Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-03-30

A Remarkable List of Collisions. Fire; and
EXP osions.
THE SINKING OF y petition OFTEE:
CITY OF WILkESEAHRE

| January was remarkable month.
Its fatal and terrific collisions, fires.
ard explosions andt he alarming death
! rate, the list of business failures. and
! the overwhelming series of shocking g
casualties that marked it will make
it memorable for years.
/ The month had just begun when
the news of Gambettas death was
flashed over the wires to all parts of
the world. The mystery that hung
over it, together with the perturba-
ton and excitement it caused III
France, made the event the sensa-
ton of the world for several days.
| On the day that the news of
Frances loss arrived, the President
of the United States stood in the
White House. surrounded by the
wives Of the Cabinet officers. receiv-
ing congratulations from throng OF
callers. The decorations were strik
ingly bright. the uniforms of the
diplomats and soldiers We're brilliant.
the costumes of the ladies were rich.
The band was playing, and the whole
scene was ore of life and animation
Suddenly Elisha Allen, the Hawaiian
Minister, dropped dead near the
threshold of the reception room. The
White House was closed at once, and
the brilliant throng was dismissed.
Three days later came the news of
the spread of disaster and death over
a large part of Europe. The Rhine
and the Danube rose, inundated vii
lagos and towns, washed away bridges.
undermined houses, and spread dis
tress over many miles of territory.
The Rhine dam at Ludwfgshafen
gave way and many people were
drowned The list of the dead along
the Rhine numbered more than
seventy persons. France. Switzer-
land. and Austria also suffered great
| distress
On the following day Gen. Chanzy
died. After Gambetta he could worst
be spared in France. Gambetta was
called the soul, and Chanzy the
sword of resistance to German inva-
sion. 1t was said that the Ger
mans feared Gen. Chanzy as they had
dreaded Skobeleff
On the following day, the 9th of
the month, the Inman line steamer
City of Brussels. as she was nearing
Liverpool i'll dense fog, was run
down by the steamer Kirby Hall
She sank almost Immediately
Fonr days later occurred the ap
pallinS loss of life in the Milwaukee
hotel fire. The hotel was a veritable
death trap. The proprietor of the
hotel became insane The belief was
general that somebody had set fire
to the building. as no less than four
attempts to burn it down had been
made within two years The number
of lives lost was a.
While they We're still digging
bodies out of the Milwaukee ruins
the Planters House, n big hotel in
st. Louis, caught fire. 1t started at
the same hour in the morning rs the
Milwaukee fire, but most of the guests
escaped; three, however. were killed.
On the llth day of the month TO-
600 people We're driven from their
homes in Hungary by the floods.
Many We're drowned. The dykes
around Raab gave way. and the del
uge completely inundated the town.
Great distress still prevails there.
On the l4th occurred frightfnl
fire in circus i'll Russia 1t was in
some respects even more horrifying
than the disaster at Milwaukee.
On the 10Th twenty two successive
earthquake shocks destroyed many
houses and frightened the inhabi
tants of the province of Murcla in
Spain.
On the 18th day of the month the
steamer Josephine left Seattle, W. r.,
and sailed for Skagit River. The
next day, when off Port Susan Bay,
her boiler exploded. Eight persons
were killed and many more were
wounded
On the following day occurred the
great powder explosion in Holland.
The village at Muiden was wrecked.
twelve persons were killed. and
neighboring towns were seriously
damaged.
The same day two awful disasters
occurred The steamship Cimbria
was sunk, and there was frightful
accident on the Southern Pacific
Railroad
California had another accident
that day besides tho railroad horror
The Atlantic Giant Powder Works.
near Oakland, was the scene of five
almost simultaneous explosions.
Nearly forty men were preparing
twentyfiv tons of powder for ship
ment to Portland, Oregon, when the
explosion occurred. The men were
blown to atoms. The shock OF the
explosion was felt seven miles away,
where the people ran from their
houses, thinking it was an earth
quake.
On the same day the ship Vorwarts
was sunk off Libau, and eight persons
were drowned.
The day following witnessed the
death of another famous man i'll
France, Gustave Dore.
The same day three coal trains,
consisting of three engines and sixty
nine cars, became unmanagable on
the Georges Creek and Cumberland
Railroad. near Cumberland, Md. An
engineer. a fireman. and three brake
men were killed, and several others
mortally injured.
The sinking of q considerable por
ton of the city of Wilkesbarre, on the
24th day of the month not only
caused Il panic in that town, but Sc
riously frightened thousands of peo
pie who live in the mining districts.
Nearly one hundred acres Of the
ground on which the city stands
caved in and hundreds of houses
We're unsettled and many rendered
unsafe. The structures must be re-
built, as they are SO badly racked that