The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-08-29
Collapse of Arches OfChicagO's
New Coliseum.
NINE MEN INSTANTLY KILLED
Two Others supp- sed to Be Dead In the
Ruins. and Four More Dying at the Hos
pltaI-work on the Big Structure Near
Completion, When, without Apparent
Cause. the Last Arch Pat in Place Fell
over, Carrying the Other. with 1t.

teenth and Sixteenth streets, ich 10 the
ground late this afternoon. 1t Is known
that nine lives were crushed out Tne
boGies of two men are supposed TO be
under the wreckage. Four are In the
hospital with injuries received in the ac-
cident, and all Of them will probably die.
Several others are seriously injured. The
dead:
CHARLES WALPOT-
EDWARD MUERAG-
FRANK LOGAN
STEPHEN J. THOMPSON.
JOHN FAEREY
RICHARD SHERMAN.
THEODORE THORN
LEROY FENNER. a workman from Toledo. Ohio
Al. NORMAN. 2 workman from Toledo. Ohio.
Fatally injured. John Narshsnn. fractured skull
and fractured right leg: J. J. Dowd internal inju
riss. both eyes out both legs broken; Peter Pele-
tier right arm cut Of at shoulder, skull frac-
tured: John White skull fractured. internal iniu-
ries.
Missing and believed to be in ID. ruins; Edward
swanson and Joseph King.
Injured not serious. Cornelius Toomey. J. II
warley John Hawthorne John J. Johnson, David
Reardon. II. P Zimmerman. ]. Hanson. Andrew
Morrison, and J. Flack.
Last Arch the First to Go.
All of the twelve arches were staining.
the twelfth and last having been CONFLICT
ed to-day. 1t was the intention Of the
steel contractors. the Pittsburg Company.
OF Pittsburg, Pa, 10 turn over its worh
tonight 10 the general contractors. The
I immense Traveller" or derrick, WIich
has been used in the erection Of the arch
es, had been removed, and tle agents of
the bridge company were accounting their
work as practically completed, when sud
denly and without the slightest warning,
the arch last put in place suddenly fell
over against the one next TO K. The
weight was TOO much for this. l. gave
way, crashed against the third, ana chen
| one by one the great steel span fell over
/ TO the south, precisely in the same man
ner as a number Of cards would fail.
| Nearly all the men who were killed were
! at work on top Of the arches, forty feet
above the ground. Some If them made
futile attempts to slice down the side of
/ the arches but before they could save
| themselves 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 awful nature
| of their injuries. The skulls of the unfor-
| tunate men were crushed into sh1peless
| masses; their limbs were cut off as if BY
a monster knife, and they were manglC1
! beyond recognition The immense s;ruc-
/ ture began falling slowly, each arch oeing
! sustained by the cross beams supporting
the entire structure. AS the mass gained
! impetus. bars of iron, inches rhick, Sn2p-
| ped with a loud report, ana the great
mass moved faster and faster an its &c
scent. With a crash that vas heard blocks
J distant rbg structure fell lalN-ioo a
/ walls practically uninjured.
C.owI .iUsntsIo The Rescue.
! An immense crowd gathered around the
place. and, despite the efforts of the po-
! lice, who were close at hand, they swarm
( ed over the mass of Wreckage, making
/ desperate but il-directed efforts to drag
out the dead and save the wounded 1t
Was only with the greatest difficulty that
/ the police were finally able TO drive back
the crowd, and give the firemen and un-
/ injured WOTkmen q chance TO rescue the
| injured. Tha- more men were not killed
| and injured was almost a miracle. Fully
| fifty men were at work in the space COW
| cred by the arches as they fell.
! number of the men jumped into small
| excavations, of which there are many in
! the ground beneath the steel works, and
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. run
ming 10 the side walls by great good for
tune, happened TO stand in the space left
! vacant by the curve of the arches away
from the side walls. Had the arches
| fallen 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 south of the building. and none of
/ them. save the two southern arches, fell
/ outside the space to be occupied by the
! building.
The Engineers Escape.
| Edward Bindcn, engineer who was tend
ing one of the engines al the south end
OF the structure. attributes his escape 10
| a sudden inspiration. He was at work al
his post when he heard shouts from above
and the noise of twisting girders Ten
feet away on the ground floor was pile
of iron work, which had not yet been
used on the building. Bindon threw him.
self against the pile of girdeTs on the
floor, and. under its protecting sides he
Law while the massive beams from above
fell on all sides about him. One of the
largest arches fell directly across the
pile, but BindOn was not hurt.
Michael BlOomer was working Oh the
south end of the building on the VEST
side OF the roof. With him was Eis part
ner, Cornelius ToOmey. When they felt
| the building shaking, both grasped the
iron arch upon which they had been
working, ana came down with the fall
ing structure FoOmey was seriously
if not fatally. injured Bloomer received
/ only a few bruises.
r Of ha nNr t- not
known, and IL will probably be several
days before il is determined.
Probable Cause of Accident.
One theory is that a shifting of sand
beneath the foundation caused the col
lapse of the arch. which brought all Iht
| others TO the ground. a story, which
cannot be substantiated, is tha; a mum
her OF workmen were using a pulley OF
the north arch while they were takinl
down some scaffolding that had beeI
erected around il. They caused the arcl
To Sway. and II finally sw2yed too IA
| and fell over.
J. J. Johnson. superintendent OF tn
PittsbUTg Bridge Company, Was unab
, 10 advance any cause for the colaps
of The structure. i cannot say Wha
: caused the accident" said Supt. johnson
Il am utterly at a loss TO account FOR il
( ] left the building only a feH minutes DE
fore the whole thing fell. We had I'm
ished putting up the last arch. and ha
I begun taking down the traveller upOl
/ which the arches were raised 10 be sc
into place This work Was almost com
- pIeted when / left the Building. Thtr
5 remained but one or two more beams
I he removed Then heard the crash. an
a could hardly believe my ewes when
san the result of our weeks OF WORK dc
stToyed in a minute.
- rzksrfiAfue nil
al once. The losers will be the Pittsbur
+ Bridge Company. whose loss II estimate
e al $500 The unfinished building occI
a pied the ground on which Libbey Prise
= formerly stood. The structure Is 3H fe'
long by liz wide