Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-08-08
A FEARFUL CRASH!
The Basford and Jones Block COllapses!i

A FEARFUL CRASH!
The Basford and Jones Block Collapses!l
There she goes, the Basford building"
was the cry from all sides when dull
hurting sound, followed by loud crash,
startled the people on our streets last Mon
day afternoon at two o'clock. The dense
cloud of dust which Immediately arose
over that corner proved the truth of the
cry and before it cleared away, crowd
had gathered about it, and several had
rushed into the binding pulverized plas-
ter upon the ruins to ascertain whether
there were any wounded or dead to be
taken from the wreck. p B. Basford was
pulled from under pile of loose brick
and mortar, and removed to Dorr s. Void s
drug store. He was stunned by his fall
to the ground while trying to escape the
topping wall, and his lower limbs were
bruised by the brick which caught him
but no serious injury was discovered, and
the good old man was soon able to 90
home No others were hurt by the falling
building and when it was known that
none were killed an audible thrill of graf
itude ran through the assembled hundreds
of anxious, fearful men and women.
Sure enough, the large double brick
building, which stood on the corner of
Main and Bridge streets, diagonally
across from the First National Bank, and
which was owned by p. B. Basford and
Ira Jones, was heap of ruins. 1t had
dropped right down into itself, as If
weary of its long tottering existence, and
there it lay at rest, fine illustration of
the ceaseless action of gravitation, and
of the futility of building on aught but
the best foundations. Indeed, the wall
which fell outward fell so perpendicularly
that the debris did not extend far into the
street. A small portion of the south wall
against which A. II. Hills store had been
built, remained standing; but only be-
cause of the support which the wreck
gave It,. The west end of Rasford's
building, which was occupied by Chas.
Wilton in the -four trade, and which
formed sort of an ell or addition to the
main structure, kept Its position 1t is
strange why it did not go with the rest
and it might as well have done so, for it
was Immediately declared a nuisance by
the Mayor and ordered to be removed as
soon as practicable. And this was done
the next day.
The work of clearing away the debris
and taking out goods, books and furniture
was Immediately begun under the super
vision of Joe Adams and NJ. Becker. A
Large number of men and boys were soon
engaged in drawing away portions Of the
mcnts of lumber Every one seemed
willing to lend helping hand to save as
much as possible from the shower which
the cloudy sky promised before morning.
Night brought no cessation of labor.
Lanterns were provided and the work
went on. From time to time the laborers
were supplied with coffee and lemonade
by the ladies, and Leslie, the confectionery
Nature withheld the shower so much
feared and everything worth saving was
removed to secure places.
These buildings, standing on prom
inent business corner, were desirable
locations, and were in demand, even though
not regarded perfectly safe and in good
condition.
J. Solner occupied the first story of
Basford's building, and had it filled with
a large stock of dry goods of the value of
$12, 900 or SIS, OOO The second story
contained a number of rooms. The first
was the law Office of Lyman D. Baird, the
second the editorial room of Fl. o. Bas-
ford, and the others had been used as liv-
ing rooms, but were vacated at the time
of the fall.
The third story was the Register print
ing office. This Office was we'll filled with
type, cases, and presses. In the back
part stood the Potter cylinder press, q
Gordon job press, new steam boiler and
engine for running the same, and other
machinery.
The first story of Ira Jones' building
was used by himself as store-room, and
it contained stock of stoves:
The front room of the second story was
occupied by Judge Allen who used it as 4
law office and Probate court room, and
kept there the Probate records and also
by Supt. Beldcn as county superlnten-
dents Office.
The remainder Of this story was ware
room and tin shop, and contained nothing
of value at the time of the catastrophe.
The third story was the Masonic Hall.
This hall was one of the neatest and
cosiest in the state. 1t was handsomely
papered, we'll supplied with nice, substan-
tial furniture, and contained a good
organ.
The cause of the catastrophe is no mys.
terry. 1t has long been known that the
foundations were imperfect, and repairs
have been made from time to time In
deed MI. Jones and MIR. Basford were both
arranging to put in fine plate glass fronts,
and to make thousand dollars worth of
general repairs. Monday morning it was
discovered that a portion of the center
foundation wall had fallen away. and
warning was at once given to all occu.
pants of the buildings. During the fore
noon there was a creaking sound heard,
and small bits of plastering were con-
stantly falling. At noon it was certain
that the block was settling, and crew
of men were Immediately set to work
snoring itup, and this they were doing
when it laid down for good and all. It
seems presidential. to say the least, that
such timely warning was given, aud, no
lives lost. Had it fallen on the day of
the cyclone, or on circus day, when it
was filled with spectators of the parade,
or on any day, without any warning, no
one can say just how many would have
been buried in the ruins. It is quite pro-
bable that the disaster was fastened Mon
day by the jar Of the steam press which
was running in the forenoon. As it was
there were several narrow escapes. One
of Solners clerks ran out of the store
when the building was falling Hatred
Olson, Ira Jones, and one or two others,
had been out scarcely minute, Had
Judge: Allen been attempting TO save the
records Of his Office as he was advised to
do, he would have undoubtedly been
caught. His ommendable prudence saw.
ed him. TO turn to the humorous side,
it is now certain that the Masons' goat
escaped, While the ruins were being
overhauled, large crowd of boys and
women watched. for the appearance Of
that goat. and for the mysteries Of the
order but the goat did not appear, and
the mysteries were spirited away by the
hand looking after the contents Of the be