Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-10-11
DEATH IN THE CRASH.
AWFUL DISASTER AT A CHURCH
CORNER STONE LAYING.
Platform Gives Way and 800 Are
Precipitatcd Into a Pit-Parochial
School Is Turned Into a Hospital
Forty Persons Injured.
Many May Die.

| Ohio, into mourning Sunday, and what
was meant TO be an incident of glad re-
/ joicing became in an instant Il catastrophe
I of appalling horror. One child was killed
outright, ten persons were fatally injured
and between thirty and forty others were
seriously hurt by the sinking of section
of temporary platform built on rotten tim
bers. The accident occurred az the out
set of the ceremonous laying of a cor
ner stone for the new St. Mary's Roman
Catholic Church. and just after the priests
! had hushed crowd of 1000 people into
solemn silence The list of dead and in
! jured is as follows:
Killed:
Mary Weber. 3-year-od daughter of
Mat Weber, of Sheffield.
Fatally injured:
Miss Kate Dedrick. of Sheffield: both
legs broken and hurt internally.
Mrs. John Eustin. aged lady, of Lorain
left leg crushed and chest injured.
John Feldkamp, of Lorain; hurt inter
nally.
Katie Griffin. 6 years DID, of Lorain
left leg crushed and hurt internally.
Mrs. Michael Keeling. middle aged, of
; Lorain; injured internally.
Rosa Niece, s years old. of Lorain;
| skull fractured.
Mrs. Mary McGrath. of Lorain; left leg
crushed and hurt internally.
Mrs. Margaret Mackert, of Lorain !;
hurt internally.
Mrs. Cornelius Sullivan. of Lorain;
spine injured and left leg crushed.
Mary Sieder. of Lorain, aged lady;
chest crushed and hurt internally
Seriously hurt:
Col. w. |. Brown. leg and arm bruised
Mrs. William Burgett. of Lorain; hurt
internally.
Mrs. NJ. Bruce. of Hoganvilc; left an
kle broken
Nellie Dollard. of Lorain: head cut.
John Eustin. of Lorain: back hurt.
Mrs. John Fox, of Sheffield; both legs
broken
Mrs. Mary Latimer, of Carlisle Center;
right leg crushed.
John Martin. Of Loran: left leg broken.
Mrs. Mary O'Kcefe. of Lorain; hurt
internally, and leg will have to be ampu-
tated.
William Ryan. of Lorain: right leg
broken.
George Thcobald, 3 years old; head cut
Nicholas Wagner leg bruised
Platform Was Crowded.
The foundations of the church are ex-
tended about ten feet above the bottom Of
the unfinished basement 1t was on these
foundation walls that a large platform
had been built. On which the ceremonies
were TO be held. From an early hour in
the morning until after noon people had
been gathering on this platform. anxious
70 6
the services of the church could be seen
and heard. When the reverend fathers
took their places on the platform at l
O'Clock fully n thousand people were
standin-; or sitting Oh it. The great ma
Jorlty of these were women and children.
-Four thousand others were grouped about
the place. all within carshot.
Just 80 Monsignore Boff of Cleveland.
the chi f Roman Catholic dignitary pres
ent, raised his hand to bring the audience
to quiet, q sound of splitting timbers
threw the great crowd into CONSERVATION.
which became panic when it was seen
that a section of the temporary platform
was sinking beneath the weight Of 800
people huGdled together upon it, The
crash came of Il sudden and every one of
the 900. save Il dozen or two who s,.ram-
hled off the edges. was precipitatcd into
the pit ten feet below. The section whic,
gave away was in two wings. and as il
sank it formed yeritabc death tran for
the victims. The PIT. with its sIantinr
board walls, resembled an inverted roof
of very steep slant, the gable ends being
closed up by the stone foundation walls
and into this vortex were hcaped men.
women and children in one eonelomcrated.
struggling heap, ali in frightful. mad
dened panic. The sound Of the crash was
followed by Il wall from the HELPLESS vic
tins as by an echo. and that again by a
great cry from the spectators of the trag-
edy. who had been stricken into a. panic
and were well-nigh as helpless rs Che vic
tins themselves
The inevitable result Of panic followed
and doubled the horror. already great
enough. Those persons at the top of the
mass escaped easily, but when the pit was
partly cmptied those victims who were
still entrapped could not Chamber uD the
steep sides, and they trampled upon each
other like so many wild creatures. the
strong men getting on top and the weaker
women and children being crushed and
beaten down beneath the greater weight
Three thousand people, lost to presence
of mind, made Il mad rush forward to-
ward the pit. hoping TO lend aid TO the un-
rortunates, but rs they pressed forward
their weight threw ut least fifty of those
nearest the edge headlonc into the pit.
For at least fifteen minutes no aid WAS
given. and nothing was done cxcapt in
the way OF making matters worse. Final
Iy ropes and ladders were procured AMI
handed down to the struggling victims.
When assistance finally reached them AMI
the rescue was well under way !. was
found that the dead body of one child lay
in the bottom of the basement. and that
almost fifty other persons were lying
bruised and mangled on the floor
Church Is Made,a Mor-ue.
The old Catholic church, Il few rods dis
tant from the new was turned into a
morgue and hospital. and some of the in
jured persons were carried into the paro-
chial school next door and there made as,
comfortable rs possible. Twenty phySi-
clans were on the scene within twenty
minutes, and they were kept busy until
shutdown caring for the victims wounds.
Several of the injured will die before
daybrcak.
When the people had carried the dead