The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1898-01-08
THIRTY PERSONS ARE DEAD
COLLAPSE OF A HALL FLOOR.
Two Thousand People Had Assem-
bIed to Listen to Addresses by
the Successful Candidates In the
Municipal Election at London,
Ontario.

London, Ont, Jan. 4.-Thirty persons
are known to have been killed and many
injured by the collapse of floor in the
city hall last night. 1t was at the close
of the municipal campaign and the hall
was crowded to hear the addresses of the
successful candidates.
The bodies of the following have been
taken out and identifed f. Heaman, G.
Beckett, +. Luxton, n. Carothers, r.
Leigh, Harris, A. w. Burke, John
Smith, Talbot, A. Phillips, John Tur-
ner, Ben Nash, j. w. BERTRAND, - Hill
born, Frank Robinson, James Mclean,
John Barridage, Oswald Bruce, B. Jaque,
w. II. Tell, Stephen Williams, John Eel
lows and Allen Towe.
The hospitals are full and many injured
are at their homes Further search in the
building has been abandoned for the night.
At the close of the polls crowd had
gathered in the city hall, where it had
been the custom in years past for the sue
cessful candidates to address the people.
The hall was crowded to the doors, prob
ably 1000 people being damned in its mar
row space. There was a lull in the pro-
ceedings when the audience called for sew
eral of the newly-elected aldermen at once
and there was some delay in securing
speaker to address them. Alderman Caro-
theirs joined the mayor in an effort to Sc
cure quiet.
In response to numerous calls, R. M.
Toothe was pushed forward to the plat
form on which the speakers stood. AS he
reached it there was an ominous crack
ling, and the raised platform on which the
mayor and recently elected aldermen were
seated seemed to pitch forward to the
floor. There was a sagging of timbers, and
the next moment $50 people were hurled
20 feet to the floor below. A beam run
ming 20 feet along the canter of the hall
had given way, and the crowded mass
standing above that section Oh the floor
was thrown in a heap to the bottom. A
large safe stood in one corner of the hail.
and, with a huge steam coil weighing 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 en-
tered, there was terrific panic Those in
front were thrown down by the oncoming
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 its entirety, and 500
people struggled through the narrow
space, the strong bearing down the
weaker
Many of those carried down by the fall
ing floor were boys from IA to Is years
old. Some of them managed to squirm
from under heavy beams, where men could
not move. Despite this, however, a num-
Der of them were killed, their lives being
crushed out by the beams, which gradu-
ally settled upon them, borne down by
the heavy iron safe and the steam coil
which had fallen on top of the wreckage.
Aldermen Carothers and Taylor, al
though injured and covered with blood,
tried to secure some sort of order and
system in the rescue work, but the excite
ment was so great that they could make
hut little impression on the crowd.
Although the platform on which the
speakers of the evening were standing was
apparently the first thing to give way, the
mayor-elect and many aldermen escaped
the death that overlook so many Others
who followed them into the lower portion
of the building.