The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-07-09
THE SYRACUSE HORROR
Scenes and Incidents.

Scenes and Incidents.
The scene which met the ewes d
the reporters beggars description
The ruins within the church bore ter
rible evidence to the destruction anc
death which had been brought upor
those within, while the excited thous-
ands outside could only stand and
gaze at the building. Mothers ran
to and fro, moaning and crying, .sOh.
my poor children! They are dead.
They are dead!" "Where's s my little
girl." "Have you seen my darling
boy?" Men were inquiring in broken
accents for their wives, aud wives
were beseechingly asking for infor-
nation Of their husbands. One man
gazed upon the body of an idolized
girl, and cursed God with terrible
bitterness. "This," he said, sis what
comes Of worshiping God!" Of
course, at such time it was idle 70
demonstrate, and yet some attempted
to reason with him.
A blind woman, Mrs. John Davis.
was on the floor at one Of the tables
when the crash came. She says the
first she knew she went down, down.
Then she heard the people crying
and groaning. People were shout
ing, Sod forgive my sins!" Others
she heard complaining of their injur-
les, saying, "Oh, my back" ~Oh, my
back!" Some one said they won
dered she got out without getting
injured. ''Oh, God did it," she re
piled.
Mr.. J. Page Munvo was at one of
the fower-tables in the southwest
corner of the building. The portion
of the floor on which he stood did not
fall entirely down. He had just ex-
pressed to a lady his belief that the
floor would give way, though he had
no particular reason for thinking SO.
The lady, being somewhat heavy,
said if it fell it would give way where
she stood. Scarcely had she uttered
the words when it went down.
A. J. Davis sat at table with his
little child on his knee. AS the floor
gave way they went down into the
middle of the room. His head was
was bent forward on the table and
held as in wise, while heavy tim
bers pressed against his back and
sides, making it impossible for him
to move, except his right arm. He
was finally released. His little girl
escaped without a scratch. There
were probably not half dozen peo-
pie ON the first floor when the acci-
dent occurred. Several of the chill
dren who were to take part in the
concert bad just dressed and pro
cecded up stairs, and the entire party
were getting ready to pass into the
main auditorium to listen to the con
cert when the catastrophe occurred.
Had the tide of people commenced
flowing toward the auditorium FIVE
minutes earlier the accident nigh,
not have occurred.
The Rev. Mr.. Bowling and his
wife and brother in-law were carried
down with the rest, but all escaped
injury. The Rev. Mr.. Dowling as
SOON as he could reach the street, ran
down Montgomery to East Genesee
street, exclaiming: "Oh, my poor
church people! my poor church! do
go and help them" He went to the
engine house Of No and called up
on the fremen to come to the rescue
Immediately.
Those who went down with the
wreck have different stories to report.
Some say they went down suddenly,
and others report gradual sinking.
The middle Of the floor dropped
first. the joists seeming to give way
at that point Many Of the ends of
the joisis are still in their original
plane from both sides, down which
the people slipped.
One young man named Stancel, as
soon as he jumped out Of the second
story window, proceeded to break in
the first-story glass, through fear that
the people might suffocate.
As fast as the dead were taken out
they were conveyed into one Of the
houses in the vicinity, and there the
most heartrending scenes took place
Father and mothers would come
rushing in, exclaiming:
"Oh! my child! Is my child dead?'
And when they looked on the
corpses Of the little ones and the ter
rible truth dawned upon them, their
grief made eyes unused to tears pour
out rivers of water.
The little Burdick boy, when be-
ing borne to a neighboring residence,
insisted he was not hurt, but
"where is my poor mother? Get her
out; get her out, won't your" Mrs.
Burdick was among the injured.
The little Horton girl was dead
when taken out. As she was taken
through the crowd, he beautiful au
burn hair, falling in ringlets over the
arm of the one who bore her, her ele
giant white clothing, all attracted at
tention, and created the profoundest
sympathy.
One of the ladies lay prone on her
back beneath the double timber sup
porting the floor, fastened inextrica-
bly, for a long time. Strong men
tried to lift the timbers and release
her, but they failed. For full three.
quarters of an hour they labored, and
at last the timbers were sawed of
and the woman released, not danger
onsly injured. Her name was Josie