Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-07-02
The Terrible Accident at Syracuse.


A Syracuse On " dispatch OF June
"a gives the following particulars OF the
| recent accident in that place caused by
the giving way of the Central Baptist
Church building, in which festival was
being held:
The list of killed numbers thirteen.
The number of wounded foots up lOO, oil
| whom twenty are seriously injured.
The occasion of the gathering last night
was a festival given by the ladies OF the
church, and concert by The Little Old
Folks" At the rear of the church are
Sunday-school rooms, occupying the first
floor and the church parlors occupying
the second floor This part OF the edifice
was in use for the festival and concert.
At the time of the accident supper was
being served in the central parlor, which
had been prepared for the occasion with
tables, etc This room, which was forty
feet square, was filled with people, the
session room below being deserted save
by few persons. The number in the
supper-room is variously estimated at
from $50 to 500, mostly grown persons. AT
the time the floor gave way the children
of the congregation were in one OF the ante
rooms, being prepared for the Ancient
Concert" But for this fact the list OF
dead must have been very much larger,
as many of the helpless little ones would
have been crushed to death in the mass
of humanity crowded into the ""
shaped vortex formed by the falling tim.
beers. At the moment of the falling of
the floor the scene within the parlor was
one of happy enjoyment. While all
were pleasantly engaged, without a single
sign of warning, the floor suddenly sank
beneath them, and in an instant all were
buried in mass of struggling humanity,
intermixed with falling timbers, furniture,
etc, and in utter darkness, the gas hav.
ing been extinguished by the breaking OF
the gas pipes. An instant after the fear
full descent had been made, all was silent
as the grave, but Immediately after heart
rending appeals for help were to be
heard from hundreds of those who were
in agony. Immediately after persons
were seen issuing from the doors and
windows, which were smashed out by
frightened people, and an alarm was
sounded The uninjured within the
church who were able to free themselves
from the mass began at once to assist in
rescuing others. The firemen and police
were quickly at hand, and labored nobly
in the work of rescue.
The scene within the building was ter
rible in its details, and that without the
edifice heartrending indeed. Fathers
and mothers searching for their children,
husbands looking for wives, wives in
curing for husbands, brothers for Sis
tiers, and children for their parents, OF
whose fate all were uncertain and in
dread Quickly and rapidly the work of
extricating the people was carried on by
aid of lanterns. AS fast as the living
and dead were rescued they were passed
out through the windows and doors,
where ready hands assisted to convey
the dangerously injured and dead to the
physicians offices and neighboring
houses.
The excitement without the church
was terrible, and as each body was being
carried to adjoining houses the mass
surged back and forth, all terribly anx-
ious to ascertain who it was and whether
dead or alive. At the height of the ex-
element not less than 10000 people
were crowded into Montgomery and JEFF
ferson streets and in adjoining premises.
The floor which fell was suspended by
iron rods from wooden truss under the
roof These rods went through the
lower, but not through the upper chord
of the truss. The lower chord had been
spliced the wrong side up, and that
side was the first to give way. The floor
having no props beneath it, sunk in the
form of letter " The most of the
deaths were caused by falling timbers of
the truss; some, however, were smoth-
cred by plastering. The floors of the
church were supported originally by the
pillars. A short time ago the Church
Building Committee, with the consent, as
they say, of the architect, removed the
iron pillars. The truss was very imper-
fectly constructed, besides being spliced.
The most prominent builders in the city
| declare that it was rotten. 1t was put in
green, and has the dry rot.