Iron County register., 1893-06-15
TWENTYlTW0 LIVES


EaAeat Lincoln was Assas.a-
.ted-M.ny Others Injured
and Numerous Esc>pss.
WAsHIsGroN, June 10.-Another
1Sedy, less national in character. but
A,osv'Ag the loss of many more lives
- much more human suffering. has
8k.aAea the walks of the old Ford's
SAeaaer, Washington, in which Abra-
~ Lincoln was assassinated by John
Wnkes booth. in April, 1866. 1t is a
-oesaesaence, also. which viii go into his
<ory, that this second tragedy occurred
q the very day when the remains of the
great tragcdian, whose life was so
aarkencd by his brothers crime, that
ne never visited Washington after
yards. were being laid to rest in Mount
Auburn cemetery, Boston.a
The house in which Lincoln died. on
che osher side of the street from the
theAter where he was shot, and which
Is ss1A sentimentaliy kept intact as it
was that fata. night, looked down YES
1eroay upon scene of agony, excite
xnene and grief. which even the great
Crime of 1855 could not parallel And
Che horrors of the scene were by no
0naas lessened by the knowledge that
a baaader. surely in this case almost
worse than a crime" had caused the
oeSth Of from twenty to thirty persons
at che Least, and inflicted maimings and
Injuries upon Fifty or sixty more.
The evidence, as found in official
records, appears conclusive that as
long ago as 1885 this building, which
the government purchased after the
1sSzsi0ation, and used as an army
rnEse~aa was officially declared by con-
Eres an unsafe depository for even
the inanimate skeletons, mummies and
books of the army medical museum,
1se which a safer place of storage was
TrsvSded by act of congress-
0ut notwithstanding the fact that
an rbe lGhiic press and in congress also
aeee1Gion was called to the bulging
~x72s. its darkness and general insult
ability. it continued to be used for the
daily employment of nearly 500 govern
ancas clerks of the pension division of
the war office. So the comforting as
<nrancc is given that while thirty
clerks may have been killed the pen
SaOa records are all saved and unin-
joreA
The building collapsed in the midst
al an Il-judged effort to remedy some
<7f ITS defects. The moral of the disas-
ter, II there is any, is emphasized by
fl1e fact that there are two government
t'sssidings-tfe printing Office and the
WRtter building. an annex of the war
department., each containing many
1zaore employees than were Gagged in
Roxas thcater death-trap, which are
i'm an equally dangerous condition.
The hour of the disaster was very
shortly after the departments had set
%s4sd down for the days work. The
ssoEkmen had begun operations, and
These svere the immediate cause of the
catastrophe. Half an hour earlier and
,fcE lives would have been lost.
Banning directly through all of the
-23G,xS and in the middle of the building
waS n light wall ten feet or more long
and nearly as many wide. The fall
are1 was in front of this, having
SSa1cr Of six or seven feet in width un-
disturbed on either side. The entire
back part of the building containing
mGre than half of the floor space re-
mzlncd intact. There were many very
n1xr0w escapes from death. A narrow
E0U Of clerks whose desks rested en-
4Eeay upon the line where the floors
'buoape away saved themselves, while
the desks at which they sat were pre-
cipitated down the awful chasm.
Others were walking across the room.
heard an osninous sound, and stopped
Just at the very threshold of death.
When the crash came those who sur
vived heard a mighty scream of an
yuish from their comrades as they
saak out of sight, and then cropping in
rae darkness they found their way to
safety trembling in every joint and the
pslor of death in their faces No
rsvSnen were employed in the building,
but in few minutes after the crash
~nme. the wives, mothers and daugh-
tiers of the victims began to arrive.
Within a very few moments n hundred
.r more men, stripped for police work.
jumped into the building and began
out the wreckage in front
and the floors which remained stand
ing in the rear. Most of those who
<sm-r.e taken out of the ruins were car
ricA to the Emergency hospital, and
.afsyut 1880 o'clock the dead and in
jurcd began to arrive faster than
exe corps OF surgeons could
afteaA to their injuries Car
ra,4 in on stretcherss they
,<sere dumped at the most convenient
-r,1aces. Those who were the most Sc
riusasly injured were attended to.while
the others, groaning and crying from
che pain of broken limbs. lay limp and
hesseeehing the doctors to dress their
wounds. SHORTLY after the arrival of
che first. the crowd began to assemble
an frsat Of the building, many of them
being the wives. daughters and rela-
sivcs of the unfortunates. Their weep
ing and frantic cries were heartrend-
i.g. They greatly interfered with the
work of the physicians, and DIR. Kerr.
who Is in charge of the hospital, deter
mined to put them out
Load after load of the wounded.
blinded with debris, and with limbs
nxoken and MANNED. were dumped at
the door. They had to remain outside
for come time, as the force and fasiiin
4sen