Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1893-06-15
AN AWFUL CALAMITY.
Ford's Opera, Where Lincoln Was
Assassinated, Caves in With
Terrible Results.
Criminal Negligence of the Govern
ment is to Blame For the
Horrible Accident.

w c."E olu . opCi q
house on Tenth street, in which Presi-
dent Lincoln was assassinated, has
fallen in and about 400 government
clerks were in the building at the time.
Hundreds of the men were carried
down by the falling walls of the build
ing, which was notoriously insecure.
Human lives were crushed out by the
tons OF bricks and iron and hurled to
the throne of their maker. Men by
the score are manned and disfgured
for life. Happy families are thrown
into the depths of despair. Women
calling for their husbands, children
calling for their fathers, mothers call
ing for their sons, and no answer to
their cries. This is but the shadow of
the awful calamity that befell this city
this morning. Words cannot picture
the awfulness OF the accident. Imagin-
alton stands back and fails to give
any idea of the scene. Itshorrors will
never be fully told. Its suddenness
was almost it's chief horror. In mo-
ment, in twinkling of an eye was the
change, and men who came to the
scene of their daily toll will never re-
turn alive. In the national capital of
the proudest nation of the earth there
has been a catastrophe unparalleled
in the annals of it's history, and in
every mind there is horror at the con-
viction that it's genesis is to be found
in the criminal negligence of a govern
ment too parsiminous to provide for
the safety of it's loyal servants by
erecting buildings proper for their ac-
commodation.
1t was between $50 and 10 O'Clock
this morning that the floors of the
old Ford theatre building on Tenth
street, occupied by the records and
pension division OF the esurgeon-general
Office, fell in as though they had been
parts OF card house. On each floor
were scores OF men at work. Without
warning they were carried down by
an awful cataract. The floor was
made up of iron girders hardly strong
enough to support the walls, but
heavy enough to stamp out human
lives Walls of bricks, held together
1
wooden beams that had been in place
too long.
Twenty-eight years ago there was
another tragedy within the walls OF
this building. News of it was flashed
to the four quarters of earth and it
wrought CONSERVATION wherever it
went The man who was killed was
the president of the Uni led States, and
as though the building had borne a
curse from that time it ended its
career in fitting manner. 1t was in
this building that John Wilkes Booth
slew President Lincoln. The evidence
found in the official record appears
conclusive that as long ago as 1885
this building, which the government
purchased after the assassination and
used as an army museum, was officially
proclaimed unsafe.
While the work of rescue going on
men who had been strangers to emo
tion wept like children and turned
away their faces as the limp and life
less bodies of those who had beer
crushed beneath the ruins were
brought forth to the sunshine. Womer
were helped away in fainting condi
ton, and in every heart was sorrow
aud in every eye stood the moisture
of grief.
Mr.. S. Dana Lincoln. who occupied
, a room in the Atlantic building, facing
the rear of the theater building, give.
this account Of the scene: He wa:
sitting at his desk at the time of tn,
giving away of the floors of the build
ing. He heard a noise as though o
the rumbling of bricks in the alley
He looked out of his office window
and saw clouds of dust arising to tn,
top of the building. Immediately a
every window dozens of heads pro
truded wildly calling for assistance
, 1t seemed 10 or 1 5 minutes before th'
firemen appeared with ladders which
were Immediately run up to the win
dows. In reality the time was only {
few moments. The firemen rescued al