The New York herald., 1879-09-14
BURIED ALIVE.
Sudden Fall Of a Building in East
Fourteenth Street
PEslLOE POSITION OF THE WORzINGlEN
A Gallant Rescue by the Fire
Brigade.

A loud crash followed by dense cloud Of dust.
was the first inmstion received yesterday afternoon
mat the premises No. 10 East Fourteenth street had
fallen in and buried in the ruins q number Of the
uorkmen. The house had been = fve story brown
stone high stoop private dwelling For the last
month it has been undergoing alterations. with
the view of having the ground hoor occu'
pied store. Half dozen masons
were in the basement repairing the party wall
ut the time of the disaster. Four were buried In
the ruins. and two others and fireman were also
injured by the falling of the bricks and timber In
second an alarm sent out notifying the Police
ana Fire departments of what had happened and
assistance soon arrived. Reserves from the FIT
teenth and Twenty-ninth precincts and Hook and
Ladder companies and II were soon on the spot.
Chiefs Shay ana welhem Immediately put the firemen
to work to remove the fallen bricks and broken beams
SO as to speedy assistance to the unfortunate
men who were known to be beneath the debris. The
task was extremely difficult and tedious. When the
flooring collapsed the heavy beams were wrenched
from the walls tearing away large spaces in the
party wall adjoining. The roof TOO. in its descent
caused damage and left the top of the wall
in Jagged dangerous condition. The wall threatened
TO toppe on heads of the gallant remen beneath
and the corps Of laborers who were assisting them
This danger imminent that at first it
deemed advisable to throw down the topping wall
and thereby escape further accident But do this
would imperil the lives of the poor fellows who
were known be yet alive their voices could be
heard from the depths imploring assistance. In
view of this dilemma it thought best not to
tanper with the overhanging wall. but to go to work
IS expeditiously as possible to succor those who
were imprisoned in the cellar.
now THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED
The masons and the Iaborers had finished their
dinner and had resumed work at half-past twelve P.
N. They had had scatfolding erected in the low
basement and engaged lining the old party wall
with eight inches of brick work. They had hardly
laid brick after dinner hour when a terrible
avalanche of brick and broken timber came tumb-
ling down in sudden crash. The beams directly
their heads torn from the wall and fell in
a slanting position toward the middle of the build
ing, forming partial arch the men, and to this
happy fact they indebted for their lives. The
scafiolding and the workmen were precipitated
into the cellar from the basement floor and re-
manned imprisoned until the superintendent mass
OF brick and mortar. broken beams and JOINTS were
removed allow them to be rescued from
their perilous position. While this was being done
by painfully slow degrees. cry from one OF the
sufferers could be distinctly heard and this led
the rapid and accurate location of several
places in winch they temporarily entombed.
the adjoining building. No. 8. were put to
work to assist the hremen, and all worked
with will and energy which soon produced good
results 1t was ascertained that four men were con-
fined in the ruins-namels, John w. Carroll, thirty
two years of age. residing at Third avenue and Thir
ty-seventh street. John Fisher. twenty-one years
age, OF Seventy-tourth street and First and
John Martin. nineteen years old. of Eighty-fourth
street and Second avenue. Besides these. who were
masons. there John Coffee, laborer.
aged thirty-hve years. Thomas Nee. aged
thirty years. mason, was seated
of the beams of the extension to the building
and was struck by bricks and broken beam. He
was injured about the legs and head and was re-
moved to the New York Hospital. James McGibney
fireman. was thrown from the ground floor to the
supposed was broken by falling brick He was
taken to the New York Hospital. Another of the
masons named Michael Mccormack of No 1884 East
Twenty-fourth street. slig htly injured about the
face and feet He was removed to his residence.
IMPRISONED THE DEBRIS.
In the meantime the work went other points
the towering party wall of the adjoining struc
ture where the other unit ortunates lay. John Fisher
was pinioned in the cellar. near the centre of the
building. Here group of fremen and laborers
congregatcd busily engaged in their endeavors to
dear life and never relaxed their exertons
until the injured man was extricated The beams
had fallen outward from the wall leaving narrow
space where he was confined in which he remained
comparatively uninjured until rescued. He
laseu to the New York Hospital. His companion
J'iin Cofey was in the act OF shouldering his hod
when he caught i'll the ruins. He lay
near an old fue in the centre of the build
ing. and close to where Fisher had been
found. Coney badly wedged between the
beams The side of his head rested on the head of
the hod while the handle was pressed across his
legs. 1t was still a more difficult and tedious task
TO cxtrcate him. For couple of hoHrs he lay
there while the hreInen sawed ava, removing the
timber by sections 1t is thought that mis- injuries
are of serious character. His arm broken. and
IL is feared that he has suffered internal injuries
lie was conveyed to Bellevue Hospital.
The last to be reached and rescued the appren-
tioe boy, John Martin. He lay the sidewalk
under pyramid OF broken beams and bricks. His
injuries considered of a nature, and he
was taken in an ambulance to the hospital.
STATEMENT OF THE CONTRACTORS.
Mcclure Sloan were the carpenters who propped
tho building Mr. Sloan was ON the spot at the time
OF the accident. When questioned 20 the cause
of the mislap he made the folio wing statement:-
we constructed central grder and one row Of
were shored up To the top by Axe beams; that is
that eastern part of the premises which LETT
standing. These beams kept i'll position
by plate the top measuring 4x6. and
also the bottom, to hold up the timbers all the
way along. The brick that came from the old GEN.
tral wall was piled on the floors, and that itself
caused the flooring to be too much weighted. This
old central wall went from the basement to the top
OF the building. and was completely removed. There
was no deficiency in the propping up of the floors.
IL appears to me that the props were undermined
since the Inasons went to work in the cellar The
Inasons, think, must have disturbed the base
lnent sill piece in getting their foundation stone
into place. aad tins doubt caused the props to
settle down and the floors to cave in. There wasn't
Jo1st that wouldn't carry ten times much
~ ihere had not been some tamperng with the
foundation. Besides these IL il now plan to see
that there were but two anchors in the oil wall to
hold the four floors. The old beams, too, had but
four Inches or the depth of ono brick, to hold them
In place. or course these deficiencies could be
nsccrtained while the beams and floors were stand
ing. II was mistake overload the floors with the
weight OF bricks taken from the old central wall,
bnt with this had nothing To do"
Mr. Dudley, superintendent of Buildings, was
equally rcticent and non-committal. lie said:--'I
aoht Know what TO attribute the accident to. /
know that the building was in the hands of two of
the best builders ia the city,
lie also said that the department. would institute
searching inquiry into the OF the disaster.