The Topeka state journal., 1897-10-07
One Hundred People Fall Twen-
ty Feet,
By the Fall of a Depot Plat
form at Kansas City.
NINETEEN INJURED.
All Piled Up in a Hole Under
meath.
No Deaths Resulted From the
Accident.


away of rotten timbers supporting a por-
tion Of the platform of the Kansas City
& Independence electric line depot, at Fiji
teenth street and Askew avenue, last
night at Z O'Clock. 100 people, men. women
and children, were precipitated eighteen
feet into a hole beneath the platform.
The portion of the platform which gave
way under the pressure of its human
weight was sixteen feet square. The peo-
pie shot through the aperture like a fash.
not being given an instant's warning of
what was coming.
Nineteen We're lifted out with broken
ribs and arms. injured heads and bruised
and bleeding bodies, but no one is thought
TO be fatally injured. But for the soft
condition of the ground upon which the
people fell there would doubtless have
been many lives lost.
A complete list of the injured, most of
whom are from Independence, No, is
given below:
Mrs. L. W. Baldwin, aged So, Independ-
ence; sprained spine; thought to have in
terna1 injuries; also compound fracture
lower jaw; sent to All Saints hospital
perhaps the worst injured of any.
Mrs. w c. Rice, aged IS, Independence;
slight confusion left elbow and right leg;
head also slightly bruised. Went home
Miss SaIlie Rice, aged 9. Independence;
right arm broken in two places above
the elbow; scalp wound. Sent to All
Saints hospital
Miss Nellie Nichol, aged 20. Independ-
ence; right shoulder bruised. Sent home.
Mrs. 6. NJ. Nichol. aged so, Independ-
ence; serious internal injuries about lower
portion of abdomen, caused by falling
across a joist. Sent to All Saints hospi-
tai.
Mrs. R. NJ venable. independence; dis
location right shoulder. Sent home.
Mrs. T J. Walker. Independence; right
leg broken above the knee. Sent to All
Saints hospital.
Mrs. o. H. Goodman, Independence;
slight internal injuries. Sent home.
Mrs J. H. McClanahan. Independence;
slight internal injuries. Sent home.
Miss Emma Jackson, colored. Independ-
ences confusion on left shoulder.
Miss Nora Smith, aged IS. Washington
park, slight confusion of head.
Miss Mary Burns, Sheffield; slightly in
jured.
Miss Ella Alley, aged 19. Blue Springs:
left leg badly lacerated and inside of left
thigh punctured. Sent to All Saints
hospital.
Lii Scott, Sheffield; left jaw punctured.
Miss Agnes Wicker, aged 20, Webb City,
Mo; slight bruises
Miss Madge Decker, aged 16. Webb City;
head cut slightly and suffering from con-
cussion of the brain. Sent to All Saints.
Warren Decker, aged 10, Webb City;
right arm and nose bruised.
Z. l. Morse. Excelsior Springs; internal
injuries. Went home.
Mrs. J. W. Gum, aged %, 1925 Highland
avenue; left foot sprained and puncture
under foot
The accident occurred at a time when
travel was at its height. Hundreds of
people from independence and the towns
reached by the electric line, who had
been in the city to see the flower parade,
were crowded into the depot and upon
the platform waiting for their cars. AS
they procured their tickets the people
passed through the gates to the platform
to the north of the depot, where the cars
line up to wait for passengers. Cars
were being loaded as fast as possible. A
dOzeu special policemen in the employ
at the Metropolitan Street Car company,
which operates the electric line. We're di-
.recting the people onto the platform and
aboard the cars. The crowd was large
and happy. 1t surged to and fro and
jostled and talked. As the Z o'clock car
was backed into the place about $50 peo-
pie We're admitted through the gates to
board it. They We're impatient and made
a rush for the car steps. Only few had
boarded the car when suddenly there was
a
near the rear end of the car, and upon
which at least 100 persons were standing.
gave way amid the crashing of timbers
and the shouts and shrieks OF men and
women. The timbers on the east of the
defective section of the platform gave
way first. and the west timbers, acting
as a sort of hinge, let the passengers
down. much after the fashion of a slide
down cellar door.
The platform was built on piles about
eighteen feet high, but there was none
under the section that fell A small
stream which flows near the depot tends
to keep the ground moist and muddy. The
people were precipitated into the mud and
water, head over heels, and upon one an
other. There We're groans from the
wounded and shouts from those who were
not hurt Above them on one side stood
the car which they had so vainly tried
to enter on the other side We're huge
piles and broken tiling.
The work of carrying out the injured
was begun in an instant. People who
were not on the defective platform went
bravely to work with the Metropolitan
employees. Telephone messages were sent
to central police station and Police Sur
geon Longan and Assistant NOrberg re-
sponded with the ambulance and two po-
Heemen. Lieutenant Weber and squad
of officers from No. 4 station also went to
the scene in answer to a telephone ness
age General Superintendent w. H.
Holmes and Claim Agent J. L. Karnes of
the railway company. with cOmpany's
surgeons, Frank and VIII Iuen, and DR..
Lipman, were also soon on the scene.
Inprovised stretchers We're provided.
and the wounded, as fast as they were
taken out of the hole. were carried into
4he depot waiting rooms. where immedi-