The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-12-03
PRETTY BIDDERS
HAVE 4 FRIGHT
Dining Room Floor Of Beard Residence
Cares In.
LADIES ATTENDING AUCTION
Some Went Through Into the Cellar
Below.
LADIES ATTENDING AUCTION
OTHERS JUMPED FROM WINDOW
Into the Arms of a Stalwart Bluecoat
Who Stood Below Almost Mir
acle That Some Were Not
Seriously Injured.

There was sudden crash, followed by
screams of bloody murder" One lady
tainted, and those who were not tangled In
the debris rushed to window and tum-
bled out one after another into the arms OF
a blue-coated soldier ten feet below. The
soldier was the hero. There he stood taz-
ing above him, inviting the precipitation
that came none too regularly, with kindly
smile that seemed to beckon and say, III
catch you If you fall"
The catastrophe was caused by the cav
ing In of a dining room floor of South
Highland residence. 1t held many la
dies as could get into the small room con-
yeniently Some were thrown into hyster-
les, and those who went through the floor
into the cellar below were frightened half
to DEATH That some of the ladies were not
seriously injured is almost a miracle The
occasion of the gathering was the auction
ing off of the household effects of Wilmer
Beard at 2l20 Highland avenue. Mr.. Beard
and his family to move to Kentucky,
and he was having all of the furniture,
library, crockery and household goods sod
as quickly possible. Hence the auction.
The sale had been advertised in>the news
papers, and Notwithstanding the rain about
a hundred ladies and few gentlemen of
that section of the city were present to
take advantage of the "knock-down" sale.
Toe auctioneer proceeded in the usual
manner, going from one room to another to
sell off the furniture Those who were not
buying were busy engaged in examining
In detail thses;r neighbor's belongings.
When the Crash Came.
Finally a general move was made on the
dining room, where all of the chrockery,
cut glass, and other tableware had been
stacked on the dining table ready for the
sale. The room was being rapidly filled
with many of the matrons and maids of
the South Highlands, when all of sudden
one edge of the room dropped in, precipi-
tzting all of its fair freight down an in
Cline into one big heap together with most
tof the crockery which was on the table and
stdeeoard and some q the furniture in the
and two ladies who were standing on 1t dis
appeared into the cellar below as though
through stage trap door.
To say that there was pandemonium
would be jest. All of the ladies thought
that the whole house was falling down, and
they screamed accordingly. But the case
was not SO bad as that, and some of the
gentlemen present Immediately began the
work of pulling the ladies out Of their pre-
dicament. Some one screamed to open the
window, and no sooner was this done than
the ladies began jumping out on terra
frma, about ten feet below.
A Soldier to the Rescue.
Lieutenant John London did valiant work
at this avenue of escape. He had been at
the front of the house when the crash
came, and with rare presence Of mind he
rushed around to the dining room windows.
Without even asking Are you ready" the
ladies began jumping out of the window
into the arms of the brave soldier below,
who set them safely on their feet. By the
time that several of the ladies had made
this rather unusual exit from the room,
those remaining behind found that there
was no more danger. and got out of the
house as quickly as possible through the
other places of exit.
On investigation it was found that very
little injury had been done to any of the
ladies' The most serious case, probably,
was that of Miss Wilson, sister of Mrs.
Mccormack, who tainted through fright.
and had to be taken home in a carriage.
Dropped Through the Hearth.
Mrs voolfolk and Mrs. McCreary were
the two ladies standing on the hearth when
1t dropped through. They landed in the
midst of the brick and other debris down
In theNcellar almost without scratch, and
both of them made their way out through
the cellar door. Mrs. Woolfork says that
she landed in a nest of cats, and that when
they began jumping up around her it
scared her more than the fall did,
Robert Chisolm was standing near the
edge of the hearth when it caved in. He
says that one foot slipped through the
opening, and he felt that his whole body
was going. He looked down, however, and
saw that If he didn't stop himself in some
way he would fall on one of the ladies who
had just preceded him. He grabbed out
wildly to check his fall. and fortunately
seized hold of the mantlepiece, to which he
held until he recovered his equilibrium on
the shaking floor. One of the most anus
ing incidents was the action OF one of the
ladies in throwing her pocketbook straight
up in the air, at the same time screaming
frantically. Mr. G. M. Williams, who was
standing near, caught the book as 1t was
descending and placed 1t in his pocket until
the excitement was over. The owner was
much gratifed later when it was returned
to her. She was under the impression that
some one had snatched 1t out of her hand.
On examination of the room 1t was found
that only one side of the room, that by
the sliding doors leading into the parlor.
had caved in distance of about five feet,
the flooring, which was securely attached
to the other three sides of the room, pre-
venting It from going all the way down
to the ground.
Cause Of Accident.
After all the ladies had been rescued