St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-06-26
Terrible Catastrophe
SCORE OF PERSONS KILLED AND, l0l
SERIOUSLY INJURID, nbn'


SERIOUSLY ISJTRLD, H"h'
An appalling catastrophe occurred at
syracuse y. y. last Tuesday, evening,
while strawberry festival was being
held in the parlors OF the Central b. 9
fist church. Suddenly, without any
prcmoniri"n. the floor gave way about
half-pa>t . o'clock. precipitating aroorn-
full of people into the story below.
The paIlor was on the second floor. and
the rooms underneath were also full of
people. The tire-llarm was immediate
~ sounded. and the tircmcn and citizens
hurried to the scene and the work of
rc>cuing the dead and wounded began.
Some twenty dead bodies We're taken
ont of the ruins. many of them being
children under ID. The number of in
iurcd will probably reach 100. Among
III" injured are Rev. George I. Bowling.
pastor of the church. dangerously. and
his wife. who is not expected to live {:
also Mrs. DIR. Wainwright. who will
undoubtedly die eN-Aldcrman Austin
Barnes. very seriously: and Rev. DIR.
ii. j. Eddy, slightly. The scene in TIN"
streets around the church battles de
Scription. Thousands gathered there
asking after friends. waiting for the
dead and attending To the injured. The
entire police force and the fire depart
ment took charge of the work of re
covering the dead and wounded. The
broken timhcrS were hoisted up with
difficulty. The walls of the church did
not fall III. but are seriously damaged.
The church waS comparatively Il new
one. The accident WAS caused by the
giving way of Il .iuiSt that supported
the iloor. The .ioist ran from both sides
OF the room to Il cross stringer. the
middle of which WAS supported by iron
rods from the roof The strin@cr gave
way. pulling the ceiling and roof down
upon the people and precipitating them
into the room below. \ few minutes
before the floor gave way it tremhcd
so that many persons left the room fear
Ing the accident, which had been pre-
dictcd 10y many. II. y. White was the
architect of the building and Dickinson
\ Coleman did the carpenter work.
The work of recovering the bodies WAS
exceedingly slow us it had to he done
in the dark and it was feared, every
moment. the walls would fall in.
pounds was rolled upon tn, track OF
the New York. New Haven and Spring
field railroad. short distance east ol
the depot at Greenwich. on Friday
night. with the design of wrecking the
10 passenger train from New York
but the obstruction was passed without
much harm. Before the go train ar
rived, however, the rock was rolled to
the center of the track, aud the engine
striking it in the middle. broke it quite
in two, throwing one piece over the en-
bankment and carrying the other, a few
rods on. to the bridge, through which
it crashed to the waters below. The
engine was disabled, and it is marvel
Gus that the whole train was not wreck
ed. If it had gone from the track. il
would have rolled down an embark
ment covered with jagged rocks. Three
men have been arrested as the perpe
traitors of the crime.
THE GREATEST WALKING FEAT on
RECoRD.-Edward Mullen, the Boston
pedestrian, succeeded at New York
Monday. in making lis miles in ,:
hours. twelve minutes and II seconds
heating Weston's time by five minutes
When the great feat was accomplished
Mullen entirely gave way, and had tC
be led from the ring by his hackers.
W. F. Spalding, late of the Boston
Commercial Bulletin, is to he the ed
itor of the Boston News.