Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-09-04
APPALLING DISASTER
Fatal Collapse of a Building
in New York City.
Nearly Five Score of People
Lose Their Lives.

ing the noon hour few days ago, the debris
bursting into flames.
How many people were buried and burned
in the ruins was not known fortv-eight hours
after the accident. The number was esti-
mated at seventy-fve. It may reach one
hundred.
The collapse was Immediately proceeded
by an explosion, according to some of those
within earshot. Others say there was no
explosion. that the walls and floors merely
gave way.
The fallen buildings comprised Nos 6s, TO-
u and "A Park place. No IS was vacant.
Occupying the ground floor Of the remain
ing three numbers were Louis ROsenfeld's
bronze and gold paint shop, A. w. Trips
drug store, and Andrew Petersen's restau-
rant.
Ellis & Macdonald's .bookbindery too k up
the second and third floors of Nos. 20 and -,
and the South Publishing Company the same
floors Of No "a.
The fourth and fifth floors throughout
were occupied by Liebler & Mass, Gtao-
grsphers.
Careful estimates made the day after the
tragedy showed that when the fatal crash
came there were thirty men in the presSroom
of Liebier & Mass, who were buried in ix
twenty-five meu in Petersen's restaurant;
twelve men and women in Ellis & Melon
AIDS bookbndery; eight men and boys i'll the
South Publishing Company; ten men and
field; nine men and boys in the drug store Of
F. w. Trippe, and ten passers-by on the
notwithstanding total of lO4.
There is a considerable difference of opin-
ion as to the cause of the disaster. People in
the wrecked building who escaped say there
was no explosion, but those who were on the
street near the scene say they heard the re-
port of an explosion.
1t seems probable that the weight of the
printing presses, which were on the upper
-. cod xY
their motion, proved too much for the build"
ing, and caused the collapse.
1t was just the noon hour and Petersens
restaurant in the basement was fairly we'll
filed. It accommodated sixty persons. In
the windows overhead girls and men could
be seen catching a breath OF air as they
munched their luncheons.
There were several people passing in the
street, among them a woman with an infant
in baby carriage. Three little children
were playing together in front of the drug
store and a horse attached to an express
wagon was standing by the curb.
Above the noise of traffic in the street
could be heard the din of Liebler & Maasss
ten big presses on the upper floors. The
building vibrated and trembled with every
revolution, just as it had done for months
before.
Then there came q low rumbling sound.
Some who heard it say it was accompanied
by heavy report, as of a cannon fired. 1t
was followed by the crash Of falling walls
and the grating, rasping sound of twisting
beams and timbers.
dark cloud of dust filed the air and
rose to the height of the housatops. Before
it had cleared fire burst from the debris and
tapped over to the adjoining buildings to the
west.
The street was in an uproar in an instant.
A dozen or more who had been slightly in
jured were helped into adjacent stores. One
man was discovered standing to his waist in
the debris. He had bad cash in his head.
He was pulled out and cared for.
Another had rolled down from the summit
of the wreck in a big armchair. He was
helped to his feet comparatively unhurt
The mother with her baby in the carriage
and the three little children at play could not
be
Instantly. before the frightened people in
the collapsed building could collect them
selves to attempt escape there rolled the
sitting clouds of smoke and the roaring
flames. With one accord the people rushed
to the main entrance, on Park place. AL
ready it was impossible. And then. almost
tumbling over each other, men and women,
boys and girls climbed and fell down the fire
escape on the Greenwich street side OF the
building.
The firemen quickly had streams playing
on the flames from front and rear, while
four big hosepipes deluged the ruins from
neighboring roofs An hour after the fire
men were summoned the fire had been con-
quered and the work of digging for the dead
began.
Just two hours after the accident the first
body was found. It was in front Of where
the drug store had been and about twelve
feet from the curb. The mans face was all
that could be seen at first. A heavy scant-
ling pinned him down.
When the remains had been disengaged
four policemen carried them to the sidewalk
and a rubber blanket covered them.
that laOOTer.
his shirt sleeves and with a rub
Der apron on. He was MANNED and
bruised from head to foot and his life had
been literally squeezed out The fire had not
touched Kim.
It was o'clock when the city dead wagon
with its load of plain pine collins drove up.
There were six bodies in waiting for it.
Inspector Williams found Louis Gaino a
Mulberry street man. who said he could sup
ply sixty Italian laborers within a short
said he would pay them if the city did
not. The lights were up in little
WHILE and Gaimo secured Mulberry
street and found his sixty men
and marched them down the street and
across the park to the fire. In the meantime
the Inspector had sent a policeman through
the crowd with a paper, and asked every
man who was willing to work to sign it and
pitch in.
There were perhaps forty volunteers. and
they went TO work with the Italians gather
ing up the broken and half-burned timbers
and carrying them down to the corner.
where they piled them. They worked all
night and promised to continue until all was
cleared away.
Two hours and a half after the building
collapsed, the fremen VINO were digging
away at the ruins near the ca stern end of the
building, were startled by plaintive cry
that seemed 20 come from beneath them. A
score of men worked for an hour after
the cry was first heard, and ten feet
Eolr 49,