The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-05-21
A Large Building at Buffalo.
New York,
Undergoing Repairs Suddenly
Falls In Ruins
ITS WALLS FALL OUT
Upon a NeighbOring Crowded
Barber Shop.
Bodies Being Taken From the
Ruins.

BunaIo. N. =, May 21-The old Brown
building. corner Main and Seneca
streets formerly occupied by the West
ern Union Telegraph company, col
lapsed today. The portion OF the build
ing that fen was being reconstructed
and was upheld by braces The cause
of the collapse is supposed to have been
the giving way Of the props
Many carpenters were working in the
building at the time and the barber
shop of Morris if. Jones. was full Of
customers. There were perhaps ff-
teen or twenty people in the building at
the time. of these two have been taken
out fatally injured. They are George
Metz q barber. died later at the Fitch
hospital Mike OfBrIen, carpenter, back
broken; dying
Others who have been rescued are s.
L. Hawkes. and James Adams
The body OF James Hickman par
Der has been removed. Jennie Crib
ben. the woman cashier of the barber
shop is under the ruins and no doubt
dead.
The police and hremen are working
TO clear away the ruins and rescue the
unfortunates: it is impossible to accur-
ately estimate the number, probably
not less than fifteen A dozen or more
people are said to have been in the the
barber shop when the crash came
Cries have been heard from the pile Of
debris.
When the Western Union moved out
of the Brown building, which is an old
decrepit structure of forty years stand
ing. their dynamOs and engine were
taken out of the basement and contrac-
tors were employed to remodel and re-
construct it. This they attempted to
do by running braces under the floor
jOists held up by piers The immediate
cause of the collapse was the removal
of part of the foundation walls There
We're but few tenants in the building.
LATER PARTICULARS
Buffalo. May 21-The four story brick
building. 8 to 10 Seneca street. part OF
1T forming a portion of the Brown build
ing. recently vacated by the Western
Union Telegraph company, collapsed
today while a large number of men
We're at work in the building remodel
ing it, The falling walls went down
upon q couple of smaller brick build
ings adjoining on the east side and
demolished them. Schnert's barber
shop, next door to the falling building
was crushed as if it had been an egg
shell. Ut was full of BARRIERS and GUS
toners at the time. Quickly respond
ing to an alarm. force of hremen went
to work to clear away the ruins. Their
zeal was quickened by hearing the
agonized cry of men beneath the debris
The walls of the west. north and south
sides, stood nearly intact The front
walls falling out, gave the ruins the ap-
pearance of a hollow square. From the
third story of the wrecked building an
immense piece of ceiling and floor
seemed to hang above the heads of the
rescuing party The wall to the south
had broken at the top and a portion OF
it had been carried away by the roof as
it caved in. This wall from the sec
ond story up to what had been the
third. stood unsupported and was re-
garded as the chief danger to the res
cuers and those still beneath the ruins
After twenty minutes of hard work
the hremen reached and extricated one
of the victims, nangled and bleeding
but stiH alive. He was taken away lin
an ambulance.
"A little later. directed by groans pro-
Ceeding from mass of beams lath.
brick and plaster. the hremen reached
q second sufferer He was young
man. Though he had been under ten
feet of debris he was able to stand
when once he was extricated He is
not dangerously hurt He is Rob
ert easier. steam filter. who was in
the cellar and heard the first cracking
warnings OF the impending ruins. He
looked up and saw the rafters and
Jolsts giving way sprang quickly into
the part of the cellar that is under the
sidewalk A moment later the whole
structure was about his ears.
He was tightly pinned in. although he
could breathe easily. He said there
were two steam filters and two help
ers in the cellar and he did not see
them as the building fell. He thinks
they may have escaped injury. as they
We're ia another part of the cellar.
Up to noon only one of the dead had
been recovered though it is believed
there are ten or twelve. George Metz
the man who was first discovered bv
the hremens died on the way to the
hospital.
Following is the first list of the in
s. /. Hawks. carpenter. address un-
known married; severely bruised and
cut about the body, not seriously in
James Adams. n Chandler street. a
carpenter. severely bruised, cut and in
Jul ga lAte1llallys has a wife and child.
Ailcnael o O'Brien, carpenter. living at
z85 James street. back broken: is mar
ried and has four children
NISSING
Miss Jennie Griffin. cashier in Jones'
barber shop. is buried beneath the
ruins.
Herman J. schiItze. one Of the bar
bers who escaped uninjured saws that
as he was rushing out of the shop he
saw the walls and debris fall upon her.
and the fremen are working hard at
the ruins 80 learn the truth Of the
rumor.
Another body-that OF a nnan-was
recovered after several hours labor bv
the hremen- His name is not known.
The following have beeen found
PETER SERAOB. contractor.
VIM. KUPPINGER, internally iniur-
ed
ually injured.
strapbs Fullrnyer and Kuppinger were