The San Francisco call., 1899-08-29
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NHICAGO, Aug. 2S.-Twelve steel

x HICAGO, Aug 2S.-Twelve steel
arches, each weighing thirty
three tons, which were to have
~ supported the superstructure of
the Coliseum building. in course
of erection on Wabash avenue, between
Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, fell TO
the ground late this afternoon. 1t is
known that nine lives were crushed
out. The bodies of two of the men are
under the wreckage. Ten are in the
hospital with injuries received in the
accident and of these four will surely
die. One may possibly recover and the
balance are for the greater part seri-
ously injured.
Those injured not seriously are:
Cornelius Toomey. J. H. Marley, John
Hawthorne, John ]. Johnson, David
Reardon, H. P. thinner, j. Flack, ].
Hanson and Andrew Morrison.
All of the twelve arches We're standing,
the twelfth and last having been COM
pleted to-day. 1t was the intention of the
steel contractors, the Pittsburg Bridge
Company of Pittsburg, Pa, to turn over
is work tonight to the general contract
ors. The iron traveller" 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 pre-
llminary warning the arch last put in
place suddenly fell over against the one
next TO it. The weight was too much for
this and it gave way, 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
before
help 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 shapeIess
masses, their limbs were cut off as if by a
monster knife and they were mangled be-
yOnd recognition. The immense structure
began falling slowly. each arch being sus-
tanned by the crossbeams supporting the
rest OF the structure. As the mass gained
impetus the bars of iron, inches thick
snapped with a loud report and the great
mass moved faster and faster in it's de-
scent to the ground. With a crash that
was heard blocks distant the structure
fell. leaving the walls practically unin-
jured, 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 des-
perate but ill-dlrected efforts to drag out
the dead and to save the wounded 1t
was only with tIe greatest difficulty that
the police were finally able to drive back
the crowd and give the firemen and un-
injured workmen a chance to rescue the
injured
That more men were not killed and in
jured was almost 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 We're bat
tered up by the fall these were saved from
the great masses of steel that crashed
down over them. Several of them were