The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1898-01-05
CITY HALL VICTIMS
NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE.
%
Results Of Ile Olt0II0 Disaster Be-
come More Appalling.
Why The UNION JACK FLOATS AT HALF MAST
City Engineer Says Heavy Beam Broke
Under the Floor,
Newspaper Man Relates His Expe-
rioncc-Pinned Down Beneath u
Soothing Mnss of Humanity vi Oss
Heart-RendiDE Cries He Ever
Henrd-Praycrs, Groans, Enircu>
tics, Calls for rAssistnnce-Dcnd nnH
Dying All About Him.
London, Ontario, Jan. 4, 1895

The Union Jack to-day floats at half
mast over the City Hall. but 1t is not
needed to remind the citizens of the
horror OF last night. The City Hall
presents the appearance of Il wreck and
the streets In front Of 1t are crowded
with curious and sOrrowing citizens
The list of dead numbers twenty-five
but 1t is much to be feared that it Is
not yet complete. Many of the injured
are not expected to recover and others
will be confined TO their beds days,
weeks and some for months
AS one looks at the ruins to-day the
wonder Is that there were so many
escapes among the 800 persons who
made the fearful drop. 1t was moth
Ing short of miraculous that so many
are alive to-day
City Engineer Giaydon states that
the cause Of the accident was, the
breaking OF q heavy beam which ran
beneath the floor almost at the centre
or the space which gave way This
beam was composed OF twelve SKI tim
bers' securely joined together The
beam broke in the centre. rolling ali
the people standing in this space into
one mass. The engineer says that the
supports of this floor were not taken
away In making recent alterat tions.
The wall where Shis jolst ran was taken
out in 1855 The engineer did not con-
slider the hall dangerous, and says thu [
the tremendous dead weight simply
caused the beam to snap.
The Inquest began this; afternoon, but
was purely formal
Two reporters who were hurled into
the deadly pit at the city hall disaster
have written their stories of the TRACE
dy.
Harry NJ. Passmore. reporter OF
the Advertiser who was at work when
the crash came, was seriously hurt,
and had to be taken to his home. He
said to-day
fhe crowd was packed like herrings
IN barrel and the reporters found il
impossible to write. We implorcd AL
derman Carrothers not to call any more
speakers. feeling In danger of being
Injured by the constantly increasing
jam. Alderman Carrothers seemed to
coincide with this view, as the crowd
continued to sway forward In front OF
Inc platform. But the previous speech
es, in which threats had been made OF
now the new council would undertake
10 undo the work Of their predecessors,
seemed TO so please the crowd that
they called for other speakers Sudden
~ there was an ominous cracking of
smashing timbers. Back slid the repor-
ters' chairs. There was not time to
move a limb, there was n tremendous
crash, and the end OF all of us seemed
10 nave come. There were three of the
reporters writing at the table when
the crash came and carried the floor
PLATFORM and hundreds Of citizens down
with Ii.
Il cannot describe my feelings when
| found myself pinned down beneath n
seething mass of humanity. jammed 10.
Eether amid tons of timber, broken
furniture and an office safe. I never
heard more heart-rending cries in nv
NE than those of the dying and wound.
ca as they lay all around, above and
beneath me. The prayers, the groans
the entreaties of my fellow sufferers
seemed to continue for ages, while will
ing hanNis set about rcscuinc us. NV
chair hai turned completely over. the
legs were straight up and I found my
SELF protected by ii from ben, crush
ed by the table al which we had bacn
sitting, and which was also complo,n,v
turned over. From above me blood
from the killed and wounded began 10
trif-!e and tina. with the cries of Tho
dying for deliverance from their mains
made an impression on me which I shall
never forget"