The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-06-30


awful results of the falling in of the
new brick walls in process Of eonstruc-
ton at No. 0po Main street.
The building is the storehouse form
erly occupied j. H c. Winston &
Sons, furniture dealers. 1t is the site
of the old Second Presby terrain Church,
a frame structure. When the business
OF winston ~ Sons was closed out, Mr..
e. j. Folkes, the owner OF the property,
had tho old frame part torn down, and
let the contract to Wilson ~ Seay for
building brick addition, come csing
the other two brick portions of the
storehouse.
The contract for the brirlswork was
sublet by Wilson II Seap to Alex. Fol
ling, and had been almost completed.
reaching nearly four stories in heiuht.
The interior frame work had also been
nearly finished.
Carpenters, brioklayers and hod.oo,-
rlers were at work this morning, when
about $3.50 o'clock terrible crash and
rumble brought crowd of people to the
scene. The great brick wa lls.h had, fallen
carrying down with them the heavy
timbers of the frame work, and the
whole lay in great mass atthe bottom.
The wreck WAS complete
The on-lookerS were Mortified Eyery-
body knew that number OF workmen,
NOBODY Knew how many-were under
those tons of wood and brick. Then tho
work of rpScup horan rrbo a.,
was turned in, and soon the streets were.
packed with mass of excited men and
women, whom the police had difficulty
in controlling. Willing hands fell TO
the work OF removing the debris to.
search for those who were caught under.
It, Two men, who had not been in the
most dangerous positions, were easily
released, and were so little hurt thai
they walked themselves to look for n
doctor. Another, William Bowling. a
rolored bricklayer, escaped with a.
broken arm.
Then, more brick and timbers were
thrown aside, and the limp body of John
Adams, young colored bod. carrier, was
taken out. He had reoeived' a heavy
blow on the forehead, and, was, dead. AS
she work. proceeded the body of Lee
Franklin. another colored hod carrier;
was found. within a few feet of the front
part of the wall. He wasalso dead. I'm
the meantime it was becoming evident
to all that MIR. j. II, G. Winston ha6
been caught by the crash. The lasa
time he had been seen, he was at the
foot OF the steps in the rear, OF old part of
the storehouse, and was apparently lust
starting across the frape-w work of The
new part toward the street. Tt was
necessary to remove a. vast deal OF
bricks and lumber TO get to the spot
where he is supposed to have been. N
score OF men-as many as could work. to
advantage-exerted themselves for an
hour and finally reached the body of
MIR. Winston. He also was dead whea
taken out, having sustained a fearful
fracture of the skull on the right side.
His body was removed to GT. A. Diueuid
n Co.'S, two doors below.
Work among the debris was kept up
for several hours, until it was said that
all the workmen were accounted for
The following is a list of the dead
and injured. as far as could be ascer-
tanned:
1EE DEAD.
j. ii. c. Winston.
John Adams, colored.
Lee FRANKLIN, oolored.
Fred. Smith, colored, hod carrier. badly
bruised and cut, but not dangerously.
VIM. Boiling, colorcd, bricklayer,
VIM. Craig. colored, hod carrier. not
dangerously injured
George Yuille, colored, hod carrier,
slightly injured.
The building adjoining to the ono
which fell in, OH the east side, was
frame house owned by Miss Elton
Hughes, and occupied by John E. Kraus
as a tin-shop. The roof of this house
was crushed in by the falling walls.
Three people were at work in it, and
one OF them, j. j. Kraus. Jumped from
back window 25 feet above the ground.
to save himself. He broke one of his
arms in two places.
AT this time, nobody seems to have
clear idea Of how tho accident happened.
One OF the injured men says that tho
wall fell "as quick as dream" An.
other man who was hurt said there we're
ten seconds between the time he heard
the walls crackle and the time it fell on
him.
He says he could probably have Sc
capped without scratch IL he had Dot
been STOPPING down tempering mortar
at the time. One white man saws no was
about the middle of the framework,
walking towards the front door, whom he
heard somebody shout about the falling
wall. He did not stop to look up, but
made break for safety. He escaped
unhurt.
The pecuniary loss by the accident is
$1,000 to $4,000. Coroner Busey viewed
the bodies OF the dead victims, and will
hold the inquest to morrow, wbe doubt.
less the facts about the construction OF
the framework and brickwork will be
brought out.