The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-22
BUILDING COLLAPSES.
1t Was a Decrepit Structure of Forty
Years Standing.


Years Standing.
BUFFALO, N. Y, May 21.-The four
story brick building, to 10 Seneca
street, part of it forming a portion of
the Brown building, recently vacated
/ by the Western Union Teleg graph CON
pany collapsed today while large
number of men were at work in the
building remode1ing it. The falling
walls went down upon a couple OF
smaller brick buildings adjoining on
| the east side, and practically demohsh-
ed them. Schnert's barber shop, next
door to the falling building, was
crushed as if it had been an egg she'll
1t was full of BARRIERS and customers
at the time.
Quickly responding to an alarm,
force of firemen went to work to clear
away the ruins. Their zeal was quick
ened by hearing the agonized cry of
men beneath the debris. The walls on
the west, north and south sides stood
nearly intact. The front wall having
fallen out, gave the ruins the appear
ance 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 second story up to what had been
the third, stood unsupported, and was
regarded as the chief danger to the
rescuers and those still beneath the
ruins.
After twenty minutes hard work the
fraT7 ta1 of
the victims, mangled and bleeding, but
still alive. He was taken away in an
ambulance. A little later, directed by
groans proceeding from a mass of
beams, laith, brick and plaster the
firemen reached a second sufferer. He
was a young man. Though he had
been under ten feet of debris, he was
able to stand when e2tricated He is
not dangerously hurt. He is Robert
Caster a steam filter, who was in the
cellar and heard the first cracking
warnings of the impending ruin. He
looked up and saw the rafters and
joists give way. He sprang quickly
into the part of the cellar under the
sidewalk. A moment later the whole
structure was above his ears. He was
tightly pinned in, although he could
breathe easily. He said there were
the cellar, and he did not see them as
the building fell He thinks they may
have escaped injury, as they were in
another part of the cellar.
George Metz, the man who was first
discovered by the firemen, died on the
way to the hospital
Dead:
George Metz, barber.
Jennie Griffin, cashier in barber shop.
Missing:
William P. Straub, contractor, believ-
ed to be buried in the ruins.
Thomas James, carpenter.
Injured:
Jacob Richmond. barber; may die.
S. l. Hawk, fractured skull; will
likely die.
Robert Cassler, plumber, badly bruis-
ed; internally injured.
Jacob Hickman, bruised and intern
ally injured; may die.
Frank Hickman, badly bruised. SER
icus.
William Kuppinger. internally injur-
ed; serious.
Joseph Bouley, plasterer injured in
ternally; serious.
The body of an unidentified workman
was taken from the ruins shortly be-
fore o'clock this morning The time
book of Contractor Straub has been
found and leads to the belief that there
are at least four bodies in the wreck
of the Brown building yet The search
will be kept UP all night.
An iron column has been found in
the debris which is so full of sand holes
that 1t can be crushed with little eff
fort. The district attorney had taken
some of it for use before the grand
Jury.