Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1895-07-18
FEARFUL ACCIDENT.
The Casino Building at Atlantic
City, N. j., Collapses.
one THOUSAND PERSONS BURIED.
Fully One Hundred Of Them More or Less
Injured-The Lights Go Out and
Darkness Adds to the
Excitement.

ATLANTIC CITY, N. D., July 1.-THE
social session rendered by Atlantic
lodge to the visiting Elks at the Baltic
avenue Casino yesterday evening end
ed in terrible disaster, in whic h fully
100 persons were more or less serious
ly injured, one man being taken out
dead. The session had just opened
and only one of the speakers had been
heard when, without the slight
est warning, the building,
which has not been used
for several years, collapsed and fully
1000 persons were thrown to the floor
beneath Many women, the wives Of
visiting elks, went down in the ruins.
Fully 200 persons who were on the
first floor Of the building and immedi-
ately beneath the banquet hall were
crushed beneath the timbers and lay
helpless. The fact that all the electric
lights in the building went out at
the time the building gave way added
to the confusion. An alarm was imme-
diately turned in and the city's force
of 200 firemen and every police officer
in the city were called TO the scene as
hospital corps. The police ambu-
lance and carriages Of every descrip-
tion were utilized to convey the
injured to the hospital and to
their hotels. When the police and
flremen had arrived on the scene
the excitement was so intense that
they scarcely knew where to begin
first. An immense crowd Of people had
been attracted to the place by the
noise Of the falling building and the
groans of the unfortunates who were
pinned beneath bricks and timbers.
The streets for several blocks were
choked. The air was full Of
anxious inquiries for friends and rela-
tives who were thought to have
been in the building. Within few
minutes the police succeeded In clear
ing space in the immediate neighbor-
hood Of the building and placed ropes
around to keep the crowd back, In
the meantime the fremen had set to
work to extricate the wounded from
beneath the mass of timbers and they
were aided in their work by the hotel
keepers and residents near the scene.
Every house was thrown open for
the ri Z p.lou | ..'aiie ii. .sirt \ ard every
available conveyance was pressed into
service to carry them to their hotels.
Meanwhile physicians were on the
scene and were doing everything
in their power to aid the unfortunates
who had been caught in the crash. As
quickly as the unconscious forms OF
the wounded were taken out, willing
hands bore them to the nearest place,
and everything that surgical skill
could do to alleviate their sufferlngs
was done. The excitement amidst the
assembled crowds was even greater
than that in the immediate neighbor-
hood Of the building. All sorts OF
rumors were rife. 1t was first reported
that the building had caught fire, and
that, in the consequent panic, many
lives had been crushed out Then
a rumor came that the entire
edifce had collapsed. As 1t had
been generally known, however,
that the social session of the order had
been in progress in the building and
that 1t would in all likelihood be the
largest meeting Of the session, almost
every new arrival upon the scene was
almost frantic with grief and an xiety
for some relative or friend. Their
fears were, to an extent, quieted, how
ever, when it was learned from good
source that only one life had been lost.
In the excitement Of the disaster 1t was
almost impossible TO procure accurate
details.