Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-10-17
DEATH In THE CRASH.
AWFUL DISASTER AT A CHURCH
CORNER STONE LAYING.
Platform Gives Way and 900 Are
Precipitated Into a Pit-Parochial
School Is Turned Into a Hospital
Forty Persons Injured.
Many May Die.

was meant to be an incident of glad re-
joicing became in an instant a catastrophe
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 ceremonious laying of a cor
ner stone for the new st. Mary's Roman
Catholic Church, and just after the priests
had hushed crowd of 5000 people into
solemn silence. The list of dead and in
jured is as follows:
Killed:
Mary Weber. 3-year-old daughter of
Mat Weber. of Sheffield.
Fatally injured:
Miss Kate Deidrick, 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, 8 years old, of Lorain;
left leg crushed and hurt internally.
Mrs. Michael Keeling, middle aged, of
Lorain; injured internally.
Rosa McGee, 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. i. 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 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 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.
tended about ten feet above the bottom Of
the unfinished basement. 1t was on these
foundation walls that 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 n point of vantage from which
the services of the church could be seen
"
took their places on the platform at 1
o'clock fully thousand people were
standing or sitting on it. The great ma
jority of these We're women and children
Four thousand others were grouped about
the place, ali within earshot.
Just as Monsignore Boff, Of Cleveland.
the chief Roman Catholic dignitary pres
ent, raised his hand to bring the audience
to quiet, sound of splitting timbers
threw the great crowd into CONSERVATION.
which became panic when il was seen
that 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 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 its 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 i'm frightful, mad
dened panic. The sound of the crash was
followed by wall from the helpless VIC
tins as by an echo, and that again by
great cry from the spectators of the trag-
edy, who had been stricken into 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
women and children being crushed and
beaten down beneath the greater weight.
Three thousand people, lost to presence
of mind, made mad rush forward to-
ward the pit, hoping to lend aid to the un-
fortunates, 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
ly ropes and ladders were procured and
handed down to the struggling victims.
When assistance finally reached them and
the rescue was well under way IL 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 Morgue.
The old Catholic church, few rods dis
tant from the new, was turned into n
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 phys-
clans were on the scene within twenty
minutes. and they were kept busy until
sundown caring for the victims wounds.
Several of the injured will die before
daybreak.
When the people had carried the dead
and wounded into the old church and
quiet had to some extent been restored
among those who escaped the services of
corner stone laying were resumed. The
delay occasioned was not more than thr-
ty minutes, and the ceremonies laid down
by the Roman Catholic ritual were not
altered in any wise, except that they be-
came a shade more solemn and to the de-
vout hearers trihe more impressive
Father Boff delivered the sermon. 1t
was eloquent and impressive and was
tinged with the somber hue of the dark