the weight
which would have been placed upon it,
but the position of the building was
such as to expose it to the full force of
the gale, before which it went down.
The square of the plan was laid across
the compass in such manner that the
wind, blowing from the southwest, struck
directly upon the face of the wall, which
had been boarded up to the top of the
towers, and exposed an immense surface
to the strong gale. The theory advanc-
ed by competent judges is that the tow
ers and kfty frame work first gave way,
depriving the truss of the support upon
which it relied.
THE DOWNFALL.
The fall of the structure is described
by an eyewitness to have been grand
and startling one. The wind was blow
ing a miniature hurricane, and the air
was filed with clouds of dust and sand,
with which that territory is peculiarly
gifted. So violent was the wind that
some of the boards were lifted from the
pile on which they lay and blown over
the fence beside the railroad track a
distance of several feet The southern
wall Of the building was just the right
thing for the gale to sport with, and the
battle was sharp one between the ele-
ments and the strength of mechanical
appliances. The gigantic arch, stand
ing one hundred and fifty feet from the
ground, and weighing forty tons, sway
ed and bent in the blast. It's support
was undouhtly the cause of its downfall
strange as it may seem.
The gale was good old-fashioned
sou wester, and the southern wall unfor-
tunately stood exactly in its way. 1t
made an heroic resistance, and fought
for life bravely. The elements were too
much, however, and the gigantic mass
was thrown down with a crash which
fairly shook the whole surrounding ter
ritory, and, as before stated, with noise
resembling thunder, which was heard in
nearly every part of the city. The wall
was forced in first by the wind, and by
, its fall dragged the enormous trnss with
it, The great arch tottered and toppled
falling with an almost majestic sweep
and crushing like pipe stems the smaller
timbers and boards of the southern wall
upon which it fell.
AS the arch came down it parted al
most in the centre. and the broken ends
shot past each other so that they art
projected as they lie in the ruins proba
bly, thirty feet past each other. Tn,
fall was so complete that the pile o
ruins as it lies is at no point over TWEEN
ty feet high and the boards are splinter
ed and broken like reeds. The wall fel
with the wind and lies with its tol
toward the northeast, while the trus
fell toward the gale and lies with it
top toward the southwest.
THE COLISEUM AS IT Is.
> 1t is evident that it was pulled dow
by the falling of the wall, otherwise i
; would naturally have gone to the north
AS the truss fell the outer ends of eac
base rose in the air at right angles, tn
inner ends being held in position by tn
strong chain and cordage which was EN-
ployed to prevent the truss from spread
ing. The tall derricks, six in number
with but one exception, stood upright /
! the midst of the general wreck. Til
one, situated on the extreme right of th
circle fell inward and mixed its tack
with the debris of the truss and tower
The tall masts, which but yesterda
were awaiting the movement to raise
second truss, now stand as sentine
, over the ruins of their former triumph
The one which went down with the gel
. eral wreck fell inward upon the tru
and tower, and while some of the gu,
= and purchases were slackened to a loos
ness, others were stretched to their u
: most tension.
Amid the darkness which envelope
: the entangled mass of trestle-work. scan
: lings and boards, hundreds of interest,
- ~ parties clambered over the huge mass
: broken timber some with lanterns, al
: others without light, tripping over t
= entangled cordage, and blindly gropil
their way among the trusses which v