The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-06-10
AWFUL SCENE in WASHINGTON
Employees in a Government Building
Hurled 10 Eternity
COLLAPSE or roRD'a OPERA HOUSE
Thousands of Men and Women Mere or
Less Injured, and Many
2 Killed.
COLLAPSE OP FORD's OPERA HOUSE
AssocIated press.

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Associated Press.
Washington, June 81 Ford's opera
house, on Tenth street, in which Pres
ident Lincoln was essassinated col
lapsed today. There were over 400 gov
ernment clerks in the building at the
time. The floors of the building were
loaded with pension records of the war
department The clerks employed We're
all men. The first floor collapsed
through weakness caused by excavat-
ing the cellar, and in its fall carried
down theree other floors, and with them
hundreds of clerks The dead and
wounded are being taken out rapidly
by firemen and police. 1t is feared a
hundred people have been killed. The
scenes were terrible. Some jumped
from the third floor Scarcely one es-
capped more or less injury. Twenty
! eight were taken from the ruins up to
1915 a. M The Emergency Hospital
is crowded with dead and injured. The
injuries, from the very nature OF the
affair, are very severe. Some were
crushed, some sustained broken limbs
and others received internal injuries.
Thousands surround the scene and the
excitement has spread all over the city.
Eight dead bodies have just been taken
out of the ruins unidentified, at 1880
a. m. 1t is feared there are still
eighty bodies in the ruins. Another
man has been taken out dead. Howard
S. Miller of Ohio clerk in the bureau.
and an unknown man, have been
brought to the Emergency Hospital.
dead.
At II a. M. the remains of a young
man not yet identified had just been
placed in the morgue at the Emer-
gency Hospital. This makes the num-
Der of known dead to- the present time
eleven. 1t is believed there are fully
sixty still in the ruins.
The bodies of H. S. Woods and 81
clerk named Jarvis have been taken
from the ruins. There were AIS clerks
in the building.
At 1;3O p. M. 1t was estimated that
it would be two or three hours before
the mass of debris could all be cleared
away and the exact number of those
who went down in the crash known.
No doubt several bodies are still in
the ruins. When the crash came there
were supposed to be in the building
1876 clerks. Is messengers. and 20 labor
ers. 534 in all. Up to this hour 16
bodies have reached the morgue. The
walls are still standing, but every floor
is down and every window blown out.
The building had been condemned as
unsafe for some time. but sentiment
kept it unchanged.
The cause of the collapse is supposed
to be due to digging under the founda-
tions for the purpose of putting in an
electric plant, but as near as can be
the top floor gave way
first, carrying the others down with 1t.
the entire building did not
collapse, as in that case the loss of life
would have been much greater. AS 1t |
was, only the front part went down.
leaving more than half of the floor |
space intact. Because of this many |
lives were saved. Some clerks sitting
at their desks, were left sitting at the
brink. while the desks at which they
sat went down. The police, and sol
diers ordered to the scene by General
Schofield, kept the crowds back so that |
there was no interruption Of the work
Of rescue. One of the first victims
found was George M. Arnold, col
bred 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
led on the night he assassinated Lin
,oln.
The building has been used for
lumber of years as a part of the Office
If the surgeon-generaL 1t was a
strange coincidence that the building
should collapse on the day that Edwin
3ooth, brother Of the man who assas-
mated Lincoln, was buried.
The number of dead reported from
ii sources at D. M. was twenty-four.
Four others were reported dead. but
heir bodies were not at the morgue
r hospitals. The names Of forty-nine
Injured have been secured. but this Is
robably not nearly correct. as many
fere sent directly to their homes.