The true northerner., 1898-11-09
A DISASTER At DETROIT.
Collapse of the New Five-Story
Wonderland Theater Causes
Heavy Loss of Life.
ELEVEN DEAD BODIES ARE RECOVERED.
rh. ra.t of Injured Persons L. =
,.,.,bx One The Unfortunates
Are Badly Crushed and mansie"-
several Rescuers Hurt by . Sec
Ond Collapse.


several Rescuers Hurt by Sec
Ond Collapse.
Detroit. Mich, Nov. THE new five
story Wonderland theater Is In nope
less mass of debris, and at least eleven
lives were sacrificed by an accident
which occurred Saturday afternoon.
Shortly before two o'clock, while 80
men were at work in various parts OF
the half-finished portion OF the struo-
ture. the roof fell in without SECONDS
warning. Nearly every workman was
carried down into the theater pit; the
ton gallery was crushed down upon the
lower gallery, forming sort OF fatai
hillside. down which slid broken steel
pirders, planks, timbers, brick and
great quantity of cement from the TOOL
and carrying along struggling COM
pany of men into the pit below very
few of whom escaped injury. hescuers
were at work, when portion OF wall
left standing fell. burying several put
killing none.
The Dead.
The known dead are as follows;
John Creszelski, laborer: James Geger-
laDOrer.
borer; Cornelius McCarron. lather; iheo-
dore Mertens laborer: August Sallach' Ia
borer; Martin Shafer. painter: George W.
White, timer; Peter Pfeifie. Frank Woiie'
Max Poll.
Those m,s.ing and believed dead are:
Peter Connors lather: Jacob Lewen. metal
polisher; - Belts. metal cornice-maker;
o. Mullin.
The Injured.
The injured are: Charles Cross, arm bad
iy cut and bruised internally; Joseph NC
Bride, ankle terribly crushed. two scalp
wounds; Oscar Robinson. severely bruised
about the lungs and internally injured;
John Dunchinsky. ribs broken; JACOB
Pollke, nose partly severed and bad scalp
tured about head and face; Edward Fisher
leg broken and badly hurt internally may
not recover; William Grossfield scalp
wound and arm injured: Paul Skozkowski'
spine injured and body bruised J. w. VIII
son, eyelid torn, heel broken, two ribs
broken, badly shocked, may die; Louis
Schmidt. foot crushed. badly bruised. Will
recover.
After the first crash the front wall OF
the building remained practically in
tact, but the east wall bulged and
buckled threateningly
Second Collapse.
Notwithstanding the danger, tho
work of rescuing the injured and tax
ing out the dead was rushed and goo>
progress made until 5:15 o'clock, wheI
the upper portion of the east wall fell
a shower of bricks striking around tn
crowd of laborers, officers and news
paper men. extinguishing the tenn
porary electric lights and causing
stampede for the street. Fortunatel
none of those who were struck by tn
second downfall was seriously injured
although several were precipitated int
the basement through the steel jois
over which only few loose planks wer
laid.
Cause Not Determined.
The cause of the catastrophe has no
vet been definitely settled. 1t seems t
rest. however, between too niue
weight in the roof and faulty ste'
beams used in its construction. Th
top of the roof was of cement, abol
eight inches thick, and many builder
lean TO the opinion that this was to
wcighty for the supporting steel wor
Others say the fault lies in the ste
work, which they allege was of poo
quality. Several of the beams snappe
off instead of bending Most of Il
debris landed in front of the stage, ar
looking from there one could see hi
of bent and twisted iron beams, spl
planks and huge Jagged blocks
cement The lower balcony held fir1
which doubtless saved the lives of
number of the workmen who were u
der it, The firemen rescued numb
of those who had fallen on top of t
wreckage.
The board of public works soon hi
all their available employees at wor
AS fast as mangled workman was e
tricated he was tenderly carried to o
of the waiting hospital ambulances, a
the usual pitiful scenes were witness
at morgue ond hospitals.
The walls steel work and roof we
the only completed portions of Wond'
land, which was without floors or
terror finish The property is owned
Patrick Virgins, partner of James
Moore in his combined theater a
museum enterprises. The proper
loss is yet unestimated. The pol
have secured a number of the brok
Qirders, to be used as evidence later.
Another body Found.
Detroit, Nov s.-The mangled bo
of the twelfth victim of Saturda.
theater collapse was taken from I
ruins of the Wonderland building No
day II was that of Charles Mielke
Iaborer, and was discovered In a c.
ner of the top gallery, nearly c.
cred by wreckage. When extrica'
the remains were wrapped in an I
dertaker's blanket and lowered to
street with rope, In full view o.
crowd of spectators.