The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-06-10
THE ALLIANCE CALAMITY.
No One Injured In the Failing Ruins Of
MarOhaad's Opera House.
A Remarkable Accident At which tho
People of Alliance Generally Re-
joioe---Graphio Description
OF the Occurrence.

ALLIANCE, D., June 3..-About 4:0
o'clock yesterday afternoon there was
heard a terrible Graf ng, a rumblinR
SOUND, and a single brick was seen TO
fall from the southeast corner OF the
second story OF MaTchBnd's Opera House.
s0lld four story brick block eighty feet
square, two fqnaTea from this depot, at
The corner OF Main and Fifth streets.
Just ae this fell, your cOrreg DO ldent, who
was but one half square distant from
the building, glanced toward the impos.
Ing structUre. which within one minute
he saw fall In mass OF dusty ruins.
The wall at the sou heas, corner was
the fret to fall; this fell Inward
with u crash, aud men, wo-
men and children passing along
on the sidewalk bagan running and
screaming, BY this time the east and
south walls had fallen, and lastly the
north and west walls Three OF the four
stOrero ms on the first floor we're occu-
pied. The hrst by II, McCOnyille'j shoe
store; second, by q travelling notion
store; third, by l., II. Nogal's stove and
tin store, and the fourth was 10 be &C.
Cuped In few days by an auction
store, In these various store rooms
we're about n dozen people, all OF whom
eacap d The second II lOr was occupied
DR., o. CCleyerly, dentist j. III, John.
aoD, Insurance agent, II. L9uShlln, at
t0Tney AZ law, a reading rO- m aud the
business office II, Q Marchand, manager,
son OF the owner, Mrs. Q. E. Marchand.
MIRACULOUS ESCAPES,
Mr.. Marchand was sitting In his clIice
when he noticed the plastering crack.
lug, Rushing frRntlcally out and down
the front stairway he screamed for
everybody TO run ~ the house was fall
ing, Harvey LAughlin Esq, hearing q
racket struck for the side sta way and
waa descending while bricks oil thick
aud fast all around him, he being the
last to leave the lu'ldlng. W hen he
reached terra lirma he was covered with
dust and no blinded that he cOu hardly
see, The third floor was used 40 the Opera
Hall, while the fourth floor was an attic
and storage place. Telegraph wires In
the rear and telephone and electric
light wires in fr0lt were struck 10 the
ground, Several new coaches for the
South Pacific Railway standing on the
Pittaburg, IT. Wayne u Chicago railroad
In the rerr were / yelled to the ground.
The eaal wall In falling caught two
story frame building just east belong.
Ing 10 william Ewing and occupied by
Jime9 Rickard, grocer, was crushed TO
the ground, The saloon building next
east owned by Mrs, Kock was consldlra.
bly, damaged.
The west wall still stands about two
s,oriCs high and for this reason the
ah0e store and notion store Losses were
small AZ well az Dr. Ceyefly aud II.
Laughlan, whose on jes were IN the
west side. Everything else was entire
ly destroyed. fhe Opera House with its
ilne scenery, furniture aud curtain all
met the same fate.
James Richards grocery store Ia an
entire loas while the tenants above, Mr..
II, Myers and wife lost everything, and
were thankful TO escape with their
livee.
COSTLY STRUCTURE,
The building was erected IN 1868 by
" Crew ut cost Of S75, 900, During
the erection u heavy rain storm serious.
ly affected the walls but they were fixed
IN best they cOn'd and the building
completed, Az different times during
the past ton years architects 4 and build
eia have examined this building aud
pronounced " safe while others did not
consd teo, Within the past few
weeks the east wall had began 10 sag
out and the doors Of the building im-
mediately each closed with difficulty.
Yesterday morning j, I, Wey6recht,
builder aud contractor, examined the
building and Informed Mr. MaTchand
that number Of props aud braces
would be necessary 10 mako the building
aate. These repairs we're " have begun
this morulng, Tuesday evening the
City Board OF Education decided 10 have
their Annual C0mme0cement Exercises
In the Opera Hall on the evening OF
June 2ith Just three weeks from tbo isy
the faIed building fsll Notwithstanding
the earne'l roies.s Of the parents OF
several OF tho gfadusts
II IN indeed singular coincidence
that the building fel bout the aame
time OF day the horrible gas0line explo.
al0n occur Feb Is, 1884 In which
seven lives were l0st, aud stood within
200 feet Of the same SITE
TIE LOSS.
Tho entire loss is estimated at from
thirty 10 forty thousand d0lltrs Mr., ID.
q, Hester, insurance agent, says that In.
euranco policies do not cover these risks
unless the ruins Ike llre, which fortu-
nately for the insurance companies they
did not In less than Ave minutes the
streets In the near vicinity were crowd
cd for blocks with an anxious and eurg
Ing crowd, Anxlonsly lnquirlng Are
they oil outp" "Was any one kllledY
and similar queries, Until late nj night
tho crowd m ved 10 and fro viewing the
large ruins, watching tho movements
OF tho lremen and waiting TO SEQ the
west wall fall, The sound OF the falling
building was heard for over q mile,
The noise, together with the alarm OF
the llre boil, brought many people from
the surrounding country.
uut fnW mOnlha apO lhn ODnrn Hall