The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-11
AFLoOR FALLS WITH THE ELKS
, THOUSAND MEN AND WOMEN IN A
STRUGGLING MASS.

the Crowd 20 EeeN TO the flOOr he
Iowa Portion of the Floor Re-
wnins in Place With Part of the
Audience on II.
Atlantic City, N. J., July 1O.-A fright
n fal accident terminated the Elk festivi-
tiss at the Inlet Casino tonight. in which
a large number of persons sustained ter
rible injuries from which they will die.
II was at $3.50 O'Clock when the grand
exalted ruler of the Buffalo body, Meade
. D. Detwiler of Harrisburg, had finished
his address at the opening of the social
session Of the Elks and was about to in
troduce James ]. Armstrong of New York
when a cracking sound was heard. A
moment later the floor, upon which were
almost a thousand people, slowly opened.
and the mass of humanity was preclpita-
ted to the first floor, distance of twenty
five feet. Men, women and children were
plunged into the hole and upon one
another.
The cries, shrieks and groans were
deafening and the direct confusion reigned
An alarm was Immediately sent out and
all the physicians in town responded. The
work OF extricating the injured proceeded
rapidly and at u o'clock they have all
been removed to the hospitals or their
homes.
BY o'clock more than 1900 people had
gathered on the second floor of the pa
vilion, anticipating a pleasant evenings s
enjoyment. The bands attached to the
visiting lodges had given a fine concert
and Capt. Samuel Perret of the Atlantic
City lodge, had just begun the prelimi-
naries of starting the social session. The
night was a lovely one, and as the strains
of the music fioated out over the ocean
it seemed that a more joyous crowd
could not have been gathered together
anywhere. but there were several hun
dred of the people who had noticed the
vibration of the floor and left the pa
vilion. fearing that the great weight
would lead to it's destruction and the con-
seduent injury of the merry making.
Among those cautious people were a
number from Camden lodge, prominent
among whom were ex-Assemblyman
William ]. Thompson and County Clerk
Robert j. Barber of Camden. Fearing to
create a panic, they quietly approachea
some members of the visiting lodges ana
discussed the advisability of bringing the
affair to a close so as to relieve the hoor
of a portion of the weight.
While they were yet talking, the crash
came A portion OF the floor, some thirty
feet square, located about the middle OF
the pavilion and near the railing on the
board walk side, came tumbling down,
bringing along probably 100 people.
In a second the electric lights on the
second floor were extinguished, but luck
lily those on the lower floor kept burning
long enough to permit some of the panic
stricken people to get to the stairway,
oh reacn the
board walk
Men, women and children were Jammed
together trying to escape by the stair
way, while the victims Of the crash were
screaming for aid to extricate them from
the fallen beams and umbers.
When the first feeling of panic had sub
sided, the surviving Elks gallantly rush
ed to the rescue of their injured brothers
and friends, Indifferent to the danger that
confronted them, as they did not know
the instant the remainder OF the paVlllon
might bury them beneath its ruins. While
the work of rescue was going on the
lights on the first floor became extin-
gushed and plunged the place into dark
ness Men ran to the car
barn of the trolley road near
by and obtained number of headlights
from the cars. These were most useful IN
assisting the work of the rescuers.
In the meantime the people who were
seated in the vicinity of the break found
themselves in imminent danger or railing
through the hole. Indeed some were Obliged
to clutch the edge Of the floor to Keep
themselves from going through Maurice
A. Rogers, eX-president of the Senate OF
New Jersey and member of the Camden
lodge. was seated by the side of his wife
in the section that fell. Mrs. Rogers was
precpitated to the ground sustaining only
a nervous shock. Senator Rogers had both
hands caught between two beams and
hung suspended until released
An alarm of fire was turned in, but when
the fremen arrived all the victims had been
released from the wreck. Before the ar
rival of the ambulances number of ON
nibuses were pressed into service to carry
away the wounded to their hotels or to the
city hospital
Among the injured are:
At the United. States hotel are c. M.
Foot of Minneapolis, collar bone and arm
broken.
c. M. Lombard of Boston. feet mashed
and arm fractured.
j. r. Duke of Joliet Ills. badly cut on
the head and about the face.
At Schauffler's hotel are: James Long,
of the internal revenue service Philadel-
phia, injured about the face, and nose
broken.
Ulie Lee of Camden, internally injured.
Charles Folwoll 212 Penn street, Cam
den, left leg broken.
George j. Pechlin OF Camden, leg
mashed.
James ]. Armstrong, exalted ruler of the
New York Lodge of Elks, internal injd-
ries; and also his little 10-year-old daugh-
ter.
Mrs Japha and her niece, Miss c. Fried
enthal of New York, suffering from slight
internal injuries.
At the Aibermarle hotel are:
Mrs. c. Myers of Philadelphia, leg frac-
tured.
Mrs. R. A. Livesley of East Liverpool
o. leg mashed.
NJ. E. Wells of East Liverpool, O., spine
injured
In addition to the above, the following
are at other hotels.
Prescott Eckerman of Mt. Holly, N. j..
OF jennings band leg broken.
Frederick Laproth of Camden, of Jen-
ning's band, internally injured; probably
fatally
J. Melville Janson of Carcross' theater
Philadelphia. eye cut and leg badly cut
Mrs. Janson, compound fracture of leg.
Mrs. Anton Webber of Brooklyn, back
injured.
Mrs. Henney. bruised about the limbs