The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-06-16
TWENTY-FIVE LIVES
Suddenly Crushed Ont by the Col
lapse OF Ford's Theater
me Building In Washington wherein
Frs-ident Lincoln Was AasAsss-
mated Many Others Injured
and Numerous Escapes.

Washington. June l0.-Anothcr
tragedy, less national in character. but
Involving the loss of many more lives
aad much more human suffering. has
stained the walls of the old Fords
theater. Washington. in which Abra-
ham Lincoln was assassinatcd by John
Wilkes Booth. in April. 1868 II Is a
coincidence. also, which will 60 into his
tory. that this second tragedy occurred
On the very day when the remains of the
great tragedan. whose life was SO
<arkcned by his brothers crime. that
he never visited Washington after
warls. were being laid TO rest in Mount
Auburn cemetery. Boston.s
The house in which Lincoln died. on
the other side of the street from the
theafer where he was shot and which
h still sentimentally kept intact as it
WA that fatal night. looked down yes
tcreav upon a scene of agony. excite
ment and grief. which even the great
crime of 1865 could not parallel. And
the horrors Of the scene were by no
means lessened by the knowledge that
a blunder. surely in this case almost
s.wEse than crime" had caused the
death of from twenty to thirty persons
ut the least. and inflicted maimings and
injuries upon fifty or sixty more.
The evidence. n found in official
records. appears conclusive that as
long ago as 1856 this building. which
the government purchased after the
assassination. and used as an army
museum was officially declared by con
Rress an unsafe depository for even
the inanimate skeletons. mummics and
books Of the army medical museum.
for which "A safer place of storage was
provided Ivy act of congress.
hut Notwithstanding the fact that
IN the public press and in congress also
attention was called to the bullying
Syslls. its darkness and general insult
ability. IL continued to bc used for the
StriiF employment of nearly 500 govern
ment clerks of the pension division Of
the war office. So the comforting as
surance is given that while thirty
clerks may have been killed the pen
sion records are all saved and unin-
jurcd-
The building collapsed in the midst
of an ill-judged effort to remedy some
of its defects. The moral Of the disas-
ter. II there is any. is emphasized by
the facf that there are two government
buildings-the printing office and the
WInder building. an annex of the war
department, each containing many
more employees than were Gagged in
Forts theater death-trap. which are
in an equally dangerous condition.
The hour of the disaster was very
shortly after the departments had set
tled down for the days work. The
workmen had begun operations. and
these were the immediate cause of the
catastrophe. Half an hour earlier and
few lives would have been lost.
Running directly through all of the
floors and in the middle of the building
was light wall ten feet or more long
and nearly as many wide. The fall
area WIS in front of this. having a
disturbed on either side. The entire
back part Of the building containing
more than half Of the floor space re-
manned intact. There were many very
marrow escapes from death. A narrow
row of clerks whose desks rested en-
tirely upon the line where the floors
urs,lsr away saved themselves. while
cipitated down the awful chasm.
Others were walking across the room.
heard an ominous sound. and stopped
Just at the very threshold Of death.
When the crash came those who sur
wivci heard mighty scream Of an
gnish from their comrades as they
sank ont of sight. and then cropping in
Che darkness, they found their way u
slfrty trembling in every joint and the
psior Of death in their faces. No
women were employed III the building
bui IN n few minutes after the crash
game. 1hc wives. mothers and daugh-
ters ~ the victims began to arrive
within very few moments a hundred
or more men. stripped for police work
Jumped into the building and begar
throwing out the wreclSage in front
and the floors which remained stand
ing in the rear. Most Of those wis
were taken out Of the ruins were car
ricd 10 the Emergency hospital. an,
abont 1880 o'clock the dead and in
inrcd began to arrive faster thar
the corps % surgeons coul,
attend TO their injuries Car
rIcd in on strctchers the,
were dumped at the most conveniesl
plarrs Those who were the most Sc
riousiy injured We're attended to,whil
the others. grooming and crying fror
shc pain OF broken limbs. lay limp an
N,eseeching the doctors to dress thei
wounds. shortly after the arrival q
the first. the crowd began to as~embl
in front Of the building. many OF the'
being the wives. daughters and reli
-tives of the unfortunates. Their vice.
inn and frantic cries were hcartren'
sny. They greatly intcrfercd with II
work Of the physicians. and DIR. ker
-u,sD is in charge Of the hospital, dete
,mirrsi to put them out.
Load after load Of the wounds
blinded with debris. and with linn
broken and manned. We're dumped
the door They had to remain outsi'
for some time. as the force and faci
tics ~ the physicians were unequal
the emergency. As quickly ~ the ~