The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-08-29
CHICAGO
COLISEUM
COLLAPSES.
Twelve Steel Arches Supporting
superstructure in Course OF
Erection Fall Down.
NINE MEN CRUSHED TO DEATH
And a Number Ipjured.-Contrac.
tors had just Completed
Work OF Erection.

4
tors had just Completed
Work OF Erection.
CHICAGO. August 2s-Twelve steel
arches, each weighing thirty-three tons,
which were to have supported the su-
persructure Of the Coliseum building,
In course OF erection, on Wabash ave-
nue., between Fifteenth and Sixteenth
streets, fell to the ground late this af-
ternoon. It IS known that six lives
were crushed out. The bodies Of three
men are supposed to be under the
wreckage. Seven are in the hospital
with injuries received In the accident,
and OF these two will surely die, one
may possibly recover and the rest are
for the greater part, seriously injured.
The dead: Charles walpot, crushed
to death. Stephen J. Thompson, crush-
ed to death. John Fay, head crushed.
Richard Sherman. head cut OF. Ed
ward Murray, head and both legs cut
on. Theodore Thorn, crushed to
death.
Missing and supposed to be under the
ruins: Frank Logan, Alexander Mlllas,
Sam Smith.
Fatally injured: John DOwd, both
legs broken, both eyes knocked out; In
ternal injuries. John White, cut on
head and right side; Internal injuries.
others injured: Cornelius Toomey,
head crushed, internal injuries; may re-
cover. Peter Pelletere. crushed about
the shoulders and chest. Serious.
John Hawthorn, head cut, internal in-
juries; serious.
Work About Done.
All Of the twelve arches were stand
ing, the twelfth and last having been
completed to-day. 1t was the intention
of the steel contractors. the Pittsburgh
Bridge Company, OF Pittsburgh, Pa,
to turn over its work tonight to the
general contractors. The immense
"traveler' or derrick which had been
used In the erection OF the arches had
been removed, and the agents OF the
bridge company were accounting their
work as practically completed, when
suddenly, and without the slightest
warning. the arch last put n place sud
denly felI over against the nsxtrouSztp
1t. The weight was too much for this.
It gave way, crashed against the third,
and then one by one the great steel
spans fell over to the south, precisely
in the same manner as a number OF
cards would fall. Nearly all the men
who were killed were at work on top
of the arches, forty feet abovS the
ground. Some OF them made futile
attempts to slide down the side Of the
arches, but befors they could save
themsel ,'s they were hurled to the
ground. Many OF them uttered piercing
shrieks for aid as they fell Most Of
them were killed outright by the aw-
full nature OF their injuries.
Mangled Beyond Recognition.
The skulls OF the unfortunate men
we're crushed Into shapeless masses,
while their limbs were cut of as II by
monster knife, and they were man
gled beyond recognition. The immense
structure began falling slowly, each
arch being sustained by the cross
beams supporting the entire structure.
As the mass gained impetus, bars of
iron three inches thick snapped with a
loud report, and the great mass moved
faster and faster in its descent. With
crash that was heard blocks distant,
the structure fell, leaving the walls
practically uninJured.
An Immense crowd gathered around
the place, and despite the efforts Of the
police, who were close at hand, they
swarmed over the mass of wreckage,
making desperate but lll-dIrected eff
forts to drag out the dead and save the
wounded. 1t was only with the great
est dlficulty that the police we're tinal-
ly able to drive back the crowd and
give the firemen and unlnjured work.
men a chance to rescue the injured.
That more men were not killed and In
jured was almost miracle. Fully flf-
ty men were at work in the space COW
cred by the arches as they fell. The
direct cause Of the accident is not
known, and IT will probably bo several
days before It is determined.
one theory is that shifting sand be-
meath the foundation caused the col
lapse Of the first arch. which brought
all the others to the ground ]. j.
Johnson, superintendent of the Pitts
burgh Bridge Company, was unable to
advance any cause for the collapse Of
the structure.