The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-25


pants. BY the tirie they were ready to pour
water on the fire there was no use of
their doing anything. as the fire spread
with such rapidity there was chance
whatever of saving the building after it
had once gdt beyond the confines of the
booth in which 1t started.
BURNED LIKE TINDER
Within ten minutes after the fire began
the roof was ablaze, and in a very short
time after the fire had appeared on top of
the building one of the large arches that
spanned the building gave way with tre-
mendous report. and then another, and an
other, each one going down with q. sound
like the report of a cannon. The build
ing fell very quickly, as after the first arch
went down the weight was too great for
the arches next to it, and all collapsed. 1t
took not over twenty minutes to make a
complete ruin of the building.
1t is not known just how many people
perished in the building. Late tonight it
was learned that Mrs. Pauline Dauphin and
her daughter Pauline. who were said by
Manager Austin to be lost in the fire. had
gone to their hotel on the West Side and
were not injured in any way.
While responding to the alarm of fire from
the Coliseum, Engine Company 10 collided
with passenger train on the Lake Shore
road, smashing the engine. Only one of the
tiremen, Albert Chamberlain, was injured,
however. The accident occurred at Forty
first street and Cottage Grove avenue. The
hose cart of theNcompany was ahead of the
fire engine and close upon the tracks when
the watchman heard train approaching
and closed the gates. The hose cart was
too close to the gate, however. and before
the driver could stop his horses crashed into
it, carrying it down completely. The driver
managed to stop his horses on the track,
and the Waterman, seeing that unless he
opened the gate the hose cart would GER
tainly be run down, opened them, letting
the cart out of danger. The driver of the
engine, which was close behind, thought
from the raising of the far side gates that
the way was clear, urged on his horses and
dashed on the tracks. The train was there
before he was, however, and he drove
squarely into the side of rapidly moving
passenger train. All of the firemen were
thrown from their seats, but all of them
escaped injury with the exception of Cham
berlain, whose hurts are not severe.
THE BURNED BUILDING.
The Coliseum cost $25O,OOO and was twice
as large as the Madison-square Gar len
building of New York. 1t had q floor space
of seven acres, including the ground and
gallery floors, was 40 feet long by 800 wide,
and contained 2,5OO000 pounds of steel, 1,2OO,-
600 feet of timber and 100000 bricks. On
Aug. 15 1895, the first Coliseum, then in the
course of construction, was wrecked Cntail
ing a loss of $125, 600. The cause of the col
lapse has never been known, but it was
thought that the last arch was not placed
in position correctly. The building was to
Of
the Barnum & Bailey circus, and the con-
tractors were rushing the work in order to
have it completed in time Six hundred
men had been working on the building UP
to half an hour before the crash came,
which was lilo o'clock at night. Fifty
thousand feet of green lumber, which was
to have been used for roofing, was on the
roof of the building at the time and the
weight of this was supposed to have had
something to do with the accident.
The original Coliseum was designed by s.
S. Beeman, in Italian renaissance style. In
the center Of the ore side was a campaniie,
twenty-four feet high and thirty-six feet
square After the collapse of the first
building Architect s. S. Beeman ct once
drew plans for new building, and 1t was
constructed and opened to the public June
l. 1894 The details of the massive building
show a composition of fourteen enormous
arches, seventy feet at the apex above the
ground and with a span of 23O feet in the
clear. The building was encircled on the in
side by gallery thirty-fve feet wide and
thirty-three feet above the floor. The arena
was only equaled in extent by that OF the
Roman Coliseum.
The total loss on the building and contents
is said to be $47S,OOO Of this amount $35O0OO
was the value of the building and $12S,OOO the
estimated cost of the exhibits and material
in the exposition in progress in the build
ing Insurance to the amount of $4,000 was
carried on the Coliseum, but of this amount
$4,000 win go to the holders of outstand-
iEg bonds to pay these obligations IN full.
The owners of the building will get but
$40 COO out of their insurance. Col. John l..
Dickinson, president of the Coliseum Com
pany said tonight that no effort would be
made to restore the building. Next to the
Coliseum the heaviest individual loser is F.
c. Bostwick, the proprietor of mechanical
riding school, elaborate contrivance,
which is said to have cost 100000 and on
which there was no insurance.