The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-02-14
THE LOSS OF LIFE.
AT CINCINNATI.
Falling of the Southern Depot-An Unknown
Number of Lives Lost


Falling of the Southern Depot-An Unknown
Number of Lives Lost.
CINCINNATI, Feb. 13.-A shocking disaster
is reported by telephone from the western
part of the city. Both the freight and pas
senger depots of the Cincinnati Southern
railroad were undermined and fell into the
surrounding water, carrying with them one
hundred or more people. The depots were
one-story frame structures, resting on the
McLean-avenue fill, which was almost COW
cred by water Both sides fell in water thirty
TO fifty feet deep The earth had become so
soaked as to melt, and the catastrophe was
further hastened by the breaking of a sewer,
which sent current along the bank
Crowds of people have been in that vicinity
looking at the floods, and it Is supposed these
are the victims.
1t is impossible to tell the extent of the
disaster at the Southern railroad depot. Only
the freight depot went down. A great crowd
of people was congregated there, looking at
the food, when Ryan's restaurant, a
small building near by, went
down. The crowd rushed over on the plat
form of the depot to see what was the mat
ter, when suddenly the whole depot collapsed
and sank in the water. The track was at the
same time depressed, and q number of
cars standing close by ran into the depres-
sion, covering the people who had gone
down with the falling structure Not one
body had been found at l o'clock, nor could
the bystanders give any intelligent account
Of how many escaped. The work of recover
ing the dxpwned will be exceedingly diff
cult, as the place is isolated, with danger Of
other parts of the street melting as this por-
ton did. 1t is possible however, that the
break in the great sewer in Mclean avenue
caused the depot to sink.
Later information makes it definite that
three boys, two freight handlers and four
members of Coup's circus are drowned.
No bodies have yet been recovered The
names of the members OF Coup's circus re-
ported missing are Harry Cordorie, of Eng
land; Miss Fanny Reindolf, of New York;
William F. Franklin, William G. Matthews,
of St. Louis.
The baggagemaster says he heard a rushing
noise when Ryan's saloon went down, and
hurried round and saw the depot give way.
Heis sure that at least fifty people were
thrown in the water. 1t now appears certain
that the disaster was caused by the breaking
of the great sewer. Twenty-Five feet of one
end of the freight depot are gone, the latter
being separated at partition between the
waiting-room and the ticket Office The
books, tickets, safe, etc., were gone in an in
stant
There is strong ground for hope that the
disaster at the Southern railroad depot
was not attended with so great loss
of life as reported. The matter has
been very carefully investigated, and
but for the positive statement of one man
it would be difficult to say that any lives
were lost at all. That man is a baggage
master. He says great number of
people were on the platform of
the depot, and he thinks that at
least twenty-five went down in the water.
This statement and opinion he repeats; all
others present say they saw no one
in the water, and believe none were lost;
but they all admit that there was great
alarm and hurried flights, so that people
might have been engulfed and not seen by
those fleeing. Lothman, the cashier,
had sufficient warning to en-
able him to secure $1,000 cash, but
not enough to save all the money in the safe.