The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-10-24
DEATH RODE THE STORM
FATAL COLLAPSE OF A FILM.
SY NEW YORK BUILDING,
An Unfinished Seven-Story Factory
Blown Down by the Wind-Near
ly Half Score Killed-The Dam,
age Along the Coast to Shipping
and Shore Pronartv


house and killed nine persons. Mis-
Mary Kerr, Of Englewood, N. j., was kille'
by the falling Of chimney cap whic
/ was blown from Its place and crashed
through the roof. Mrs. Murphy and two o
her children were swept from a barge II
Huntington Bay, Long Island, and wer'
drowned. A surfman was drowned at Cap
May. Small crafts were blown ashore In tn
Sound and along the New Jersey coast ant
many we're wrecked at their moorinRs.
The seven-story brick "sweater" factory
which was In process Of construction at z.
Monroe street, collapsed during the heigh
| of the violent storm OF wind and rain, de.
| molishing In its tremendous fall the two
story and attic frame tenement fanking II
on the " est, and crushing the rear extension
Of the brick dwelling on the east, beside.
knocking hole In the side wall OF the main
portion OF this structure large enough for q
carriage and pair to drive through.
| Upwards Of thirty persons were sleepinl
In these dwellings at the time, and how any
OF them escaped death Is q miracle. Nine
were killed outright IN the crash, or lived
confused awakening, and seventeen were
more less seriously injured.
The crash came about fifteen minutes be-
fore o'clock q. m, and In twinkling the
entire neighborhood was aroused and In an
! uproar. The list of dead, all Of No. "a Mon
roe street, is as follows:
Bessie Abrams, forty years old, wife Of
Isaac I. Abrams; Ell Abrams, seven years
old, son Of Isaac I. and Bessie Abrams Isaac
L Abrams, forty-two years old, husband Of
Bessie Abrams Z; Rose Abrams, sixteen years
old, daughter OF Isaac I. and Bessie L..
Abrams Abraham Karones, mine years old son
InQ II -. II L. D>sk
tones, fifty years old, wife ofMichael Karones
son Of Michael and Bertha Karones Jennie
5teinman, sixty years old, who lived with
her daughter and son, Bessie and Meyer Z,
Meyer Steinman, thirty-one years old, son
Of Jennie Steinman.
The collapsed factory building was the
property Of Louis Arcnowitz. an architec-
tural iron worker, OF No. IS Monroe street.
with his home at No. 3la Madison street.
| de proposed usingit for sweaters" work.
shops. 1t was built on q lot twenty feet In
width by eighty-nine feet In depth.
been rushed up In haphazard fashion, and
with inferior materials. Aronowitz, who
was arrested at noon and arraigned before
Justice Hogan, in the Essex Market Police
Court, ascribed the disaster to the storm.
He was psroled until further evidence could
be obtained.
Thomas Hennessy, OF No. SO Monroe street,
was standing at the corner OF Pelham street,
not far away, chatting with some friends.
he thinks It was quarter OF four o'clock
! when he started up the street In the side op-
posite the building to walk to his home.
As he was abreast OF the factory a sound
like the report OF cannon caused him to
break into wild run for the next corner.
The next moment there was deafening
grinding and cracking, and with rush the
tall skeleton Of brick and iron sank and then
fell apart like house OF cards, sending up
dense volumes Of choking dust, and piling
its dismembered elements over an area Of
fully one hundred square feet.
Policemen Curry and Powers, with DR..
Musgrave. q physician who lives opposite,
and Janitor Mclaughlin, OF Primary School
No. SO, were first to realize the gravity Of
the situation. A glance showed them that
the two-story frame tenement, No. 72, ad-
joining the factory on the west, had been
blotted out OF existence, and that No. 70, q
brick dwelling to the east. was also involved
In the disaster. But, worst Of all, were the
cries Of agony that issued from the piles OF
debris.
Policeman Curry ran to the nearest fire
alarm box and turned In call His next
available In the lower part Of the city. The
reserves from the Madison Street Station
House.were also sent for.
Louis Abrams and Isaac Abrams, who were
screaming for help, were pulled out with
some difficulty, and were able to Join the
others, for whom an asylum had been hastily
improvised In the school house, where the
wife of the ianitor provided blankets and
restoratives for the half clad, half dead sur
vivors.
The experience Of Hyman Abrams. who
was sleeping with four others In the attic,
was the most dramatic and sensational OF
the disaster. He was awakened by the crash
and carried downward, as 1t seemed to him,
an awful distance. There was a crushing
and cracking in his ears that told him some
thing terrible had happened, but what 1t was
he could not know. Almost choking from
the thick dust, he yet retained enough OF
his senses to realize the presence OF other
sufferers near him.
After the first excitement was over 1t was
learned that there were twenty persons IN
the small two-story tenement which felt the
brunt OF the crash, while In the extension OF
the brick dwelling at No. 76 Monroe street
there were nine.
The work of rescue was prosecuted dill
gently from the first, and amid the binding
rain. by three engine companies. These
were reinforced later in the day by gang OF
laborers, under the direction Of Contractor
Galligan.
After two hours-hard work Annie Karones
was rescued and carried into the school
house, where were her brothers and sisters.
Never Steinman was brought to the surface
Just alter he had apparently breathed his
last.
The neighbors 1abored hard to alleviate
the sufferings OF their stricken fellows. In
side the school house Mrs. Mclaughlin, the
janitor's wife busieo herself In supplying the
rescued with clothing.
James Wallace, a Hamilton street saloon
keeper, opened his cellar and provided free
stimulants for the men who worked IN the
driving rain to rescue the unfortunate from
the ruins.
Jacob Karones was rescued by the fire.
men shortly after one o'clock from great
mass of debris. He was pinned down by q
heavy beam, and was crying family Tor help
when the firemen got to him.
In the front OF the building a girls hand
was uncovered after an hours hard labor.
The firemen were able to reach her and give
her brandy, but it was an hour and hair
after that before they were able to rescue
her from the broken rafters and beams
that imprisoned her. Louis and
Carl Abrams were utterly buried In the
ruins and remained there for two hours be-
fore the flremen were able to reach them.
Mrs. Karones, when her dead body Was
taken from under the ruins, was found 10 Dc
horribly mutilated.
The most remarkable incident In connec-
ton with the disaster was the miraculous
escape from death OF Jacob harones.
For nearly nine hours he lay buried In the
debris threatened every minute with IN
4 L..