The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1898-01-05
CITY HALL FLOOR AT LON.
DON, ONT, COLLAPSES.
CROWDED BY 1000 PEOPLE
uisastcr Many People Eere tn-
iored. the Mayor Eject Among
the Number pavio in an
Adjoining Theater Il
Narrowly Avcrted

LoynoN, Ont. Jan. thirty per-
o1s are known 10 have been killed
1nd many injured 10y the collapse OF
loor in the city hall last night The
municipal campaign closed last night
and the hall was crowded to hear the
addresses OF the successful candidates.
How many were injured will never
bc known. as those who suffered but
lightly at once made for their homes
3r were cared for 10y friends. Both
of the city hospitals are fun, and
many of the injured are at their own
homes
/ Dr. Wilson, the mayor.elect had his
leg broken. and two aldermen were
badly hurt
/ Ia the Grand Opera house. which
adjcins the wrecked building, the first
act of The Girl from Paris had Just
been concluded when word was whis-
pered through the theater Of the
calamity. A panic was Imminent, but
was averted by tho actors and ushers,
and the people quietly left the build
ing
At the close Of the polls, crowd
had gathered in the city ball, where it
had been the custom in years past for
the successful candidates to address
the electors.
The building was crowded to the
very doors probably 1000 people being
jammed in its narrow space. There
was a lull in the proceedings when
the audience called for several OF the
newly elected aldermen at once, and
there was some delay in securing a
speaker to address them Alderman
lCarrothers joined the mayor in an
letfort to secure quiet In response TO
numerous calls, r. NJ Toothe was
pushed forward TO the platform on
which the speaker stood.
As he reached il. there was an omi-
nous cracking, aud the raised plat
form on which the mayor and newly
elected aldermen were seated seemed
10 pitch forward TO the floor
There was sagging Of timbsrs and
the next moment $50 people were
hurled twenty feet % the floor below
a beam running twenty feet along
the center of the hall had given away
and the crowded mass standing above
that section Of the lloor was thrown
IN q heap to the bottom.
large safe stood in one corner Of
the hall, and, with the huge steam
coil, Weighing half a ton, came crash
ing down on the heads of the victims.
Following the crash there was a
wild rush for the doors. At the south
door where the majority of tLe crowd
had entered, there was terrible
, panic Those In front were 'hrown
down by the oncoming rush, shriclS-
, ling and lighting for the door and
safety. only one-half of the rear
door, a space Of probably three feet,
was open, and in the mad rush no one
! thought 90 open the other half, and
800 people struggled through the mar
' row space, the strong bearing down
the weaker
I Several men lowered ropes and en-
q deavored TO haul the wounded out OF
the pit From under the nassed
=, weight Of the broken beams came
many cries for help. The windows on
the ground floor were broken in, and
the living and the dead were tenderly
a passed to the waiting ambulance.
+Ah NV 'NaeiB "NA"ii W. VIZ WV" "ANS'
. the catastrophe disclosed the fact thai
+. a whole section of the floor haC
a dropped, the joists having been a
neatly cut off as though the work hac
, been done with saw.
The building was an old one, hav
. ing been erected in the early SOS, anC
of late years additional stories haC
been placed on the old walls
Although the platform on which Tho
speakers Of the evening were stand
ing was apparently the frst thing t.
! give way, the mayor-elect md man,
b aldermen escaped the death tha
p overlook SO many others who tollowe,
p them into the lower portion of thu
- building