The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1898-01-01
THE COLISEUM BURNS.
The Largest Permanent Exhi-
tition Building.
Fortunately but One Life wss Lost
Burned Like finder

Chicago. H., Dec. 21.-For the second
time in its short history OF less than three
years the great Coliseum building at Six
ty-third street was laid in ruins Christ
mas. a blaze that started among crossed
wires i'll one Of the booths ol the Manu-
facturers carnival exhibition, spread Un-
opposed and grew i'll ten minutes to a fire
that possessed all one end of the grea t
building. Five minutes later the heavy
truss arches Of steel, 80 feet in span and
% feet in height. upon which the best
engineering skill Of the country had been
expended. were falling in closely success
slyc crashes into the hotbed of fire be
meath. Within half an hour from the
first sparkling of electric wires, the main
section of the building, 700 feet in length
and 30 feet IN width, was mass OF
twisted iron and burning debris. All that
was left standing was the wall of the
front pavilion.
Providentially the fire ella aimed only one
victim. He was y. III. Johnson, whose
Charre' remains were recovered from the
ruins Christmas day. johnson was 4
fireman. employed about the building. He
had evidently remained at his post until
the last moment. Then he rushed to-
ward an exit. Within a few feet of the
door an immense piece of glass fell from
the roof. pinioning him to the earth while
the flames slowly smOthered him.
1t is practically certain that Johnson
was the only person killed but Il thor
Ough search of the ruins is being carried
ont.
Those who were reported missing re-
turned to their homes. Most of them had
narrow escapes from death.
The Coliseum was the largest perma-
ncnt exhibition building in the world and
l.4G 4Is,h of ftl
made more than national reputation.
William j. Bryan sat under its roof as n
delegate IL the Democratic national con-
veuti0n of 1896 and there was seen the
stampede of the states to him that made
him the representative Of Democracy in
the campaign that followed. That con
vcntIon was practically the baptism of
the Coliseum; since then it has been the
scene of five stirring football games, the
stories of which have interested the whole
country. and two or three bicycle records
have been broken there. Military carni-
walls, bicycle shows, crcuses, the Wild
/ West and. last and most famous the
horse show have held the arena at times
/ The accident that sent the ponderous
/ arches TO the ground in August. 1895,
caused loss only to the contractors.
hut the hre was more far-reaching III its
effects. The Coliseum company expcnd-
ed nearly $500 .ODU on the hIg auditorium
,''i'' ~ " % ili0hi'h lui pul Nl-'''NN' lt'
loss to exhibitors in Mr. Daniels "carni-
val was in the total something like
| H2tH.Hp. One exhibitor. Mr.. BoStwick
tn" owner of the two mcrry-go-roundS
lost Sl~ND on these properties The
other losses among the exhibitors IS dis
1rlbuted among thirty or more persons in
small amounts.
About II O'clock in the evening of Au-
gust II, 1893, the first Coliseum then in
the course of construction on the old site
Of Rutfaio Rirs Wild West show. was
wrecked. entailIng loss of S125.N 900. The
wreck covered a space $50 by $50 feet
and the real cause of the collapse has new
er been known. 1t was thought that the
last arch was not placed in position cor
rectly. The building was to have been
opened September of that year by the
Barnum X Bailey circus and the con-
tractors were rushing the work in order
to have it completed in time. Six hum
drcd men had been working on the build
Ing up Tn half an hour before the crash
came. They We're to have resumed work
~ : o clock the following morning. Three
men We're inside the building nj the time
of the crash. but they escaped. They
We're all i'll the north end of the building
while the collapse started at the south
end. Fifty thousand feet of green lumber
which was to have been used in roofing
WAS on the roof of the building at the
time and the weight of this was supposed
to have bad something to do with the ac
cident.