Evening journal., 1893-06-09
FOrd's Old Opera House
Falls to Pieces.
TWAS USED BY U. s. CLERKS
And 100 Of Them Are Killed or
Injured,


Used by the Government, and 400
Clerks We're at Work In the Building
When It Fell-An Washington Aroused
and Citizens Rush in to Save the Dying.
Troops Ordered on the Scene.
WASHINGTON, June $3.50 a. m.-
Fords old opera house on Tenth street,
in which President Lincoln was as.
sassinated, has just fallen in. About.3OO
government clerks were in the building
at the time and great loss of life is
feared.
10 a. m-The first floor collapsed
through weakness, caused by excavating
cellar and in its fall carried down
the other three floors and with them
hundreds of clerks
The dead and wounded are being taken
out as rapidly as possible by the fremen
and police.
All the ambulances in the city have
been summoned and the rescued are
being conveyed to the hospitals.
1t is feared that hundred people have
been killed. The scenes are terrible
Some jumped from the third floor.
The walls are still standing but every
floor is down and every window blown
out.
The building has been condemned as
unsafe and unsuitable for the purpose
for which it was occupied for some time,
but sentiment has kept it unchanged.
The floors were heavily loaded with
the records and pensions division of the
War Department. The clerks employed
there were all men.
Warned Them of Danger.
1890 a. m-One Of the workmen, a
colored man, who was employed in ex-
cavating the cellar, and who escaped
with only slight cuts, says: Il told
them yesterday that the archway would
fall, for every time any one walked over
the floor it would bend. 1 tell you l was
scared and got out just as quick as 1
could. There were twenty men at work
with me. Deed don't know what be-
came of them.
Every hospital in the city has now
been called into requisition to care for
the wounded AS soon as possible a
complete roster of the clerks in the
building will be sent with names Of dead
and injured as far as ascertained.
Soldiers Ordered to the Scene.
1915 a. might dead bodies have
Just been taken out of the ruins. They
have not yet been identified. General
Schofeld has ordered two troops Of cav.
airy from Fort Myer, just across the
river, and two companies of infantry
from the arsenal 10 the scene Of the dis
aster.
The Secretary Of the Navy has ordered
out all the naval medical officers
stationed here. and has also opened the
naval hospital to receive the injured
The commandant at the navy yard has
been ordered to render all assistance in
his power.
Clerk Miller the First Dead Man ReooG
nized.
1880 a. MT is feared there are still
eighty bodies under the ruins. Another
man has just been taken out dead How
ard S. Miller, of Ohio, clerk in tn,
Bureau, and an unknown man horribl,
mangled, have just been brought to tn,
Emergency Hospital dead
Some of the Injured C1erlrs
A partial list of the injured at tn
Emergency Hospital is as follows: Fred
Calvert, Charles Metcalf. S. D. Dewey
William Lecture F. N Test. - Kugh
Ter, Pennington Ames, Charles R. Miller
G. F. Hathaway. R. NJ Patrick, J. A
Stewart, F. F. Sims, Louis Dusapy, G. n
Mclaughlin.
A Minute Lost Means Death.
II a. m.-The remains of a young ma
not yet identified have just been place
in the morgue at the Emergency Hospi
tai This makes the number of ascel
tanned dead up to the present tim
eleven, but every minutes delay in rC
moving those buried under the ruins in
creases the probabilities of fatal results
There are believed to be fully sixt
clerks still in the ruins The most heroi
efforts are being made by the firemen an
police to reach them. The cavalry hav
just gone to the scene to clear til
streets.
Emergency Hospital Crowded.
There were over AGO clerks in tn
building. Scarcely one has escaped MOI
or less injury. Twenty-eight person
have been taken out of the rnins up I
1915. The Emergency Hospital
crowded with the dead and injured.
Chaos Reigns at the Capital
The injuries from the very nature {
the accident are Of the severest chara
ter, crushed and broken limbs and intel
nal injuries prevailing. The excitemer
of the relatives aud friends is nRturall