The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1895-05-18
BUILDINGS COLLAPSE.
Fatal Fall Of Tenement House
Near Providence.
THREEKILLED, ,TwoFATALLY HURT

Nine Others Receive Injuries More Less
Serious - One Killed and Two Fatally
Hurt While Removing ths Wall of
Burned Building In Chicago.
providence, May 1s.-A two and half
story wooden tenement house. owned by
Joseph LeMoine and occupied by him and
several other French families, in that part
Of the town Of Coventry known as "Jori-
che" seven miles from this city, collapsed
late yesterday afternoon and three persons
were killed and eleven injured. 1t is
tho ught that two of the latter are fatally
hurt. The building had been raised to
permit the building of another story be-
meath it,
The killed are: Mrs Mabel Gucrtin, so
years old, occupant Of house; Asa Aid
rich, 30 years old, workman employed in
raising house; 2I5-year-old child of Louis
LeMoine, occupant Of house.
The injured are: Mrs. LeMoine, aged
10 years, crushed, bruised and injured,
probably fatally; Noah Richards, work.
man, scalp wounds, side crushed, proba.
bly, fatal internal injuries; Mrs. Louis
LeMoine, 35, injured about head; Fred
Balliere, 10, scalp wounds, unconscious;
Frank LeMoine, 49, leg fractured; Joseph
LeMoine, IS, serious contusions, - Cos.
selin, TO- scalp wounds, shoulder crushed.
Two small children named Gauniere were
also seriously injured. Two others sus-
tained slight injuries, but were able to
care for themselves.
The building was about fifty feet long,
with a frontage Of twenty feet. The lower
portion was formerly store and the
owner recently decided to raise 1t thirty
feet and fit up the lower stories for tene-
ments, and about three weeks ago Con-
tractor Poole, of Apponaug, began the
work, and the structure was raised to the
required height. The two families in the
upper stories did not move out, as they
were told the building was perfectly safe.
While the men were working at the
underpinning the building, without warn
ing slid off the piles on which it rested
and pitched endwise into the street, strik-
ing the ground with terrific crash as ID
was split and smashed into mass of kind
ling wood. From the ruins rose the cries
OF the injured and dying and the passers-
by and others ut once began the work of
rescue. In the excitement the Centreville
fire department was summoned, and they
rendered valuable assistance in tearing
away the debris. An alarm was rung up
on the mill bells and soon thousands had
gathered Mt the scene.
apart the mass of splintereI beams and
boards, and soon came upon the body of
woman lying in the street under the Sec
ond floor 1t was crushed into u condition
almost past recognition, but from the
clothing it was identified as that Of Mrs.
Guertin, a widow who lived on the second
floor. A short distance away the body Of
a child was found The neck was broken
and the lower parts were badly mangled.
Half an hour later the body of Asa Al
drich, of Arctic Centre, was found His
back was broken and his head crushed
into pulp. Aldrich was in the act of NOV
ing heavy jack under the building when
it started on its downward plunge.
Mrs. Joseph LeMoine, wife of the owner
of the building, and Noah Richards, a
workman, were taken from the ruins so
badly injured that they will probably die.
half dozen others, including children,
who had been playing near by, were also
injured. Joseph LeMoiue, a man So years
old escaped with severe bruises and bad
shaking up.