Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-06-10
SOME THRILLING STORIES.
Tales Told by Eye Witnesses of the Catss
trophP.

WASHINGTON, d. c., June 81. G. Mack
got out of the building with but scratch.
~ was standing" he said, =" about three
feet from the vault where the valuables
are kept. Near me were three others
Spencer. Specker and Edwards. There
was hardly seconds warning. | heard
the rumbling, felt the building falling
about me, and leaped into the vault;
The other three came behind me. and
when the ruins ceased TO fall about us we
got out. We were not hurt. but the ex-
perienco was frightful."
Joseph Fought was standing near the
we'll on the fourth floor and escaped by
way of window. When he felt the bricks
and mortar falling about hun he made q
dash for the window. 1t was but few
steps away. but It seemed TO take him an
hour to reach it. The jar knocked the
window down and he had to break through.
In that way he got the only scratch he re-
ceived. He thought that :. +. Hamilton,
A. NJ. Elliott. Duncan. Dr.. Douglas. and A.
Z. Willie escaped as he did. He could not
see far enough to tell much. but thought
there might have been nearly q hundred
persons who fell.
Just A CRASH, DUST AND BRICKS"
T.. G. Ford, who escaped almost unhurt.
was on the second floor. The only warn
! ing. he said, was just crasn and cloud
OF dust and bricks, u was near the SIDE
entrance,n he SAID, "and escaped by
rush. | 90 not know how 1t happened, ex-
cept that i was IN a good position, and
was fortunate enough TO be very quick
II. X. Street escaped without injury. He
said that for days they had heard the
workmen hammering and working about
the building. Il did not think Of ITS be-
ing unsafe. The only warning had was
tho fall. The thing came down with
an awful noise, and about all knew was
that / was not hurt. sat far enough
away from the centre of the accident to
escape"
RUSHED FROM A WINDOW.
C. C. Marsh, who escaped from the third
floor. was among those who had to be got
down by the fremen with ladders. lie
said that great many went down with
the crash from that floor. A large number
of those escaped as he did, the break not
extending over the whole room. " All
those lust where the break occurred" he
said, fell. The floor dropped out from
under them and the ceiling above came
down on them. 1t LETT great hole In
tho floor. | was about ten feet from
the edge of the hole. There were many
Others on the part of the floor left. Some
were right on the brink and the edges
were falling off more and more every se-
cond. Every one who DID not tall witn
the first crush rushed for the windows
and tried to make suro of the remaining
toothold. There was "A terrible panic, but
no one trampled over his neighbor. ami
there was no one huTt because of the rush
for the windows. IL must have been ten
minutes before the fremen got ladders up
for us. Ii seemed an hour. for the ledge
on which we stood was getting narrower
every minute.
WENT TO TEE BOTTOM.
J. III. Thomas. of Missouri, was on the
third floor and fell the whole distance to
the bottom. He suffered o compound
fracture Of the arm, but was otnerwise un-
injured. He was apparently tree from
nervousness when seen by reporter,
though he was suffering pam. | did
not know anything about 1t until
! got to the bottom did not
know ANYTHING had happened until L
felt myself going through the air;
| had taken my watch on ana
attached to it was school-mecal. OF
which thought a great deal. lhey were
lying on my desk and was wrlting ouslly.
i guess the first thought that got through
my bewildered head was OF that watcn
and medal. 1t was but Hash before
| realized what had happened. Then
the whole situation came upon me,
and the feeling was something dread
ful. / could see dimly through the
dust people struggling about me. Some
were free and irving to find their way OUT.
Others were partly buried so that they
could not move. and the voices OF those
out OF sight could be heard calling tor
help and groaning There were cries or
distress all about me. A maH fast near me-
asked me to aid him. Then | found
that nv night arm was useless. lt
was broken and l could not Int 1t;
Ny left arm was so braced that 1
could not reach him with It,, L
turned around, however, and gave hlm
nv left hand and drew him out. His name
was smith. but | do not know his initials.
Near him was man buried up to his belt,
but could not help him. 1t was dreadful
to hear the groans and feel the movements
of men struggling about me to get out.
All through the mass OF injured people:
above the groans and cries. could De heard
the voice of those less hurt crying,
Steady. boys, steady; keep your cour-
ace; take IL easy: and they were Trying
to help each other"
"oLD MAN" M'cAULgY.
"Old man McCauley." said bystander
as q crushed and bloody body. was borne
out ON a stretcher aud placed in Patrol
No. 2. Surgeons felt the pulse and heart
and murmured, Dead" The man who
had recognized the remains said that he
had ridden In with the dead man from
College station this morning. He dad not
know whether or not the deceased
Was q man Of family. The body was taat
of man about feet 10 or s feet tai,
heavily built, with red moustache and chin
whiskers, His fnce was blue and black
eued and blood oozsd from the ears. nose.
and mouth. He had evidently been
crushed about the chest and bad fingered
for some time in agony. The legs were
twisted and distorted and appeared
crushed and broken.
Had LARGE FAMILY.
The body Of Clerk Metals was brought
out at 1926. McFalls was appointed from
Wisconsin and has been employed under
the government for many years. He was
married and was said TO have large
family. He was lame in the right LEG:
Tho body wss 20 oovered with dirt and
plaster = to bs almost begond tdsnfiaca-