The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-06
LIVES OF 10 MEN SACRIFICED
TO THE ALLEGED WILLFUL DISOBE-
DIENCE OF AN ENGINEER.
Three Cars Precipitated Into "A Mine
and Three Fatally Injured.

l.
hopeless-looking state of collapse and
fifteen or more lives have been sacrificed
by an appalling accident, which occurred
there this afternoon.
The Dead
AUGUST SALLACI laborer
GEORGE w. WHITE, timer.
THEO. MERTENS, laborer.
MARTIN SHAFER, painter
CORNELIUS MARION, lather.
JAMES GEGERSCHEKE, laborer.
AUGUST TJANUSCHOWSKI, laborer.
JOHN CRESELSKI, laborer.
TWO UNKNOWN MEN, whose bodies
were buried under second crash of debris.
The Missing
PETER CONNORS, lather.
JACOB LEWEN metal polshers
FRANK WOLFFE.
- Belts. metal cornice maker.
o. O. MULLEN.
The Injured
At Emergency Hospital-Charles Cross,
arm cut and bruised internally; Oscar Rob-
inson, severely bruised about the lungs and
internally injured; Joseph Mcbride, ankle
terribly crushed, TWO scalp wounds and
bruised.
At st. Mary's Hospital-John Duchinsky,
ribs broken; Jacob Pollke, nose partly sew
cred and bad scalp wounds
At Harper Hospital-Joseph Ferguson,
seriously injured about head and face; Ed
ward Fisher, leg broken and badly hurt in
ternally, may not recover; William Gross
field, scalp wound and arm injured; Paul
Skoskowski, spine injured and body bruised.
At Grace Hospital. W. Wilson, two ribs
broken, badly shocked, may die; Louis
Schmitt. foot crushed, badly bruised, will
recover.
Others who were less seriously injured
are: W. H. Streeter, Frederick Schneider,
Peter Pfeiffer Louis Schmidt, Oscar
Mier, - Grossfeld. OF those injured only
two are considered as unlikely to recover.
WITHOUT WARNING.
Shortly before o'clock while some thir-
ty-five men were at work in various parts
of the half-hnished theater portion of the
structure, the roof fell in without Sec
ond's warning. Nearly every workman was
carried down into the theater pit. The top
gallery was crushed down upon the lower
gallery, forming q sort Of fatal hillside
down which slid broken steel girders,
planks timbers, brick and a great quantity
of cement from the roof and carrying along
struggling company of men into the pit
below, very few of whom escaped injury
The front wall of the building remained
practically intact but the east side wall
bulged and buckled threateningly. Notwith-
standing the latter danger, the work Of res
cuing the injured and taking out the dead
was rushed, and good progress made until
5:15, when the upper portion of the east
wall fell shower of bricks striking around
the crowd of laborers, officers and newspa-
per men, extinguishing the temporary elec-
trio lights and causing q stampede for the
street Fortunately, none Of those who
were struck by the second downfall was
seriously injured, although several were pre-
cipitated into the basement through tllt
steel joists, over which only few loose
planks were laid. Mayor Maybury anc
other city officials who were on the scene
thereupon decided not to further imperil life
in order to save dead bodies, and work was
suspended until tomorrow. When the sec
ond crash occurred two more bodies were
visible in the debris, but they were aban'
doned for the present.
The cause of the catastrophe has not ye
| been definitely settled. 1t seems to rest
| however, between too much weight in the
roof and faulty steel beams used in it:
| construction. The top of the roof was o1
cement, about eight inches thick and many
too weighty for the supporting steel work
Others claim that the fault lies in the stee
work, which, they allege was of poor quail
ity. Several of the beams snapped off sharI
instead OF bending. The workers in the
building say there was no warning giyer
Of the collapse, the first thing heard being
a crash as the roof fell. Most of the debris
landed in front of the stage, and from
there could be seen a perfect hill of bent
and twisted iron beams, split planks anC
huge chunks of cement The lower balcony
held firm, which doubtless saved the lives
of number of workmen who were under it.
The instant the crash occurred the fire
bells were tolled and the firemen rescued g
number of those who had fallen on top OF
the wreckage. The Board of Public Works
soon had all their available employees al
work. AS fast as a mangled workman was
extricated he was tenderly carried to one
of the waiting hospital ambulances and the
usual sad scenes were witnessed at morgue
and hospitals 1t is impossible that any liv-
ing person is still in the debris. The walls
steel work and roof were the only com
pleted portions of the Wonderland, which
was without floors or interior finish.
The property is owned by Patrick Wig
combined theater and museum enterprises
The property loss is yet unestimated. The
architect, John Scott, and Alexander Chap
atom, the contractor, aver that the accident
is as yet unaccountable.
NINE CASUALTY.