Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-29

While the Festivities Around the Christ
mas Trees We're ut Their Height the
Floor OF the Church Gives way and
Precipitases the Occupants Into the
CelIar-Narrow Escape from a Holo-
eaust.
Monday night win be one long TO be re-
membered in C~entervIile. It will be re-
membered hereafter as an occasion for es-
pecisl Thanksgiving. The people there
were spared the spectacle Of an awful holo-
caust which might have been as bad as any
recorded in the annals oil public
edifces coming TO grief while filed
with people. There were the
incidents which on other occasions have
made scenes Of horror that ono shndders
to read. There was an edifce crowded so
that people could hardly move; there was
q collapse Of the floor with many people,
men,, women aud children thrown into q
vortex, as it were. in frantic fear; there
was q lighted stove in the same building
to fall into the vortex and scatter it's Goals
on infammable substances, and to com
piete the holocaust.
Happily the people OF Centerville were
spared this horror, and they have this
additional reason for joy and gladness
this blessed Christmas morn that all who
were there are alive and well, with nothing
but a fright and a few scratches and
bruises to remind them of their narrow
escat. e from an awful death.
1t was q happy crowd that poured into
The Methodist church on the hill last
evening to participate in the festivities
attendant ON the distribution by Santa
Claus IN person of an abundanc Of pres.
ents which that distinguished and ubiqui-
tous individual had provided for
the worthy scholars OF the Sunday
school. They filled every seat and
stood on every inch OF standing room and
even filled the entry out into the wintry
street without. Every one present looked
forward to a pleasant evening, for the con-
ditions were there, particularly the pros
pect OF witnessing the happiness OF the
children, which in itself ia pleasure enough
foc any good man or woman. There wal
fun in store for it vas knOwn-to the initi-
ated, who gave it away to everyone else
that Santa Claus was going to excel himself
this year and be funnier and
fuller OF jokes than ever. The majority
Of the population of Centerville is English
and dear old Santa Claus is most essen
italy a creation OF the Fatherland; but the
idea is SO thoroughly human and IN &C.
cordance with the time-honored English
idea OF Christmas and it's belongings that
he has been adopted into the English cal
enaar OF saints as completely as Saint
Thomas q Beckett. And when he ap-
peared ia his shaggy coat and white, fluffy
crown of hair, he looked the picture of
what every child in the audience ha been
taught to believe him from infancy.
He began to crack his jokes as soon as he
appeared, and got off q set Of rhymes on
certain boys and girls who had been
spooney on each other, and who were
there that evening. Every body had
laughed at the cute old rogue who was 80
well posted in local matters, and arrange
great business OF the evening, the distribu-
ton of presents, when an ominous eound
struck terror into all.
1t was about aquarter past 8. The lower
end of the church foor is laid over a cellar
about eight feet deep. Up by the pulpit,
where the two Christmas trees and the
stove stood, the floor is laid on the ground.
A cracking sound broke the universal har-
monya and the floor over the cellar began
to sink into it, letting it's unusual weight OF
human beings down. Seats, people
and all slid into the vortex
and an appalling series OF shrieks
and yells changed the scene OF happiness
and mirth into one of horror. Fortu-
nately the stove did not move, nor the
lights fall. The people were mixed in the
pit in inextricable confusion. The crowd
who were above it near the pulpit rushed
forward and aided in completing the catas-
tropha.1 The screams were heard all over
the town and hundreds rushed thither.
Windows were broken open and the women
and children handed out through them or
the doors.
Wonderful to relate, when all was over,
no one was any the worse, save and ex-
cept the fright and a few bruises. The
panic did not last long. Every one real
ICED soon the extent OF the disaster, and
that no one was badly hurt. The women
and children r%earraDged their crushed
dresses, and were happy in the conscious
ness that it was no worse. In TACT, the
presents were distributed to nearly all the
recipients, with the exception Of g. few who
went home, and whose presents are kept
for them.
Bible history relates an instance Of how
q certain man named Jonah CAME near
causing the shipwreck of a shipload OF
people. The storm hat nearly engulfed
the vessel was sent to make him get out OF
that ship. There was nothing the matter
with the ship but the presence OF Jonah.
Could there have been a Jonah at the Cen
~terville church last night?