The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-05
TWENTY-FIVE KILLED.
frightfuI Accident Occurs at
London, Ont.
BLOODY END OF A CELEBRATION,

Hundreds of People the Floor Gives Way
and Precipitates Them to the Basement
Eeiow-wild Rush OF the Survivors for
Safety ty-Cause of the Disaster-Much In
digDation Expressed.
London, Ont, Jan. 5.-No new VIC
Tins have been found in the city hall
ruins. The following is revised list OF
the dead and the more seriously in
jured. The dead Benjamin j. Nash.
carriage maker: John Turner, carriage
maker John Burridge, shoemaker;
Frank Robinson, plasterer: Crawford
Beckett, contractor; Edward Luxton,
Farmer W. II. Dell. baker; r. S. Leigh,
plumber; Abraham Phillips. flour deal
er; Benjamin Jacques, painter; Stephen
William. laborer;V. c. Smith, garden
er; l.. W. Burke, insurance agent; John
Fellows; James Harris, molder; Wilson
Carruthers, farmer; w. j. Borland,
woodworker; Noble Carruthers, son of
Wilson Carruthers; Fred Heaman, son
of w. Heaman; w. e. Talbot, son of
w. Talbot; Oswald Bruce, son of w.
Bruce, shoemaker; Allen Towe, son of
E. Towe; John Burgess, laborer; Her
man Hilbert, peddler; James Mclean.
young son of James Mclean. The total
numbers twenty-five.
Structure Was Crowded.
The disaster was caused by the coll
lapse of floor of the city hall building.
The structure was crowded, as it was
the end of the municipal campaign and
the successful candidates were to make
speeches. There was a sagging of tim
bers and the next moment hundreds of
people were hurled twenty feet to the
floor below. A beam running twenty
feet along the center of the hall had
given away and the crowded mass
standing above that section of the floor
was thrown in heap to the basement.
large safe stood in one corner of the
hall, and. with huge steam coil weigh
ing half ton, came crashing down on
the heads of the victims.
Following the crash there was a wild
rush for the doors. At the south door,
where the majority of the crowd had
entered there was wild panic. Those
in front were thrown down by the on
coming rush, all shrieking and fighting
for the door and safety. Only one half
of the rear door space probably three
feet wide, was open. In the mad rush
no one thought to open the door in it's
entirety and 500 people struggled
through the narrow space, the strong
bearing down the weaker.
Caused by Breaking Beam.
City Engineer Graydon states that
the cause of the catastrophe was the
breaking of the heavy beam which runs
beneath the floor. almost at the center
of the space which gave way. This
beam was composed of twelve 3x4 tim
bers securely Joined together. The joists
ran east and west from the beam, rest
ing on the front and rear walls of the
engineers office. There was a span OF
eighteen feet the beam broke in the
center, rolling all the people standing in
this space into one mass.
The engineer stated that the supports
of this part OF the floor were not taken
away in making recent alterations. The
wall where this joist ran was taken out
in 1883. The engineer did not consider
the hall dangerous, and says that the
tremendous dead weight simply caused
the beam to snap.
Indignation is high that an old struc-
ture that should have been condemned
years ago was permitted to be used for
the public business when so many
knew it was unsafe. One inquest will
be held over all the dead victims. A
verdict of censure for the officials in
charge of the city hall is expected.