Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1896-09-10
FALLING '
Crush the Life Out Of z
at Benton Harb,


BENTON HARBOR, Mich, Sept. T.
Yore's opera house and djoining build'
ings were burned early Sunday morn
ing. causing the death of IL firemen
and injury to a number Of sthers; and
entailing a loss of $685.
Killed: Frank Watson, married, of
st. Joseph; Edward ii. Gange, married,
St. Joseph; Arthur C. Hill, married,
st. Joseph; Frank Seaver, married, st.
Joseph; Robert Rolfe, single, st. Jo-
seph; John Hoffman, married, Benton
Harbori Thomas Kidd, single, Benton
Harbor; Frank Woodley, married, Ben
ton IIarbor; Scott Rice Benton Har-
Dor; viii Matten, married, Benton
Harbor; Louis Hoffman, single, Benton
Harbor.
The seriously injured are: Ex-Fh e
Chief John A. Crawford, Benton Har-
Dor, burned and overcome by heat and
smoke, seriously injured.
Frank Paget, of st. Joseph, legs
mashed by falling brick.
VIII Freund, of St Joseph, cut about
the head and burned.
Jack Mccormick, Benton Harbor,
Several others were injured by fall
ing walls, but will recover. Shortly
after midnight Yore's opera house, a
large four-story brick structure was
discovered to be on fire. Ii had gained
much Roadway before the alarm was
given and when the four city depart
ments arrived the building was a mass
of flames. The st. Jose phi departments
were sent for and arrived soon
on them and was spreading to
other buildings when the hook
and ladder companies went to the rear
of the building, hoping to be able to
direct a stream into the mass of flames
from a second-stOry window. Hardly
had they arrived there when the wall,
with a mighty crash, came down upon
them, burying Is men under the red
hot bricks Other portions of the wall
were weakening and the rescue of the
i'm prisoned firemen was deferred some
time, as it was expected every moment
the remainder of the wall would fall.
Finally some of the crowd rushed into
the mass to rescue the shrieking
and struggling men. Frank Watson,
of st. Joseph, was the first man reach
ed, but he was dead and his body was
a mass of broken bones and mangled
flesh The search continued until s
o'clock, when the last victim, Arthur
Hill, was removed. They were carried
to Offices and private houses where
doctors from both cities were in wait
ing to rerder aid. Some of them
died en- route and others died
while their wounds were being
cared for. The dead were taken
to the city hall, which was
turned into temporary morgue. Some
of the men were SO badly nangled that
identity was only had by means of let.
tiers and papers in their pockets. As
the bleeding forms were carried
through the streets they werc followed
by throngs of awe-sticken I4en and
women, eager to learn whether the vic
tim was a friend or relative. After the
falling of the rear wall, which took
with it the lives of at least eleven men,
the roof and other walls soon collapse !,
one of the side walls fell upon s. two
story brick building owlei by
VIM. Frick and completely lv-io.-
ished it and its contents OF
shoes. The fire had not been confined
alone the opera house, but h2f crep
acrc,> t.s alley and soon t.. rear of
the wv store buildings W ~e \ rceth-
ing mass of flames The \, yever,
WEI. often under control - TO-, they
reach the main part of the landings.
The IRE was under control at five
o'clocl and the s, arch ior .lore bodies
was beg and continued O.. day until
tonight, the tirer0cn, exhausted, gave
up the search un,ll Monday.
The occupants of the several build
ings will lose several hundred dollars.
The origin of the fire is unknown, but
Guy Prescott, who stated Sunday that
he knew how the fire started, but was
not going to give any o1e away, was
arrested and will be brought before
the coroner's jury. The ward
robe of the Katie Putnam company,
which gave a performance for the ben
eft of the firemen in the evening was
also burned, as was the wardrobe of
the Mexican Troubadours, who are
spending their vacation here. Several
of the dead firemen have large families.
The funerals will be all held together
Tuesday and will be under the au-
spices of the firemen and fraternal so
cieties, of which the deceased were