The Lamar register., 1893-06-17
KILLED IN a FALLING BUILDING
rwenty-Foar Government Clarke Lose
Their Lives by the Collapse Of the
Ford rheatsr Building At

ington on the morning Of the 9th. Between
30 and 10 o'clock the noors Of the old Ford's
theater sailding on Tenth street, occupied
by the records and pension division Of the
surgeoa-generars office, fell in, As though
shey had been the cards of card houses-
This old building, IN which President
Liseoln was assassinased, had been con
denned years ago, souae claim as many as nj
teen or twenty, aud had been repaired
propped up and renovated from year 70 year
There we're 475 persons, mostly government
clerks. employed L. the building, aud nearly
all of these were at work when the building
fell
An excavation for electric plant, WAS be
ing plAde in the cellar of the structure-a
three-story aHair-and. according to the best
information cbtalnAble, the workmen had
dug beneath the foundation supports in the
front of the building, weakening them TO
such extent that the walls gave away be-
fore they could be lacked. This, the explain
alton of the cause Of the accident, Is the only
one advanced, but 1t seems somewhat strange.
in view of the fact that the top foor gave
away first The men who were in the building
say the crash came without warning Those
on the top floor were suddenly precipitated 70
the floor below, and the weight Of falling
timber and furniture carried the second and
first fiocVs with It. Fortunately only the for
ward half of the floors gave way. The outer
ends Of the floors and the rear part of the
structure remained intact
The news that the building had fallen
spread with lightning-like rapidlty, and soon
Tenth street and adjacent thoroughfares were
crowded with people. Within an hour the
news was known all oTer Washington, and
hundreds of anxious relatives and friends
swarmed to the vicinity of the old theater A
general fire alarm WAS turned in few min
utes after the crash. and then ali the amba-
lances in the city were summoned. As quick
/ ly as possible the firemen formed a reserve
brigade and ready hands assisted TO take out
the killed and wounded. Police and army
ambulances. cabs, carriages and vehicles Of
every description were pressed Into service
for carrying away the dead snd injured. All
the hospitals ia the city were utilized In car
ing for the injured, and scores Of physicians
volunteered their services for this work The
commissioners of the District OF Columbia
took possession OF the building and vicinity
and in pc erson helped the rescuers.
There were many very narrow escapes from
death. 4 number of clerks whose desks
rested directly upon the line where the floor
broke away, saved themselves while the
desks at which they sat were preeipitated
down the awful chasm-
No women were employed in the building,
but in a few minutes after the crash came,
the wives, mothers and daughters of the vic
tins crowded to the scene.
Within Il very few moments hundred or
more men, stripped for hot work, jumped in
! TO the building and began throwing out the
wreckage in front and under the aoors which
remained standing on rear. Most OF those
first taken out of the ruins were carried 10
the emergency hospital. About 10 30 O'Clock
the dead and injured began to arrive faster
than the corps Of surgeons could attend to
their injuries. Carried in on stretehers, they
/ were dumped at the most convenient places.
Those who were most seriously injured were
attended to, while the Others, groaning and
/ crying from the pain of broken limbs lay be-
seeching the doctors to dress their wounds
! Three companies OF soldiers were placed on
guard at the scene of the catastrophe
| The main duty OF the soldiers was to guard
I the rebellion records stored 10 the building
Clerks who escaped were pressed into service
and went willingly to work removing bundles
of valuable documents A great deal OF the
/ work Of the pension Office Is dependent upon
these records, and their value to the govern
ment and to individuals Is inestlnable. They
cannot be replaced.
Every few minutes during the first two
hours after the accident, dead and wounded
men were taken out of the debris To the
on-lookers all the bruised, manned and dust
covered bodies seemed bereft of life One
man whose face was covered with blood and
who WAS seemingly dead, suddenly raised up
I In the ambulance In which he was placed and
swallowed glass of whisky. This brought a
cheer from the crowd and thereafter every
rescue was accompanied by applause
All the carts and workmen that could be
secured were pressed into service to clear
away the debris. The workmen shoveled
| plaster, rock, documents and broken fnrnI-
ture into their carts and each load was taken
away to dumping ground near by. There
was much danger to the resculns gangs for
! the edges of the fallen foors hung threaten
ingly downward over the heads OF the work
ers. 1t seemed that little progress could be
made in clearing away the immense mass of
fallen rubbish, but the work nevertheless
progressed rapidly. An incident Of the day
was the number Of clergy who, on hearing Of
the disaster, fiocked to the scene Utterly re-
gardless of their own safety they entered the
building, the rear walls of which were warn
ingly bulging out and minls;ered to the dying
and injured
The floors fell with suddenness that left no
time for thought The hair-breadth escapes
narrated by the survivors were numberless
H. f.l--