Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-02
The Accident at Syracuse, n. Y.

A Syracuse On. y 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 100, of
whom twenty are seriously injured.
The occasion Of the gathering last night
was a festival given by the ladies of the
church. and a concert by The Little
! Old Folks" At the rear of the church
are Sunday-school rooms, occupying the
! first floor, and the church parlOrs, occupy
! ing the second floor. This part of the
! edifce 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 be-
| ing deserted save by few persons. The
number in the supper-rOom is. variously
estimated at from $50 to 800, 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
bers. 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 sin
gle sign Of warning, the floor suddenly
sank beneath them, and in an instant all
were buried in mass of struggling hui
mainly, intermixed with falling timbers,
furniture, etc, and in utter darkness, the
gas having been extinguished by the
breaking of the gas pipes. An instant
after the fearful descent had been made
all was silent as the grave, but immedi-
ately 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 fremen and police
were quickly on 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 heart-rending indeed. Fathers
and mothers searching for their children,
husbands looking for wives, wives in
quiring for husbands, brothers for sisters,
and children for their parents, Of whose
fate all were uncertain and in dread.
Quickly and rapidly the work of eXtri-
eating 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 dam
gerously injured and dead to the physi-
clans offices and neighboring houses.
The excitement without the church
was terrible, and as the bodies were being
carried to adjoining houses the mass
surged back and forth, all terribly anxious
to ascertain who they were and whether
dead or alive. At the height of the eX-
element not less than 10000 people were
crowded into Montgomery and Jeffer-
son streets and in adjoining premises.
The floor which fell was suspended by
iron rods from a wooden truss under the
roof. These rods went through the low
er, 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 hav
ing no props beneath it sunk in the form
of a letter Y. The most of the deaths
were caused by falling timbers of the
truss; some, however, were smothered 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 imperfectly con-
structed, besides being spliced:: The most
that It was rotten. It was put in green,
and has the dry rot.