The Evening critic., 1881-09-22
A TERRIBLE CRASH,
Fall of Harbour a I7amiIton's New
RuildlnC.

At ten minutes to o'clock this afternoon
tremendous report, similar to that pro-
duced by an explosion, attracted crowds of
people to the vicinity of Sixth street and
Pennsylvania Avenue. The streets for n
few minutes were cnveloped in smoke, and
flrc.alarm was turned in Immediately. A
CRITIC reporter arrived on the scene q
minute later; found the rear of Barbour &
Hamlton's imposing new warehouse in
ruins, and the adjoining horse.shoeing cs-
tablishment on b street almost completely
demolished The cause was the giving way
of the third floor of the grocery warehouse,
carrying hundreds of barrels of flour, the
roof, the walls'and two floors to the ground.
Particulars of the Crash.
few moments after the building fell the
Fire Department arrived on the scene, and
all the available police were ordered TO the
spot.
The details of the accident as gathered
from the best authority, seem to be that
about twenty men, including Messrs. Bar
bour & Hamilton, were in the front part of
the store when IL caved in, and that John
Glasby, the engineer; II. 4. Crcasby, III. 7.
Walter, and three other men were in the
rear portion, which was wrecked.
The front part Of the building was not
seriously damaged. Those in the rear
heard crcaking sound, followed in sec ond
by an avalanche of bricks, bags, boxes and
barrels which came down. The greatest
concern was felt for the six men buried, I'M
til three made their appearance in the front
of the building, creeping out from under the
heavy timbers.
Glasby, the engineer, made known his
whereabouts by calling for help, and was re-
leased from the weight of debris that rested
upon him. He was badly, but not fatally,
scalded, and was the only man seriously in
.ured, rs both Creasby and Walter crept
out II little later, bearing no marks, except
bruises and slight scratches on their arms.
The adjoining blacksmith shop, which
was badly damaged, was that of John Roche,
No. 6I3 street, in the second story of
which the proprietor and two other men
were working. The trio saved themselves
by jumping from the windows to the
covered with 5000 barrels of flour, and the
second floor, which it broke through, con-
tanned boxes Of nearly every class of
groceries.
The damage to the building and stock is
estimated ut 5000. The portion of Bar
bour & Hamilton's which is destroyed
cost alone $4,000.
Barbour & Hamilton have been singu-
larly unfortunate with their storage. When
they were in their former building on
Louisiana avenue they met with similar
loss in precisely the same way. The pres
ent building was occupied September !, only
a few days ago, and now there is a speedy
recurrence of the disaster.
The financial trouble in case ofthis kind
is that no insurance can be collected. There
to Of, Of tltc IN fhn lnce ('nm.
petcnt authorities agree that the building
was overloaded and not able to stand any
thing like the strain imposed on it. Reckon
ing the flour at 1876 pounds to the barrel,
there was a pressure Of $4,000 pounds on
the third floor, q matter of AL tons. 1t is
not surprising that the structure gave way
under such a strain. 1t is rather remark
able that it has stood it so long.
James A. Bingham, q one-armed white
man, was standing on the third floor of Bar
bour & Hamilton's warehouse when it fell,
and was hurled to the ground floor. His
only injury was spraining his back while
creeping out from under the debris.