St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-06-15
BLACK FRIDAY IN WASHINGTON

BLACK FRIDAY IN WASHINGTON
An Account of the Collapse of the Old
Ford Theatre.
Black Friday in Washington was
June 8, when Ford's Theatre fell,
killing a score or more of govern
ment employees and injuring many
others. About $50 in the morning
the centre of the old building fell like
cards in a child's card house. Fords
Theatre is the place where Presi-
dent Lincoln was shot by Wilkes
Booth, and the building fell on the
day of the funeral of the great actor
Edwin Booth, the brother of the
presidents assassin. The theatre
was occupied by the records and
pension division of the surgeon gen
erals office and over 500 clerks were
in at the time of the accident. The
theatre is three story brick struc-
ture and the first ntimation of dis
aster was the giving way of the
centre of the third floor. The clerks
and their desks were instantly
dropped to the second floor. The
second floor offered no resistance
and the two went through to the
basement, filling it up to the level Of
the ground with debris of all kinds.
In this mass were scores of men.
Nearly 80 were taken out dead and
no man came out uninjured.
That less than 80 were killed
seems incredible, for it is estimated
that over 100 clerks fell in the ruins,
while 400 came out without a
scratch. This is explained by the
fact that only the centre of the
building fell in and the 400 that es-
capped did not have desks in the cen
ter of the theatre. visited the spot
a few hours after the accident and
saw no signs of such catastrophe
except that the building was sur
rounded by hundreds of people,
some of whom were searching for
friends still buried in the ruins. The
outside walls were not injured and
nothing could be seen from the street
except the workmen inside search
ing for dead bodies.
Many Of the escapes were marvel
Gus. Five men saved their lives by
unreeing a hose and descending
from the third story "hand-over-
hand down the hose, which was
fortunately long enough to reach
the ground. Some jumped to the
adjoining buildings and escaped I'M
hurt, while one man was Instantly
killed by jumping from window to
the sidewalk. Fortunately fire did
not break out and the rescuing of
the dead and injured was not inter-
rupted by flames. The police, the
fire department and government
troops prevented any panic after the
accident and the work of rescuing
the imprisoned went on uninterrupt-
edly from 10 o'clock until dark.
The accident was undoubtedly
caused by attempting to repair the
foundation of the building. In ex-
cavating under the front wall to
build sub-cellar the foundations
were weakened and the dreadful
catastrophe was the direct result
But Ford's Theatre had long been
considered an unsafe building, and
that 500 clerks should be crowded
into such en- old building is a blot
upon our national government that
cannot be wiped out. While spending
millions for useless harbor improve
ments, congressional junkets and
costly public buildings all over the
country, congress compelled 500
clerks to live in building that was
so unsafe that some of the clerks re.
signed their. positions when the re-
pairs were commenced, anticipating
some calamity.
Secretary Lamont, who was at
the Worlds Fair, started at once for
Washington and court of inquiry
will be held to fix, if possible, the
blame for the accident. Somebody
ought to be held responsible for a
calamity the like of which has not
been seen since the fall of the Penn.
berton mill. Public sentiment is
running high here and all predict
that the next congress will be more
: liberal and appropriate money to
{ build new building for the govern
ment printing Office, which is as
much of death trap as the old
Fords Theatre.
ARTHUR F. STONE.
Washington, June 8, '93.