The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-08-20
UNDER THE. RUINS
F0UR-STORY BUILDING COLLAPSES
AT EAU CLAIRE, .
A Score of Worl1men Disrruutitn-.
the Building Are Buried in the.
Ru1ns-Three Men, Including the
Contractor, Arc Tiled and Near
~ All the OF Are Injured.
Four Men Are A.ssinc

Eau Claire, Wis, Aug: 49,. - Last
evening while force Of twenty-five.
Workmcn was engaged in tearing down
Music hall, a four-story frame struc-
ture, the building collapsed. The men
all went down in the ruins The dead
and injured are:
Killed--Halvor Olsen, has wife and
four children; William Dean, con-
tractor, body still in ruins; Nicholas
Roach. body still in ruins.
1njurcd-Jobn Thorson, crushed by
falling timbers, cannot live; James
Dean, buried under mass of timbe: 8,
cannot live; Charles Agan, badly
crushed; Ole Solberg, badly crushed;
John Larson, Gus Mayors, Ole John
son, Brady Medium, H. B. Walters,
William Berg. w. r. Evans, Williams
arnold. Bert Wallum, Lullwig Berg
or the injured several may not recov-
er: -Four men are reported missing.
Inc Workmen were on the upper
floor and roof when the walls began to
bulge and fell before any one could
escape. except five men who were en-
the roof sand were uninjured. The
hre department at once began the
work of rescue, and all the dead and
injured were taken from the ruins ex-
cept Dean and Roach.
Music hall was owned Jointly by AL
fred Kahn, the leading dry goods man
OF this city, and Peter Truaxe. a
wealthy lumberman and real estate
owner. A few days ago a contract
for tearing down the building was let
to make room for 4 new structure.
At 80 o'clock, while twenty-five men
were at work. the south wall bulged
without warning and while some of
the laborers were on the roof, some in
the basement and others on the second
and third floors they We're caught and
Carried Down in the Collapse
The crash was heard blocks aWav
and sounded like terrific explosion.
attracting many thousand people.
Five men who were on the roof scram-
bled to an opposite wall and perched
there until taken down by the fire
department, which had been called out.
After the police had made clearing
and there was no lore danger the work
OF rescue began,and the first body to be
recovered being that of Halvor Oleson
of this. city. John Thorsen of Little
Black, Wis.,, was The next. He is dying
at the hospital. He leaves a wife and
children. James Dean of Eau Claire
was next found buried under tons of
timber and stone. He was taken to-
the hospital. His recovery is doubtful.
The men are still digging for the
bodies of Mn. Dean and Nicholas
Roach, buried deep in the basement.
Dean is contractor and prominent
citizen. Both Dean and Roach have
families. Part of the front wall is
still standing, but is liable to collapse.
The fall of portion of the west wall.
torn down by the fire department, car
rled away the electric light, power and
telephone wires. Half the town was
IN darkness and the street railway was
tied up for several hours.
An inquest was Immediately ordered,
but owing to the excitement it was
continued for two days. The building
had been occupied until recently and
though old had been considered safe.
The taking away of the partitions and
supports in the interior weakened it
and caused the accident.