Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-06-15
MANY LIVES LOST.
Sudden Collapse of Ford's Theater
at Washington.
Its Inmates Buried In the Debris-They
Were Mostly Government Employees
Twenty-Five Dead Bodies Re-
covered "A Great Many Hurt.
~ oLp RUIN FALLs.

AN OLD RUIN FALLS.
WASHINGTON, June 10. - rotten
United States government building has
collapsed In its ruins more than a
score of human souls were launched
into eternity and a hundred living vic
Tins are now writing in the agony of
their wounds. Shortly before 10 o'clock
Friday morning. with scarcely a Sec
ond's warning, large portion of the
three floors of the old Ford theater
on Tenth street broke down, car
rying to the ground below hun
dreds of clerks, heavy desks and the
miscellany of a great government Of
/ fee. The old building was used by the
pension and record division of the war
/ department. Repairs undertaken re-
Gently had weakened the supports, but
to the penuriousness of congress, which
made it impossible to secure a fitting
building, may he charged the awful
catastrophe that must cast a blot of
shame upon the national government
LIST OF THE VICTIMS.
The following list of the dead thus
far reported, with the names Of the
state from which they were appointed,
contains twenty-five names including
4 one unknown.
Unknown man. taken from the ruins at
/ o'clock Friday evening, evidently a clerk;
+ George Alien, Pennsylvania George w. Ar
mold, Virginia; l. J. E. Chaplin, South Chicago;
Samuel j. Banes, Pennsylvania; John Bossius,
District of Columbia; Arthur L. Dietrich, Ken
4 lucky; jeremiah Daley, Pennsylvania James
/ r. Pagan Kansas; Joseph Il, Gage, Michigan;
David c. Jordon, Missouri; NJ. NJ Jarvis
4 Michigan; j. Boyd Jones, Wisconsin; II 3.
/ Lotus New York. f. w. Maeder: b. f. Nil
Ter, New York; Howard s Miller Ohio; II.
/ McFall, Wisconsin: f. G. Shull, Kansas, VIII
liam Schreyer Maryland; II. :. Wood; T. NJ.
( Williams, Wisconsin: A. NJ. GeraUlL New Jer-
sey: NJ. 7 Muledy, Louisiana,
The injured, so far as known, num-
Der forty-five Manyof them are being
treated at their homes. Some will I'M
doubtedly die of their injuries.
WITHOUT WARNING.
The building collapsed without
moments warning. The front half Of
all three floors fell, carrying every
thing to the bottom. For a moment
all was still. Then the air was
split by the shrielSs and groans of the
frightened, wounded and dying
hundreds who, like a mass of
.
to free themselves from one anoth-
4 er and from the heavy iron beams
and timbers and furniture and govern
ment records which pinned them to
their places. The people in the neigh
borhood We're for the moment stunned.
The horror of it all had robbed them of
their senses. Then in a few moments,
but what to the wretches pinioned in
deaths embrace seemed ages, the truth
burst upon their befuddled brains
and they Joined their cries with the
unfortunates within the collapsed
building. Then, dividing. some rushed
for help; some ran to the sink-hole of
death itself to lend their hands, while
others, with selfish regard for their
own safety and curiosity, stood where
they were to look upon the scene.
CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT.
An investigation of the cause of the
accident discovered that it was appar-
emily due to criminal carlessness. A
number of laborers were at work be-
meath the first floor excavating for
an electric plant. The building
rested on underpinning and the
earth, and as the earth was dug away
the pressure of the building rested on
the unsupported beams of the first
floor. The weight proved too much
and the floors collapsed and fell
into the excavation, burying the labor
ers and clerks beneath them The
people in charge of this excavation
We're supposed to have known that the
building was condemned and had been
unsafe for years. The general insecur-
ity of the building had already been
repeatedly reported, and for long
time past, whenever a heavily loaded
wagon has gone by, the building
seemed to sway backward and for
ward, as the clerks describe the sensa-
ton. A strange coincidence is that
the old theater is wrecked on the day
of the funeral of Edwin Booth, brother
of John Wilkes Booth
CONDEMN THE GOVERNMENT.
Condemnation of the government for
1 permitting the building to be used is
/ heard on every hand The federal gov
eminent has an account on its hands
Of immense proportions. There is little
1 doubt that friends of the dead and
4 the victims who were fortunate enough
! to escape with their lives win seek
/ damages from the government which
may aggregate millions Of dollars. In
I the dangerous condition of the build
ing they will have strong popu-
lar support of their claims Strong
words Of denunciation were ut
tered against the federal au-
thorities for permitting the building to
+ be occupied in view Of its unsafe con-
/ dition.
WAR RECORDS LOST.
Least thought of now, when death
and suffering fill the national capital,
but certain to bring sorrow in the
+ future. is the destruction Of war records