Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-05-16
No. 49,.
Fall Of the New Court House "a
Rockford.

ROCKFORD, ILL.,, May 11.-Thv
Winnebago county court house, which
this morning, when our citizens con.
menced their days labor, was th,-
pride of their hearts, is now desolats
ruin, monument Of criminal incom-
potency. Some families which bad,
adieu to their loved ones this morning
received their corpses tonight, disfy
ured by the ruins from which the,
were drawn piecemeal. The bui1din-
was not yet under roof, and the mas
i've stone cornice which proceeded tn
roof was to-day being put on. Just e
the keystone was being placed 10 sh..
dome of the main pavilion, the brick
work between the iron and stone gave
way, and the entire dome and the inte-
or walls of the structure came crunb-
ling down with a terrible crash thu
was heard nearly mile away.
The accident happened at exactl,
IL 80 A. M. to-day. The whole macs
i've stone top of the dome fell with q
terrific crash toward State street. A
man named Timothy Flanagan, WIN
was just putting in the keystone of the
fual cornice, jumped for the guy rope
of the big derrick in front, but missing
his aim, fell the distance of 100 feet t..
the earth, and was dashed to pieces
At this time but few persons were
upon the scene. The mass Of humar
beings, with the exception of four on
FIVE who jumped from the windows
tell inside the tottering walls, and wer..
buried in the debris The whole stuc,-
ure looked as though it would fall. and
those assembled were appalled, anu
knew not what to do. To go neas
enough the structure to rescue thoss,
mangled and bleeding in the ruins t1as
hazardous in the extreme, but brav.
men went fearless!y to work before thr
dust cleared away, and commenced t.
extricate the dead aud dying.
Clergymen have arranged for a
union meeting on Sunday evening t.
hold memorial service A subscrip-
ton for the relief of families of the
wounded and dead will be started. Il
is believed that at least ten or twelvs-
lives have been lost, and that about
fourteen persons arc more or less in
jured. The loss to the building vii;
be $4,000 to $4,000. The entirr
front must come down to the frieze.
and the plans will probably be rear
ranged. Supt. Latham lays the blame
on the architect Gay. whose instrur-
tions were followed implicitly. Rich
ardson will not talk about the matter.
The paper tonight places the blame
upon different shoulders.
CHICAGO; May l2.-Architect Gay.
who designed the Rockford. ILL.,. court
house which fell yesterday, left last
night for Rock ford, in response to tsl
egrams sent him by officials there, anu
his statement cannot be obtained
The papers however are publishing ar
counts of mishaps to Chicago building,
of which he has been the architect,
and they make formidable list
Prominent architects express great
doubt as to his fitness to make plans
and specifications. The feeling both
here and in Rockford seems to be thar
Contractor Richardson is comparative
ly blameless, he having at his own ex-
pense placed strong works in what he
considered weak places, and having
pleaded with the building committee
for stronger material, but in vain.
The workmen were largely from
Springfield, Richardson having taken
them from that city with him.