The age-herald., 1899-08-29
MANY MIRACULOUS ESCAPES Men Hurled Forty Feet Through the Air Landed Safely. CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT UNKNOWN Two Theories Advanced for Collapse of the Superstructure, But it Will
 Be Some Time Before the
 Truth is Known
CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT UNKNOWN

Chicago, August 2S.-Twelve steel arches, each weighing thirty-three tons, which were to have supported the superstructure of the Coliseum building, in course of erec- tion on Wabash avenue, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, fell to the ground late this evening. It is known that nine lives were crushed out The bodies of two 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 balance are for the great CT part seriously injured. The dead:
 List of the Dead
 CHARLES wALPOT.
 EDWARD MURRAY.
 FRANK LOGAN.
 STEPHEN J. THOMPSON.
 JOHN FARREY.
 RICHARD SHERMAN.
 THEO THORN.
 LEORY FDNNER.
 AL NORMAN.
 The Fatally Injured
 Fatally injured: John Marshman, frac- tured skull and also right leg; J. J. Dowd internal injuries, both eyes out, both legs broken; Peter Peletr, right arm cut off at shoulder, skull fraetured John White, skull fractured, internal injuries.
 Missing and believed to be in the ruins: Edward Swanson, Joseph King.
 Injured not serious: Cornelius Toomey, J. H. Warly, John flaw throne, John J. Johnson. David Reardon, H. P. Zimmer, J. Black, Andrew Morrison.
 Work Nearly Completed
 All of the twelve arches were standing, the twelfth and last having been completed today. It was the intention of the steel contractors, the Pittsbng Bridge com pany, to turn over its work tonight to the general contractor. The immense 'trav- eer," or derrick, which had been used in the erection of the arches, had been re- moved, and the agents of the bridge com- pany were accounting their work as prac- tically completed, when suddenly and with out warning the arch last put in place. fell over against the one next to 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.
 Nearly all the men who were killed were at work on top of the arches, forty feet above the ground. Some of them made fu- tile attempts to slide down the sides of the arches, but before they could help them selves they were hurled to the ground. Many of them uttered piercing shrieks for aid as they fell The most of them were killed outright by the awful nature of their injuries. 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 recog- milton.
 The Work of Rescue
 The work of rescue was extremely diffi- cult, because of the great weight of the material that had falen fin ruins. The in- 3ured were taken out as rapidly as poSsi- ble and removed to neighboring houses, or to hospitals where they could receive medi- cal attention.
 That more men were not killed and in- jured was almost a 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 excavations of which there are many in the ground beneath the steel works, and although some will be bat tered up, were saved from instant death by these holes. Several of them were stand ing under the arches when they com menced to fall and running to the side walls, by great good fortune happened to stand in the space left vacant by the curve of the arches away from the side walls Some exceedingly narrow escapes were re- counted along with the story of how some of the unfortunate workmen went to their death.
 The direct cause of the accident is not known, and it will probably be several days before it is accurately determined. One theory that receives some support is that shifting of sand beneath the founda- ton caused the collapse of the first arch, which brought all the others to the ground. A story which cannot be substantlated is that a number of workmen were using a pulley on the north arch while they were taking down some scaffolding that had been erected around it. They caused the arch to sway, and finally it swayed too far and fell over.