The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-01-04
HORROR ENDS Campaign,
Fatal Collapse at a Political Mee..
ing in Canada.
THIRTY PERSONS MEET DEATH.

The Breaking ofn Beam prccipitntcS
over n Hundred People to the Floor
Below, aud Then Fearful Rush For
Life Ensues.
London, ont. Jan. 4-Oneof the hottest
and most stubbornly contested muuici-
pal elections ever known i'm this city
was followed last night by a fatal acyi-
dent that has put the city in mourn
ing. Thirty persons were killed and
others injured by the collapse of a
crowded Aoor of the city hail. At mid
night 20 bodies had been taken from
the wrecked building and identified.
List of the known dead follows: f. Hea-
man, c. Beckett, e. Luxton N. Caroth-
ers, r. Leigh, james Harris, i. w.
Burke, John Smith, Henry Talbot, a.
Phillips, John Turner, Ben Nash j. W.
Borland, George Hilhurn, Frank Rob-
ison, James Mclean, John Barridge,
Oswald Bruce, b. Jacg les, w. II. Dell,
Stephen Williams, John Fellows and
Allen Towe.
There We're a large number injured,
among them the following: DR.. Will
son, the mayor-elect, leg broken; AL
derman CaroJhers, slightly injured;
William Gray, leg broken; George
Fleming, both arms broken; Will, N
Jones' water commissioner-elect, badly
bruised.
How many were injured will never
be known as those who suffered but
slightly at once made for their homes
or were taken care of by their friends.
Those who were more seriously injured
tA m n a rer tnY
whence they were taken to the hos
pital or to their homes after their in
juries had been attended to. The dead
were taken to the committee rooms of
Alderman Parnell, the defeated candi-
date for mayor.
At the close of the polls a crowd
gathered in the city hall, where it has
been the custom for years past for the
successful candidates to address the
electors. The building was crowded
to the very doors, probably 1000 people
being jammed in it's narrow space
There was a lull in the proceedings, the
audience called for several of the
newly elected aldermen at once, and
there was some delay in securing a
speaker to address them. Alderman
Carothers Joined the mayor in an effort
Gus calls r. NJ. Toothe was pushed for
ward to the platform on which the
speakers stood. AS he reached it there
was an ominous cracking and the
raised platform on which the mayor
and newly elected aldermen We're seat
ed seemed to pitch forward to the floor
There was a sagging of timbers, anC
the next moment $50 people were hurled
20 feet to the floor below. A beam run.
ming 20 feet along the center of the hal
had given away, and the crowded mass
| standing above that section of the floor
was thrown in a heap at the bottom
A large safe stood in one corner of the
hall, and a huge steam coil, weighing
q half ton, crashed down on the heads
of the victims.
Following the crash there was a wiC
rush for the doors. At the south door
where the majority of the crowd haC
entered, there was a terrible panic
Those in front were thrown down b!
the oncoming rush, shrieking and fight
ing for the door and safety. only one
half of the rear door, a space Of prob
ably three feet, was open, and in tn,
mad rush no one thought to open tn,
| door in its entirety, and 500 peopl,
| struggled through the narrow space
the strong bearing down the weaker,
Within a moment after the floor col
| lapsed there were not half a dozen per
sons on that portion which had no
| fallen, and the work of rescuing tn
injured and the bodies of the dead wa
| quickly proceeded with.
In the theater adjoining, where 9TH
Girl from Paris" was being performed
panic was narrowly averted.