Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-08-31

LEROY F1INNlIlt, workman, from
Toledo, O.
AL NORMAN, workman, from To-
ledo.
Fatally injured:
John Marshaan, fractured skull and
fractured right leg.
j. j. Dowd, internal injuries, both
eyes out, both legs broken.
Peter Peletier, right arm off at
shoulder, skull fractured.
John White, skull fractured, interna..
injuries.
Missing and believed to be in the
ruins:
Edward Swanson.
Joseph King.
Injured, not serious:
Cornelius Toomey
J. H. Marley.
John Hawthorn.
John j. johnson.
David Reardon.
III. p. thinner.
j. Flack.
j. ii. Hanson.
Andrew Morrison.
Dead, o; missing, 2; fatally injured,
4; injured, not seriously, Q.
All of the twelve arches were stand
ing, the twelfth and last having been
completed yesterday. 1t was the in
tention of the steel contractors, the
Pittsburg Bridge company, of Pitts
burg, Pa, to turn over its work to-
night to the general contractors. The
immense traveller" or derrick, which
had been used in the erection of the
arches had been removed, and the
agents of the bridge company were ac-
counting their work as practically
completed, when suddenly and with
out the slightest preliminary warm
ing the arch last put in place suddenly
fell over against the one next to it.
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 to the south, precisely
in the same manner as 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 at
tempts to slide down the side of the
arches, but before they could help
themselves they were hurled to the
ground. Many of them uttered pierre
ing shrieks for aid as they fell. 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 We're cut off as if by monster
knife, and they We're mangled beyond
recognition. The immense structure
began falling slowly, each arch being
sustained by the cross beams support
ing the entire structure. AS the mass
gained impetus, bars of iron. several
inches thick snapped with a loud re-
port and the great mass moved faster
and faster in it's descent. To the
ground, with crash that was heard
blocks distant, the structure fell, leav-
ing the walls practically uninjured
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 wreck
age, making desperate but i'll directed
efforts to drag out the dead and to
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 unin-
.jured workmen chance to rescue the
injured.
The direct cause of the accident il
not known and it will probably be
several days before it is accurately de-.
termined.
One theory which receives some sup
port is that a shifting of sand beneath
the foundation caused the collapse OF
the first arch, which brought all the
others to the ground
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 Colise-
UNI company, which is erecting the
structure. The only loser will be the
Pittsburg Bridge company. The com
pany's loss is estimated at $4,000. The
unfinished building occupied .tlie
ground on the east side of Wabash av-
enue between Fourteenth and Six
tenth streets on which Libby prison
formerly stood. The structure was
405 feet long by 172 feet wide and when
would have been So feet
high. Construction was begun upon
the building about six weeks ago and
it was expected before the accident
that it would be completed by Decem-
Der next. 1t was designed for the ac-
commodation of large conventions, ex.
positions, circuses. foot ball games and
other affairs of great public attrac-
ton.
A singular Fatality has attended all
erected in Chicago and called
coliseum" The first to be erected
stood on sixey-third street and like !.
the present coliseum it collapsed while
being built in the fall of 1894. Nobody
was injured, but the accident caused
a property loss of about $4,000 The
building was rebuilt and the last ma,
tional democratic convention was held
within its walls. The second coliseum
was totally destroyed by fire on the
night of December "a, 1897, and was
never rebuilt. The accident yesterday
brought down the third coliseum.