The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-11-10
DISASTER IN DETROIT.
Roof Of . New Theater CeIiapses-
Eleven Men Are Killed and q
Large Number Injured.

Detroit, Mich, Nov. THE new i've
story Wonderland theater is in a hope
less mass of debris, and at least eleven
lives were sacrificed by an accident
which occurred Saturday afternoon.
Shortly before two o'clock, while IS
men were at work in various parts Of
the half-finished portion Of the struc-
ture, the roof fell in without a seconds
warning. Nearly every workman was
carried down into the theater pit; the
top gallery was crushed down upon the
lower gallery. forming sort of fatal
hillside, down which slid broken steel
girders, planks, timbers, brick and a
great quantity of cement from the root,
and carrying along a struggling COM
7pany of men into the pit below, very
few Of whom escaped injury. Rescuers
were at work, when portion of wall
left standing fell, burying several, but
killing none.
The known dead are as follows:
John Creszelski, laborer; James Geger-
schke, laborer; August Januschowski, la
borer; Cornelius McCarron, lather; Theo-
dore Mertens. laborer; August Sallach, la
borer; Martin Shafer. painter: George w.
Max Poll
Those missing and believed dead are:
Peter Connors. lather; Jacob Lewen, metal
polisher; Frank Wolfe, cornice-maker;
- Belts. metal cornice-maker; o. Mullin.
The injured are: Charles Cross, arm bad
~ cut and bruised internally; Joseph Nc
Bride. ankle terribly crushed, two scalp
wounds; Oscar Robinson. severely bruised
about the lungs and internally injured:
John Dunchinsky. ribs broken; Jacob
Pollke. nose partly severed and bad scalp
wound; Joseph Ferguson. seriously in
5ured about head and face; Edward Fisher,
leg broken and badly hurt internally, may
not recover; William Grossfield SCALE
wound and arm injured; Paul Skozkowski,
spine injured and body bruised: J. w. VIII
son. eyelid torn. heel broken, two ribs
broken. badly shocked. may die; Louis
Schmidt. foot crushed. badly bruised, will
recover.
After the first crash the front wall of
the building remained practically in
tact, but the cast wall bulged and
buckled threateningly
Notwithstanding the danger, the
work of rescuing the injured and TAX
ing out the dead was rushed and good
progress made until 5:15 o'clock, when
the upper portion of the east wall fell.
shower of bricks striking around the
crowd of laborers, officers and news
paper men, extinguishing the tenn
poEarXe electric lights and causing a
staniPede fer the street. Fortunately
none of those who were struck bv the
second downfall was seriously injured,
although several were precipitated into
the: basement through the steel ioist
over which only few loose planks were
laid.
The cause of the catastrophe has not
yet been definitely settled. 1t seems to
rest, however, between too much
weight in the roof and faulty steel
beams used in it's construction. The
top of the roof was of cement, about
eight inches thick. and many builders
lean to the opinion that this was too
weighty for the supporting steel work
Others say the fault lies in the steel
work, which they allege was of poor
quality. Several of the beams snapped
off instead of bending Most of the
debris landed in front of the stage, and
looking from there one could see a hill
of bent and TWISTED iron beams. split
planks and huge jagged blocks of
cement. The lower balcony held firm
which doubtless saved the lives of a
number of the, workmen who were un-
der it. The firemen rescued a number
of those who had fallen on top of the
wreckage.
The board of public works soon had
all their available employees at work.
AS fast as mangled workman was ex-
tricated he was tenderly carried to one
of the waiting hospital ambulances, an.
the usual pitiful scenes were witnessed
at morgue and hospitals.
The walls, steel work and roof were
the only completed portions of Wonder
land, which was without floors or in
terror finish. The property is owned by
Patrick Virgins, partner of James H
Moore in his combined theater and
museum enterprises. The property
loss is yet unestimated. The police
have secured a number of the brokeu
girders, to be used as evidence later.