Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-07-01
A Terrible Catastrophe.

strawberry festival was being held IN The
parlors Of the Central Baptist church.
Suddenly, without any %premonition, the
floor gave way about half-past 0 o'clock
precipitatiug a rOOm-fnll Of people Into the
story below. The parlor was on the sec-
oud floor and the rooms underneath were
also full Of PEOPLE. The fire-alarm was
Immediately sounded, aud the fremen and
citizens hurried TO the scene TILL soon full
@, 900 people were on the ground, and
the work of rescuing the dead aud wound
ed began. The following dead bodies
we're recovered ; DR.. 0. Il. wainwright,
Miss Minnie Thomas, a child named Os-
trander about nine years old, a little girl
named Leonard, a little girl named Hut
ton, Mrs. Theodore Holmes aud Miss
Grace Holmes, a little girl named Winnie
Collins aged IA, Frank Collins aged IA,
Mrs. Il. Austin Barnes, Mrs. james Nj.
Grow, Mrs.J. II. Karr, Miss Gussie Car.
penter, Mrs. Abijah Veheer OF Utica f;
Hattie Leonard, five or six years old j.
Austin, j, Horton, aged II. The num-
Der Of injured will probably reach 100.
Among the injured are Rev. George 7.
Bowling, pastor of the church, dangerous.
", and his wife, who is not expected to
live !; also Mrs. DR.. wainwright, who will
undoubtedly die ex.Alderman Austin
Barnes, very seriously /; and Rev. DR.. IL.
j. Eddy, slightly. The scene in the
streets around the church battles dcscrip-
ton. Thousands gathered there asking
after friends, waiting for the dead aud at
tending to the injured. The entire police
force aud the fire department took charge
of the work Of recovering the dead aud
wounded. The broken timbers were hoist
ed up with difficulty. The walls of the
church did not fall in, but are seriously
damaged. The church was compare.
lively a new one. The accident was
caused by the giving way Ola joist that
supported the floor. The joist ran from
both sides of the room TO a cross striDgor,
the middle Of which was supported by iron
rods from the roof. The strlDger gave
way, pulling the ceiling and roof down
upon the people and preeipitating them
into the room below. A few minutes be-
fore the floor gave way 1t trembled so that
many persons left the room fearing the ac-
cident which had been predicted by many /;
Il. N. White was the architect of the
building and Dickinson & Coleman did
the carpenter work. The work Of rccov-
ering the bodies was exceedingly slow as
it mad to be done in the dark aud it was
feared, every moment, the walls would
fall III.
LATER.-Further search Wednesday
morning in The debris of the central Bap-
tist. church disaster failed to find any more
bodies. The list of killed numbered IS
Tuesday night Of last week. The list IS
correct except in the case Of the reported
death Of the boy Ostrander. The number
Of wounded ioots up 100, Of whom 20 are
seriously injured. There have been no
deaths since. The occasion Of the gather
ing on Tuesday night of last week was a
festival given by the ladies of the church
and a concert by the little and old folks.
At the rear of the church are the Sunday
school rooms occupying the first floor and
the church parlors occupying the second
floor. This part Of the cdifce was in use
for the festival and concert at the time Of
the accident with the tables, etc. The
room was 40 feet square, was filed with
people, the session room below being de-
serted save by a fewipersons. The num-
Der in the upper rooms is variously esti-
mated at from $50 TO 500, mostly all
grown persons.
At the time the floor gave way the
children Of the congregation were in. one
of the aDte-rooms, being prepared for
the Ancient Concert. But for this fact
alone the list Of the dead must have been
very much larger, as many Of the help.
less little ones would have been crushed
to death in the mass ofhumanity crowded
into the V shaped vortex formed by the
falling floor. AT the moment Of the fall
ing Of the floor the scene within the par
Tor was one Of happy enjoyment; and
while all were pleasantly engaged, with
out a single sign of warning,the floor sud-
denly sank beneath them, and in an instant
a happy throng found themselves buried in
a mass of struggling humanity, inter-
spersed with falling timbers, furniture,
etc 10 utter darkness, The gas having
been c~xtiDguished by the breaking Of the
gas pipe,
La. the descent, the floor was accompa-
MED with . terrible crushing Of timbcrs
and from the endangered human beings
went terrible cries for aid. For an in
slant after the fearful descent had been
mndc. all was as Silent as The crave. but