Omaha daily bee., 1893-06-10
CLERKSaCRUSHED
tooNrrNurp FROM FIRST rAaE. |

CONTINUED .rRpM riRsT PAGE
the crowds back sothnre was no Interrupt
tion TO the work OF rescue. go
The news Of the disaster few like wild
fire through the city and soon anxious
relatives added 10 those who were
drawn TO the scene by sympathy or curiosity.
In short time bodies were being orougnt
out so fast that they could not be attended TO
! by the doctors on the scene, and after con
! siderable suffering forwant of attention extra
! vehicles were brought and the wounded
! were taken TO the hospitals, which were
| soon overcrowded and the sufferers were lit
tie better off than at the scene of the disas-
| ter till medical students appeared on the
| scene and took charge of those least seri
ously hurt
was George Nj. Arnold, a colored clerk
| from West Virginia, who jumped
! from the third story window and was
| dashed to death in the alley where Wilkes
| Booth had his horse tied on the night he
| assassinated Lincoln.
S. s. Baker escaped with q bad scalp
wound. He was at his desk on the third
floor front. The crash came he said, with.
| out moments warning. Half stunned and
| ddzed, he found himself in the cellar pinned
! down by debris and covered with plaster,
! furniture and chairs He extricated himself
as best he could ana crawled out of one of the
windows. 1t was fully half an hour before
| he recovered himself and even now can
hardly account for his escape. HIS coat was
torn to tatters.
| Account OF an Eyewitness.
Mr.. S. Dana Lincoln, who occupies room
| in the Atlantic building, facing the rear of
the thcater building, gives this account OF
the scene. He was sitting at his desk at the
| time OF the giving way of the floors.
He said he heard noise as though
of dumping of bricks in an alley. He looked
out of his Office window and saw clouds of
dust rising to the top of the building. lm-
mediatey at every window dozens of heads
protruded, wildly calling for assistance. 1t
seemed ten or fifteen minutes before the
| firemen appeared with ladders, which were
Immediately run up to the windows. In
reality it was only few moments The
tiremen rescued all those who had not cs-
capped by jumping from the windows
The last man taken out of the building
alive was Captain Dowd of Indiana. He was
found near the southwest corner of the
building covered to a depth of two or three
feet with brick and mortar. He had lain
there for three hours, but "a falling beam had
lodged near him in such a position as to
break the fall of the brick ana timbers and
when lifted up he raised his hand, showing
that he was conscious. When he was lifted
into the Garfield hospital ambulance the
crowd saw that he was alive and cheered
again and again.
As the Injured Were removed.
The ambulances were kept busy carrying
away the dead and injured. The faces of
many of the victims were covered with
pieces of cloth, an old coat, q newspaper or
whatever else could be had, but some of the
mangled bodies were carried out with their
faces exposed to tho gaze of the eager throng
that surrounded the building During all
the long hours while the worlmen were
working with all, their strength to res
cue such as were not past help the
mothers sisters and daughters of those
that had gone down hovered around
| Ia n hp and with ct, IN,
ing eyes inquired of, all whom they met of
some tidings of their dear ones. Some could
hardly be restrained from pushing their way
into the building.
tale of how some weretaken and others left.
Desks were seen half topping over the
brink of the broken floor; others stood up
right, but the chair which stood beside it
and its occupant went down with a crash.
Records and papers We're scattered every
where, but as fast as possible they were
gathered up and saved. Many of them were
spotted with blood i.D
Crushed Out of Human Semblance.
That any one should have escaped with
mis- life seems the work of miracle. As
they were brought forth they presented Il
spectacle that no one seeing it will ever for
get In many cases the semblance of human
lty was gone 1t seemed though the
; helpers were carrying out mere bags of mat
ter, Smeared all over with blood, filthy with
> dirt, dirt ground into them, blood on their
faces. A wife could not have recognized hel
husband in that condition. With such ten
} derness as rough ana excited men could sum
mon ut such time, they were laid out upon
the stretchers and carried to the ambulances
that filled the space from r to- /
street All the doctors could do for
them was to clear away some OF
, the dirt plaster and filth from the
! faces of the injured men. In many cases The
dirt was ground into the eyes, noses anc
| ncc lDt ,..irh c,ph ttnpt
t might have suffocated. Many were uncon
scious and could not have helped them
, selves. With clang of the bell the amDu
lances started off for the hospitals These
! turned into temporary hospitals People IL
l the neighborhood of the accident opened
. their doors right gladly and the dead anC
/ | the wounded were hurried in.
+ When the accident was over and before
\ the rescucrs could get inside to their relief
. there were injured men who were caring fol
. their worse injured brothers. There were
men who did not rush for the street to save
= their own lives Regardless of the fact tina
l more walls might fall and bury them once
S more, they stayed to succor men who coulC
. not get away by themselves.
3 Heroic Deeds.
7 A man whose arm was crushed used hi
other arm to drag man from that place O
death. Men stayed to struggle with beam
e and rafters that bore down upon their fel
Q lows. They spoke words of cheer whe
S their struggles were in vain
o When the first of the relief corps entere
g it WAS struck by the silence that pre-
vailed. There We're no cries to be hear
" from beneath the debris. If any cries wer
u made they We're stihed by dirt an
IS mortar that made almost a solid floor o
n which men might walk. Men did not wal
IS upon it more than they could help, howevc
n for no one knew but that he might be stauC
Is ing directly above the bodies of the dead q
dying men Nervously and eXcitedly the
tore away beams and rafters that made tn
tomb. 1t was horrid task; it was a dirt
[. task. Men worked like demons, with swea
pouring down their faces. The dust and tn
IN dirt lay thick upon their faces, so that on
could scarce tell the color of the man Th
n. trim uniforms of the firemen were RUNE
,n and battered, but never for a moment di
h. they stop in their noble work.
,r Every moment throwing aside of wreckag
- | nynnsnd tho hlnndN and often muLilatnd for