The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-01-04

- HILBURN, -
FRANK ROBINSON,
JAMES M'LEAN,
JOHN BARRIDGE,
OSWALD BRUCE,
B. JACQUES,
| UNIDENTIFIED MAN.
SOME OF THE INJURED
The injured, SO far as the names can
be learned, include the following:
|. DIR. WILSON, the mayor-elect, leg
broken;
injured: N
EDWARD HoPKIN.
- BURGESS.
WILLIAM GRAY, leg broken;
- FLEMING, both arms broken;
WILLIAM JONES, water commissions
er-elect, badly bruised;
JOSHUA DARCH,
| JOHN BLANCH,
| ALDERMAN NEIL COOPER,
- VAN WYNCK,
GEORGE WAYLES, city editor Of the
News;
HARRY PAssMoRE. reporter on the
Advertiser staff.
| Those who were more seriously In
jured were taken to neighboring drug
stores, whence they were taken to the
hospital or to their homes, after their
injuries had been attended to.
The dead were taken to the committee
rooms of Alderman Parnell, the defeated
candidate for mayor, directly across the
street At the close Of the polls crowd
had gathered in the city hall, where II
lhad been the custom in 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
q lull in the proceedings when the audi
ence called for several of the newly
elected aldermen, and there was some
delay in securing speaker to address
them. Alderman Carothers Joined the
mayor in an effort to secure quiet. In
response to numerous calls, r. IA.
Toothe was pushed forward to the plat
form on which the speakers stood. AZ
he reached it there was an ominous
cracking and the raised platform on
which the mayor and newly elected al
der..en were seated seemed to pitch
forward to the floor.
There was sagging Of timbers and
the next moment $50 people were hurled
to the floor below. A beam running
twenty feet along the center of the hall
had given way and the crowded mass
standing above that section of the floor
was thrown in heap to the bottom.
large safe sood in one corner OF the
hall and with a huge steam coil weigh
ing half a ton, came crashing down on
the heads of the victims.
Following the crash there was wild
rush for the doors.
At the south door, where the majority
of the crowd had entered, there was 9
terrible panic. Those in front were
thrown down by the on-coming rush.
shrieking and fighting for the door and
safety. Only one-half of the rear door,
a space of probably three feet, was open,
and 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.
Alderman Neil Cooper was among the
first to be dragged out of the mass Of
broken beams. He was quickly carried
to an adjacent room and in moment
half a dozen more were keeping him
company.
Several men lowered ropes and en-
deavored to haul the wounded out Of the
pit. From under the massed weight Of
the broken beams came many cries tor
help. The windows on the ground
floor were broken in and living and dead
were tenderly passed to the waiting
ambulance.
An examination Of the wreck after the
catastrophe disclosed the fact that
whole section of the floor had dropped.
the joists having been as neatly cuto8
as though the work had been done With
saw. The building was an old one.
having been erected In the early '50 oSld
of late years additional stories ha beep
placed on the old wallis.
In the grand opera house, N if ~
Joined the wrecked building, IL . act
|sThe Girl From Paris'' had hfan col
'pleted, when word was Whispe,