Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-04-12
FOUR KILLED IN THE CRUSH.
Collapse Of a Tenement Building in
Memphis, Tenn.


Seven Persons Unaccounted For--Fivc
Seriously Hurt, While SIX Others
Escaped NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. for the
Victims.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, April s.-Four cheap
collins laid in a row in tic murgne, and
five bandaged forms reao-iHs on cots At
the City Hospital represea, the dead ami
injured taken from the debris OF tene..
ment building on the northeast corner OF
Desoto and Beale streets, which collapsed
at I. 10 o'clock this morning
There is no doubt that there are more
bodies beneath the immense pile Of brick.
lime, sand and splin.ered Timers that now
cover the place where the building stood,
but it is safe TO say that no haste that may
be made for the recovery of the bodies
will avail TO save life, for all that were not
rescued BY noon to-day are beyond the
reach of human aid.
The collapse was witnessed by several
persons on the outside and several of
those who were on the inside survive to
relate what little they know Of this, one
of the most appalling disasters that ever
occurred in Memphis. There was a creak-
ing and cracking. swayinG Of walls. then
the collapse thar came with crash. A
great cloud of dust hoated out upon the
air. filling the street each way for block,
There was a hnrrying forward Of police.
rescue began.
THE DEAD ASp INJURED.
The list of the dead John Morgan,
barber, aged IS. Amy simmons, aged 81;
Will Cook. alias Henry GRAY, aged 80;
Lottie Marks, aged 80. List of injured +;
Andrew Harris. head and body bruised;
Catherine Boyd, spine and internal IN
juries; Larinia Perkins. forehead and scalp
cut and left arm broken: Georgia Guy,
bruises and internal injuries; Cora
Murphy, internal injuries,
OF those injured the chances for the re-
cOyery of Cora Murphy and Catherine
Boyd are extremely doubtful. All the
persons taken from the ruined building
are colOred.
The building was erected 81 years ago
IL was of brick, three and a half stories
high. with d slate roof.
While it was all one building II was
divided BY a thick wall into two compart.
men;s. The building had never been CON
demned as unsafe. 1t was considered as
one of the staunchest OF the older build
tugs in the city.
THE WORK OF RESCUE.
The scenes attending the rescue were
horrifying in the extreme. The bodies
that were found with life extinct were al
badly crushed, their flesh torn and mutt.
lated and some OF them were almost nude.
\ half hour after the collapse occurred,
the news Of 1t had Travelled over the entire
cry ami the attendance at the churches
showed decided falling off, US the wOr-
shippers could not resist the temptation OF
visiting the gruesone place. The result
was that crowd gathered there until
Beale and DcsotO streets, in the vicinity,
were densely packed.
The time for church services came and
| went and still the crowd remained. As
\ each corpse was lifted out gToan would
/ 90 up. The noon hour brought no diminu
| ton of the mass Of people and the heat OF
| the afternoon was unnoticed by the
| throng. When darkness set in there wa
\ sill large gathering, and boys and mer
| stepped over the ruins to try and find I
| corpse that the labOrers had overlooked
| during the day.
Men went to work Oh the debris as sooI
as the collapse took place. First an ole
| negro woman shook the dust from off he
back, arose from the top OF the heap ant
| got away without assistance Then th,
form of woman was lifted ont, still
| alive, and soon the body of man, still
| breathing, was pulled out. These wer
sent to the City Hospital. Then came
cornse, and so the work of rescue pro
| ceeded slowly throughout the day.
The exact number of lives lost will no
be known until the debris is cleared away
There were about so rooms in the tene
ment, about half of which were occupied
Twenty-Five people were known TO be il
the building al the time of the collapse
OF these six escaped without serious in
jury, four were taken ont dead. fy
wounded and the remainder are missing