The herald., 1895-03-02
UNDER COLLAPSING WALLS
Four Men Crushed to Death and Many
Injured
Two Buildings In New York Tumble Down
and Bury nany Workmen-Tons Of
Brick and Mortar

New York, March 1.-Two buildings,
one in course of construction, and one in
course of demolition, collapsed in this
city today and killed four men and fatally
injured or manned or bruised nineteen
others.
The first accident occurred about 9 80
O'Clock this morning. A house at the
corner of Forty third street and Tenth
avenue, which was being torn down, fell
with crash, carrying several workmen
to the basement, three floors below, and
they were almost completely covered by
tons of brick, dry mortar and iron beams.
The dead are Hugh Cullen, Anglo
Vicor, John o Conner, James Malloy.
Injured-Pat Curran, Thomas McCan-
non, Edward Meaney, NJ. E. keely, Louis
Stein, Felix Moran, Charles Robson.
The building, which was an old one,
had been used as a malt house by NJ. and
A. e. Schweinfurth for the past 80 years,
but it has not been occupied for more
than 20 years.
1t was an eight-story building. The
men were tearing down the old structure
under the direction of Contractors Hoke
and Keegan. The work had gone on sue
cessfully until this morning, when the
men had got as far as the rear third floor.
There were about fifteen men on this floor
at the time the house collapsed. Suddenly
there was rumbling noise and the build
ing rocked as if shaken by an earthduke,
In moment the floor gave way and fell
with its human freight to the basement,
carrying the under floors with it.
. Assisted by some laborers who had es-
capped and many willing citizens, tiremen
began the work of rescue. 1t was hard
and very dangerous task, for the walls
were lettering and the remaining flooring
and beams overhead threatened to topple
down every moment. Resides, the res
cuers had to be very cautious. fearing the
slightest carelessness on their part might
end the lives of some of those whose
groans and cries for help came from all
directions from underneath the debris,
from which heads, arms and legs pro-
jected.
At 8 clock John O'Connor was brought
out but he died in the ambulance on the
way to Roosevelt Hospital. Halt an hour
later the dead bodies of Cullen and Vicor
were extricated.
The rescuers worked desperately. and
by l O'Clock every one of the laborers had
been accounted for. Contractors George
! O'keefe and Patrick keenan, were placed
under arrest, but were later admitted to
| bail by the coroner.
! The second accident occurred about 3 &c
| this afternoon. Without the slightest
| warning to the fifty men that worked neal
| it, the central wall to the four double
| tenement houses being erected at 151
| to 157 Orchard street, crumbled and fell.
With the wall went portions of fouI
! floors, leaving great rent fifty feet long
and thirty feet wide in the center of the
| building. 1t was like pit at the bottom
of which was "a mass OF tangled iron and
| broken wood that covered many men.
! One man was taken out dead and thirteen
injured. The fremen came soon and re-
serves from Eldridge street police station
There were so men working on the build
ing. Most of them were on the fourth
floor of No. Isl. Between the front an6
rear wall there was big party wall along
side which ran big shaft 1t was the
party wall that crumbled. In the hear
! the men went down with the falling floor
One of the brick layers, Michael Luscles
had just time to clutch at a window il
the wall and he was left clinging to the
| frail support four stories above thu
ground. He managed to crawl up so al
to sit on the window sill, from which
position ne was afterwards rescued by tn
tiremen.
The cries of the imprisoned men coult
be heard OH every side. Additional fire
men were called to begin removing tn
| debris. The twelve men were soon gotteI
out without much injury. The con
! tractors, John Coomes of Astoria ant
| Peter Cloves, and the owner, VIM. f
Lannon, were all arrested.
Captain Cartwright said he had made
careful examination of the building AM
said it was surprise to him that tn
| house had stood as long as it has, TIL
mortar, he said, had been examined b.
an expert and pronounced worthless.
is also said the bricks were OF poor qualit.
and the beams not properly supporte
and that the iron Orders We're not Of
stones in the walls as they should be. A
the station, bail for the arrested men wa
Building Inspector Timothy J. ~ or r ,
to learn from him why he had not re
ported the fiimsy character of the build
ing. They were not able to find him.