The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-10-17

Lorain; injured internally.
Rosa McGee, 3 years old. of Lorain;
skull fractured.
Mrs. Mary McGrath, of I%.orain; left leg
crushed and hurt internally.
Mrs. Margaret Mackert, of I.orain;
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. l. Brown, leg and arm bruised.
Mrs. William Burgett. of Lorain: hurt
internally.
Mrs. NJ. Bruce, of Hoganville; left an
kle broken.
Nellie Dollard, of Lorain: head cut.
John Eus.in, of Lorain; back hurt.
Mrs. John Fox, Of Sheffield; both legs
broken.
right leg crushed.
John Martin, of Lorain; left leg broken.
Mrs. Mary O'Keefe, of Lorain; hurt
internally, and leg will have TO be ampu-
tated.
William Ryan, of Lorain; right leg
broken.
George Theobald. 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
to secure q point of vantage from which
the services of the church could be seen
and heard. When the reverend fathers
took their places on the platform at /
o'clock fully a thousand people were
standing or sitting on it. The great ma-
jority of these were women and children.
Four thousand others were grouped about
the place, all within carshot.
Just as Monsienore Boff, of Cleveland,
the chief Roman Catholic dignitary pres
ent, raised his hand to bring the audience
TO quiet, a 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 300
people huddled together upon it. The
crash came Of a sudden and every one Of
the 300, save a dozen or two who scram-
bled off the edges, was precipitated into
the pit ten feet below. The section which
gave away was in two wings, and as it
sank it formed a veritable death trap for
the victims. The pit, with it's slanting
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 heaped men,
women and children in one conglomerated,
struggling heap, all in frightful, mad
dened panic. The sound of the crash was
followed by a 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 n panic
and were well-nigh as helpless as the 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 emptied those victims who were
still %entrapped could not Chamber up the
steep sides, and they trampled upon each
other like so many wild creatures, the
strong men getting on top and the weaker
WOHuCh stilu lioA otli6 tIuSutu III
beaten down beneath the greater weight.
Three thousand people, lost to presence
Of mind, made a mad rush forward to-
ward the pit, hoping to lend aid to the un-
f%ortunates, but as they pressed forward
their weight threw at least fifty of those
nearest the edge headlong into the pit.
For at least fifteen minutes no aid was
given, and nothing was done except in
the way of making matters worse. Final
~ ropes and ladders were procured and
handed down to the struggling victims.
When assistance finally reached them and
the rescue was well under way it 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 MOrxue.
The old Catholic church, n 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 as possible. Twenty physi-
clans were on the scene within twenty
:anutes. AMI they were kept busy until
shutdown caring for the victims wounds.