McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1885-05-14
FALL OF Il GREAT BUILDING.

In Which Fice Hundred Men and Women.
Here at Worls--FrightM List of Fatalities.
A fearful catastrophe occurred in Brooklyn
on Tuesday. Two houses, IS and 81 Atlantic
street, fell with a crash. The Abbott build
ings, on State street, which are let out for
manufacturing purposes, together with the
building In the rear, were destroyed. The
rear building was undergoing repairs and was
on props. The under girders gave way, when
the entire structure collapsed, burying the
workmen beneath the ruins. Fire was then
communicated with the front of the buildings
and despite the efforts of the firemen, were
destroyed.
People, on looking up the street, saw that
the roof of the building and portions of the
walls had fallen in. They could hear screams
OF people injured and it seemed but moment
when volume of smoke rolled up, showing
that the building had taken fire. Hundreds of
people, men, women and girls, were at work
at the various branches of business carried on
in the building, which covers considerable
ground, having wings which extend through
Atlantic avenue to State street. A soon as the
accident had happened those employed in the
building endeavored to make their escape, and
some who were last to reach the street ap-
peared with faces begrimed and streaming
with blood from wounds received from falling
timbers. 1t was reported at first that one
hundred girls employed on the top floor in
Haynes boiling works had been killed by the
falling roof, but it is now known that most
of them made their escape by climbing on the
roof of tenement houses adjoining. The
building was occupied by twenty small manu-
factories, and there were about 500 men and
women employed therein. The building was
five stories high and was erected twenty seven
years ago. The woodwork burned like tin
der. When the firemen arrived they found
many young women at the windows screaming
for help, their retreat being cut off The fire.
men quickly ran up ladders, but the girls were
hemmed in and many fell back into the flames
before help could reach them. 1t was ascer-
tanned that the engineer of the factory, D. j.
Lowry, was one of the victims, and was killed
by the falling of the left wall on the middle
wing, on Atlantic avenue. The cause of the
fire was the overtHrning of the boilers of
soap factory on the second floor. The west
wall of the middle wing on Atlantic avenue
had settled and workmen were securing it up
with jacks. The middle jack had been
screwed up too tight and was lowered, caus-
ing the whole weight to come upon two jacks
at the ends, and the building fell with crash,
thus upsetting the soap boilers and causing
the building to catch fire from the fuel beneath
them.
Milo Hine, who occupied the top floor for
the manufacture of buttons, says: cat
O'Clock | was in my room directing the work
of my employees of whom there were forty,
mostly women. The first we heard of the ac-
cident was when we heard crash and this
was followed by part of the flooring giving
way. In one of the corners of my room there
was ladder leading to the roof and all the
employees made rush for 1t. There was
panic among the women for time and two or
three of them tainted, but the foreman soon
succeeded in restoring order and then in sim
gle file, they climbed the ladder and gained
the roof. The ladies marched out in good Or
der and gained the roof of the ad Joining build
ing which was not injured, and reached the
street by descending the fre-escapes."
The insurance on the property destroyed is
about $500, 900, while the damage will aggre-
gate at least $3.50, coo. At 80 p. m. fifty en-
ployes of the board of city works arrived on
the scene and were Immediately set to work by
Commissioner Poillon searching for the miss
ing:
and missing: An unknown man, charred be-
yond recognition, supposed to be Daniel j.
Lowrey engineer in the button factory. I'm
known man, horribly burned and no possibl-
ity of Identification Trunk Of person, not
known whether male or female; the fire had
burned away all the outer coatings, leaving
the vital organs exposed, while the limbs were
gone and only the trunk and fleshess skeleton
remained Missing-Conrad Brealing, Jr.,
aged %, of Dutchldll l.. l.; Edward Butler,
aged 70, OIL NO Ol AllauIic dNtuut, w llIdm
Clark, aged 40, residence unknown; Henry
Durse, aged Sc, of 81 Marion street, N. Y;
Fritz Egger, aged 81, residence unknown;
Henry Haffner, aged 40, of 1875 Graham ave-
nue.; - johnson, residence unknown; Dave
Lowrey, aged so, of 55 Atlantic avenue;
Adulph Maths. aged 26, of No. 372 Hicks
street; John McGeath aged IS, of No, PA
Bond street: Benjamin Moore, aged 80, of 752
Madison street; Gus, boy in tin shop, resi-
dence unknown; Pfaff, Jr., residence I'M
known; j. Peters, residence unknown; Ma
mic Feeley, of No. 139 Bergen street; Rose
Flinton, of Warren street, near Hoyt; Annie
Higgins, residence unknown; Mary McGrath,
residence unknown; Aggie Downs, residence
unknown: Mamie Riley, residence unknown;
Katie McKeon, residence unknown; Thomas
Dorner, aged IA, No. 2S1 Navy street: Gus
tave Lung, aged 20, No. 2S5 Pacific street;
VIM Legge, aged 49, residence unknown; Jas.
Carpenter, ag No. 214, Graham street. In
jured-Patrick Dougherty, Of hook and ladder
struck No. /, was burned about the face and
head and received q bad cut on the head;
James Fay, fireman Of engine company No. 5,
is probably fatally hurt; Elma Haas, slightly