Morris tribune., 1898-01-05
LONDON'SHORROR
Death List Resulting From the
Collapse of the City Hall is
Twenty-Five.
Probable That Several Others
Will Be Added Before the
List Is Complete.
Political Meeting in Progress at
the Time and the Building
Was Packed.

LONDON, Jan. 5. The union jack
floats at half mast over the city hall,
but it is not needed to remind the citi-
zens of the horror of the night. The
city hall presents the appearance of
wreck and the streets in front Of it are
crowded with the curious and sorrow
ing citizens.
The list of dead numbers %, but it is
much to be feared that it is not yet
complete Many of the injured are
not expected to recover, and others will
be confined y their beds days, weeks
and some for months. The list of
injured can never be made complete in
sofar as the minor sufferers are con-
cerned, as many are able to be about,
though suffering bruises, aches and
pains as a result of their terrible fall.
City Engineer Graydon states that
the cause of the accident was the break
ing of a heavy beam which ran beneath
the floor almost at the center of the
space which gave way. The beam
broke in the center, throwing all the
people standing within large space
into one mass. The engineer did not
consider the hall dangerous, and says
the tremendous weight simply caused
the beam to snap.
The occasion was the closing of
the municipal campaign and the hall
was crowded to hear the addresses of
the successful candidates. At mid
night 26 bodies had been taken from
the wrecked building and identified.
How many were injured will never be
known as those who suffered but
slightly at once made for their homes
or were cared for by friends. Those
who were more seriously injured, were
carried to neighboring drug stores,
whence they were taken to the hos
pitfalls or to their homes after their in
juries had been attended to. The dead
were taken to the committee rooms of
Aldermen Parnell, the defeated eandi-
date for mayor, directly across the
street.
Building Crowded to the Doors.
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 1900 people
being jammed in its narrow scope. 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
cracking and the raised platform on
which the mayor and newly elected
aldermen were seated seemed to pitch
forward to the floor. There was sag
ging of timbers and the next moment
| 100 people were hurled 20 feet to the
floor below. A beam running 20 feet
along the center of the hall had given
way and the crowded mass standing
above that section Of the floor was
thrown in a heap to the bottom. A
large safe stood in one corner of the
hall and with a huge steam coil weigh
ing half ton came crashing down on
the heads Of the victims.
Panic Followed the Crash.
Following the crash there was wild
rush for the doors. AT the south door,
where the majority OF the crowd hal
entered, there was terrible panic.
Those in front were thrown down by
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 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.
An investigation Of the wreck after
the catastrophe disclosed the fact that
a whole section of the floor had dropped,
the joists having been as neatly cut off
as though the work had been done with
saw.
The building was an old one, having
been erected in the early SOS, and of
late years additional stories had been
placed on the old walls.
Many of the Victims Are Boys.
Many of those carried down by the
falling floor were boys IA to 16 years
old. Some of them managed to squirm
from under heavy beams where men
could not move. Despite this, however,
number of them were killed, their
lives being crushed out by the beams
which gradually settled upon them,
borne down by the heavy iron safe and
the steam coil that had fallen on top Of
of the wreckage.
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 alder
men escaped the death that overlook
SO many others who followed them into
the lower portion of the building.