Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-04
NINn pEnpir nunIrn.

W NNh'NpA'Nt auSs - hS 'A'N
part of the United States hotel, slti-
ated on Pennsylvania avenue, n short
distance west OF the capitol, fell
in without warning this evening
and buried in the ruins number of In
mates. The building has a frontage OF
l25 feet on the avenue and n depth OF u
1875 feet, the rear end opening up on the
alley lending from THIRD to Fourth
and.a-half street. A small portion OF
the rear wall was fret % give way, and
n general collapse O. the whole
rear poItioa Immediately followed,
sepding up great cleui OF dust. a
general lire alarm WAS sounded, which
brought To the scene of the disaster u
number of fire engines and The hook
and ladder com panies aud y force Of
police. There were about forty-iive
persona In the hotel at the time
the disaster occurred, including
the gussts and employees, and II was
impossible ut first 10 ascertain how
many were buried In the mass of de-
bris which occupied the ground upon
which the rear portion Of the building
has stood. Cries and groans could be
heard from the Iuins showing that all
who were there Imprisoned were not
dead. a large force Of men went to
WORK ut once, aud IN the course of ma
hour Earnest Shocks, u HOY II
years of age, aud Annie Dick
son, colorcd b9r-maid, were
taken out. Both were alive
but. badly Injured. In the meantime
IL had been ascertained that the num-
Der OF persons buried In the ruins did
not probably exceed seven, viz Mrs.
BeIden, wife OF the proprietor; Earnest
Shocks, II boy eleven ycnrs OF Rge, son
of II restaurant keeper next door,
aud five colored servants. 1t
II fenned that those who
have not yet been Tescuedl are dend.
Part of the building which fell con-
tanned chiefly tho rooms appropriated
TO the use Of the employees Of lie ho-
tel and IL Is believed that none
Of the quests have been either
killed or Injured. The United States
hotel is one OF the Oldest structures In
the city, aud IT ia said 10 have been for
IA long time IN an unsafe condition.
The barkteper IL reported TO
have made complaint To the
inspector OF buildings some days
ago with regard 10 its condition, the
dangerous cracks In walls having be-
come visible Oh the outside. The por-
ton which fell was erected about
twenty years ago and was five
stories In height.
Mrs. BeldeD, the wife Of the pro-
p'ietor Of the hotel, was rescued alive
Ut II 80 O'Clock, after having been im-
prisoned fonr hours.
She was on the first floor In the back
part OF the building, aud was caught
In u narrow VHhaped space, formed by
a part Of the second floor, resting In a
standing position against the
side wall After the flremeH
and volunteers had worked
two hours digging down Into the
debris from the surface, n force Of
fireTien under Capt. Cr0nin entered
from the front OF the building, against
tho back 0i which the
timbers aud bricks had partly
lodged, and h,arilg the groAns
worked their way lacI by removing
some timbers aud supporting others.
They finally got near enough "
see Mrs. Belden and talk with
her and evidently toa hand
her some water aud whisky.
She WAS not crushed but held down by
her clothes and penned In by
| fallen timbers. jacks were brought
and their weight held up while SAWS
and axes were used 10 cut way %
her. At last the rescuerr got close
enough 10 cut her clothing loose, when
they were enabled u extricats her.
She WAS apparently not severely In
jnred, but very much exhausted, and
| fainted NJ she was carried out.