The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-09-01
COLISEUM IS A WRECK
Falls into Pile of Tangled Steel
and Sends a Dozen Men
Hence.
FATE OF OHIOAGO's BIG BUILDING.
Goes the Way Of It's Predecessor but
Does More Deadly
Havoc.


the Wreck; Four Injured So That They
Will Die, and Nine Others Who Come
Out More FortunateIy-New York Con-
vent Fire Causes the Death of Four
Lists of Dead and Wounded.
Chicago, Aug 20. - Twelve steel
arches, each weighing thirty-three tons,
to have supported the superstructure
Oh the Coliseum building in the course
OF erection on Wabash avenue near
Fifteenth, fell late yesterday. 1t is
known that nine lives were lost; the
bodies of two men are supposed to be
under the wreckage; nine are in hos
pital with injuries received in the acct
dent and four others will surely die The
dead are-Charles Walpot, Stephen J.
Thompson, John Farrey, Richard Sher-
man (head cut Off. Edward Murray
(head and both legs cut Off, Theodore
Thorn, Frank Logan, Leroy Fenner and
Al Norman.
supposed to be under ruins-Edward
Swanson and Joseph King.
Fatally injured - John Dowd, legs
broken, eyes out and internal injuries;
John White, cut on head and right
side and internal injuries; John Marsh
man, fractured skull and leg; Peter
Peletier, arm cut off, skull fractured.
Others injured-COrnelius Toomoy.
j. H. Marley, John Hawthorne, John J.
Johnson, David Reardon, H. P. Zim-
mer, J. Flack, J. Hanson and Andrew
Morrison.
Description of the Disaster.
All twelve arches were standing, the
twelfth and last having been completed
yesterday 1t was the intention of the
steel contractors to turn over the work
last night to the general con-
tractors. The great ''traveler,' or
derrick, which had been used
IN the erection of the arches had
been removed and the agents of the
bridge company thought the work prac-
tically completed when suddenly the
arch last put in place fell over against
the one next to it. The weight was too
much for this, and it gave way, and
crashed against the third. Then, one
by one, the great steel spans fell over.
Nearly all the killed were at work on
top of the arches forty feet above
ground.
Dead Men Were Terribly Killed.
Most of them were killed outright by
the awful nature of the injuries The
skulls of the unfortunate men were
crushed into shapeless masses; limbs
were cut off as if by a monster knife.
and they were mangled beyond recOg-
milton. That more men were not killed
and injured is almost miracle. Fully
fifty men were at work in the space
covered by the arches as they fell. A
number of men fell into small excava-
tiOns, of which there are many in the
ground beneath the steel works, and
were saved. Several standing under
the arches when they commenced to
fall ran to the sidewalk. Many miracu-
lOus escapes are recOunted.
Loss Falls on the Pittsburg Company.
The direct cause of the accident is
not known, and it will probably be sew
eral days before it is accurately deter
mined. The work of rebuilding will
commence at once. The cost of the &C
cident will fall upon the Pittsburg
Bridge company, whose loss is esti-
mated at $4,000.
HOOdoO on Such Buildings.
A singular fatality has attended all
the buildings erected in Chicago called
coliseum. The first collapsed in the
same way while being built in the fall
of 1894 while all the workmen were
absent. The building was rebuilt and
the last national Democratic conven-
ton was held there, but it was totally
destroyed by fire in December, 1897,
and never rebuilt.
FOUR DEAD AND TWO MISSING.
With Five Severely Wounded Is the Or.
phan Asylum Casualty List.
Sparkill, N. Y, Aug. 29.-Fire that
broke out at l a. m. yesterday de-
stroyed nine of the ten buildings of st.
Agnes convent and orphanage, entail
ing a loss of $150000, and caused the
death of four persons. The dead are:
Helen Brown, aged 6; Emma Mackin,
aged z; Jane" a pensioner, aged 70;
Mary Kate Mccarthy, aged 20. The
missing are: Therese Murphy, aged
IS; Mary Brown, aged 4. The seriously
injured are: Sister Sienna, shock and
collapse; Sister Marie, burns and con-
cussion; Sister Bertrand, conclusion of
spine and shock; Sister Katherine, arm
broken; Hannah Shea, leg broken.
falls, jumps and burns-none seriously.
That more lives were not lost was
due to the heroism of the sisters and
some of the older inmates. When the
fire broke out the 400 inmates of the in
stitution were asleep. Most of them
were gotten out in almost perfect or
der, but score who risked their lives
to save others were finally forced to
either jump from the upper stories or
make desperate dashes through stair
ways and corridors filled with flames
and smoke. The fire was discovered in
the lavatory, and soon spread to the
adjoining buildings, attacking first a
dormitory in which 200 of the older
boys slept. Sister Reginald. who had
trained the lads in the fire drill, rushed
down the line of white beds, and arous-
ing the sleepers clapped her hands, the
simple fire signal followed in the
orphanage.
IT,