The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-29
Nine WOrkmen Are Known to
Have Been Killed.
Others Missing and Thought to
Be In the Ruins.


cover and the balance are for the great
er part seriously injured.
DEAD.
CHARLES WALPOT.
EDWARD MURRAY.
FRANK LOGAN.
STEPHEN J. THOMPSON.
JOHN FARREY.
RICHARD SHERMAN.
THEODORE THORN.
LEROY FENNER, workman from
Toledo.
A. L NORMAN, workman from To-
1edo.
FATALLY INJURED:
John Marshman, fractured skull and
fractured right leg.
J. J. DoWd, internal injuries, both
eyes out, both legs broken.
Peter Peletier, right arm cut of at
shoulder, skull fractured.
John White, skull fractured, internal
injuries.
MISSING AND BELIEVED TO BE IN
THE RUINS:
Edward Swanson.
Joseph King.
INJURED, NOT SERIOUS:
Cornelius ToOmry.
J. H. Marley.
John Hawthorne.
John J. Johnson.
David ReardOn.
H. P. thinner.
J. F. Elack.
J. Hanson.
Andrew Morrison.
All of the twelve arches were stand
ing, the twelfth and last having just
been completed. 1t was the intention of
the steel contractors, the Pittsburg
Bridge company Of Pittsburg, Pa, TO
turn over its work last night to the
general contractors. The iron tray
eler'' 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 sudden
" and without the slightest prelimin-
airy warning, the arch last put in place
fell over against the one next to it.
The weight was too much for this, and
it gave away, crashing against the
third and 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 above the ground. Some of
them made futile attempts to slide
down the sides of the arches, but be-
fore they could help themselves, they
we're hurled to the ground Many of
them uttered piercing Shrieks for aid as
they fell. Most of them were killed out
right by the awful nature of their in
jurfeS. The skulls of the unfortunate
men were crushed into shapeless
masses; their limbs were cut off as if
by a monster knife and they were
mangled beyond recognition.
The immense structure began falling
the cross beam supporting the entire
structure. AS the mass gained impe-
tus, the bars of iron inches thick,
snapped with a loud report and the
great mass moved faster and faster in
its descent To the ground with a
crash that was heard blocks distant, the
structure fell, leaving the walls practic-
ally uninjured and sending up great
clouds of dust and dirt.
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 ill-directed eff
forts to drag out the dead and save the
wounded. 1t was only with the great
est difficulty that the police were able
to drive back the crowd and give the
hremen and uninjured workmen a
chance to rescue the injured.
That more men were not killed and
injured was almost q miracle. Fully
fifty men were at work in the space
covered by the arches as they fell A
number of the men fell into small ex-
cavatiOns of which there are many in
the ground beneath the steel works,
and although some We're battered I'D by
their tumble, these were saved from
the great masses of steel that crashed
down over them. Several of them were
standing under the arches when they
commenced to fall, and running to the
side walls, by great good fortune, hap
pened to stand in the space left vacant
by the curve of the arches away from
to either side, the loss of life must have
been much heavier but they fell true
to the south on a line parallel to the
side of the building and none of them
save the two southern arches fell out
side of the space to be occupied by
the building.
The direct cause of the accident is
not known. One theory which receives
some support is that a shifting of sand
beneath the foundation caused the col
lapse of the first arch which brought
all the others to the ground
A story which can not be substanti-
ated is that a number of work1nen were
using pulley on the north arch while
they were taking down some scaffold-
ing that had been erected around if
They caused the arch to sway and
finally it swayed too far and fell over
can not say what caused the acct
dent, said superintendent johnson. Il
could hardly believe my eyes when I
saw the results Of our weeks of work
destroyed in a minute"
The work of rebuilding will COM
mence at once and it is expected that
the accident will delay the opening of
the building not over one month No
financial loss will fall upon the coli
scum company, which is erecting tbe
structure. The only losers will be the
Pittsburg Bridge company The COM
pany's loss is estimated at S25. 600 The
coliseum will lose Indirectly financially
through inability to arrange for attrac-
lions during the coming winter season
The unfinished building occupied the
ground on the east side of Wabash ave-
nue. between Fourteenth and Sixteenth
streets on which Libbey prison former