Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-26
A MARROW ESCAPE.
A Graphic Description of the Great Disaster
Mt Park Place.

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The following extract, received today by a
Wsshingtonian from his brother in New York,
gives . realistic idea Of the scene at Park place,
in New YORK.. at the time Of the great disaster:
You mention the disaster that occurred
here Saturday in the collapse OF building.
and had / seen it. Well, rather, / saw too
much Of il for comfort. 1t was in the building
adjoining the one in which / was at work. and
i was sitting at a desk reading proof within
forty feet Of the disaster at the time it oc-
CURED / heard a loud report like an explo-
sion and felt our building totter and then a
rambling. rolling sound and the screaming of
the imprisoned people-all in a ha-h-and We
all made q rush to get out of our building. not
knowing exactly what had happened, but real
izing that We were in danger in some form or
other. I rushed down our stair
way leading TO Park place to see
the entire front of the building adjoining
thrown in the street and the flames were
bursting in upon rushed back and told
the men &c 80 out the front stairway. as there
was no chance of escaping from the rear. For
tunately the iremen arrived in time to save
our building from the flames When we found
that there was no immediate danger in our
building some of remained inside and
watched the fire from our windows All that
remains between Us and the ruins is a fourteen
men HaAl- anu wal not 20 Win
the crash and take part of our building with it
il simply a miracle l cannot understand Why
our building was saved, as the destruction was
something terrible, not one brick remaining on
another IL you could see our wall standing
there, black and charred. lowering over the
ruins. you would say the days of miracles are
not yet passed saw six bodies dug out Sat-
urday before pm. one OF them alive, girl
aooGI nine years of age. and when she recog
nized her mother at a window across the street
what a cheer arose from the crowd They have
been digging for bodies day and night since the
in pine collins under our windows. 10 be car
ried TO the moryre If not identified. 1 have
seen nearly all of the bodies taken out thus far
Most of them are blaekened and burned or
mashed in a horrible manner. / saw a mother
faint today when she recognized her daughter
by a remnant Of clothing. Many OF them will
never be identified They had not to-
night a. 10 o'clock reached the eating
saloon. where il is feared many will
be found Eut il is likely they will
be uncovered tomorrow and probably in a pu-
trid state, o<ily to the heat Of the past two
days, il they sc not burned to q crisp. / hold
20 the opinion hat il was explosion, other
wise the bIl tn; could not have been COM
pletely de.n ..s1ed in an instant, with 'front.'
age Of eish:y ,Ist ID five stories high. Be
sides. heard -. like an explosion. AL
the men work * in the rear OF our building
where was consider il close call. Some Of
them were badly scared and their faces were
pallid. Well once in a lifetime is enough for
me. and do not desire to witness such a scene
again or he placed in 30 close proximity to such
q horrible calamity. WILL"