The Portland daily press., 1898-12-14

In charge were congratnlating themselves
upon the success of the work The labor
ers were beginning to gather up their
tools to knock off. There were many
cars were passing by. Fifty or more men
IN Fuldner's factory were finishing UP
sneir tasks Then, suddenly, and without
q moments warning came an awful
crash. The men below had scarcely time
to lily from beneath the falling walls ere
they We're picked up by the mass of roll
ing water and hurled hundreds CT feet
away. Into the basement the first and
second floors of factory and tenen1ents
rushed the angry flood and with Ii went
death and destruction. Wnrknen were
shot out OF the factory windows and
carried block or more as il they Tere
mere straWs on the crest of the flood.
Women were washed out of 10 fints from
the hrs6 floors and almost drowned. Mary
Ann O'Conneil and her four year old
sister Catherine were seated at the front
window on the second floor of 335 Avenue
A. "A rush OF water struck them both,
smashing through the door and carrying
them half a block. Both were terribly in
jured, the little one perhaps fatally,
Henry Fuldner was carried almost to
a1st street His son was also carried out
of his office by the water. but was caught
In the debris and but for the arrival of
workmen with axes he would have been
drowned.
Andrew Wendt was near the base of the
tank when 1t collapsed. He was carried
away by the rushing waters. His mangled
and almost naked body was found against
an elevated railroad pillar at 2lst street
and First avenue. more than "a block
away.
Hugh Kelley and Thomas Kearney, Is
year old boys, were playing in the rear of
their tenement, No. 333 Avenue A, when
the flood came upoa them. They swan
around for five minutes or more and were
almost exhausted. when a policeman
pulled them out. Ambulance and fire
calls were sent out with all speed and
am balances from several hospitals soon
arrived. Surgeons attended TO the up-
conscious manned victims. hundreds OF
persons rushed from all directions TO help
carry the wounded into nearby brl sdings
until they could be taken to the hospitals.
The firemen under Chief Bonner and
the East 23d street pOlice reserves, COM
nanded by Captain Hasslacher and SER
gsant Gray, answered the calls for help.
Sergeant Gray did not know for some
time that his aged father, /. watchman In
the gas company's employ, had been
fatally wounded, Building Commissioners
Grady and force of one hundred men ar
rived within half an hour and with the
firemen, set at work to excavate Tor the
bodies of Engineer Baum and Foreman
O'Connell. 1t was decided to break into
plus water off The poll ce ordered every
body out of the tenements and lines were
stretched to keep the crowds at a distance.
After some time, the workmen reduced
the water by two feet. and it was thought
the easements would be emptied by to-
morrow morning. The work was ex-
ceptlonally hard because of the freezing
of the water and the men moved about
coversd with ice The work of digging
for tine bodies was abandoned later in the
night as it was deemed best to wait for
daylight. owing to the danger OF the walls
falling.
After the masonry of the tank collapsed
the tank proper careened and fell in q
battered heap to one side. The giant up
rights were bent as if made of paper, the
whole making one great mass Of scrap
iron The loss of the tank is said to be
complete, Ssu0,000 The damage to MIR.
Fuldner's q factory is placed at $z5, ,0uU and
the damage to the tenements the property
OF the gas company at Sc, 900. 1t is feared
that all must be RACED.
1he collapse of the tank caused the
rupture of some of the great water mains
which We're constructed TO feed 1t and for
some time these poured the torrents in-
to the streets. Eventually, these mains
were closed. the down town diatrIc6
suffered greatly on account of the catas-
trophe Tor all the gas supplied by the
Consolidated company in that part or the
CITY was Snub ons iuiS aHooScu on0 ao"iA
town restaurants, the down town hotels,
the elevated stations, all the ferry houses
and whatever business houses that are lp
the habit of doing business at night
The morning newspapers, however,
suffered most of all. Those that use limo
types had vast amount of trouble as
result of the failure of the gas pressure.
Some of the papers were supplied with
gasoline burners, but for time it app
peared as though return to the method
of setting type by hand would be inevit-
able. Finally, however, by shifting the
burners and elevating them enough heat
was generated to heat the metal and the
work of composing proceeded.