The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-13
FOUR-sTORY BRICK BUILDING COL.
LAPsEs, CARRYING MANY
PEOPLE WITH 1T
VICTIMS bad No WARNING
BODY OF WOMAN FOUND WITH
POCNETBOOK CLUTCHED
IN HER HAND
SALESMAN WAS ALSO KILLED
List of Those Caught in the Ruins
Includes Three Killed, Six
BADLY and Many Others
Slightly Injured.

PITTSBURG, Pa, April 12.-Without
warning and with rush and roar, the
four-story brick building at the corner
of Second avenue and Wood street COL
lapsed today, burying in its ruins a num-
Der of people, three of whom were taken
out dead, six were badly hurt and several
others slightly injured.
THE DEAD.
MRS. MARTHA JONES, aged sixty
four. of 511 Second avenue.
EUGENE BERNHARDT. aged twenty
nine, OF 17S Manhattan street, Allegheny,
salesman for the Armstrong & McKelVy
company.
OSCAR BIGELER, carpenter, home
supposed to be near Harrisburg was en-
Lytle.
THE INJURED.
Noel Casper, of Ellsworth, salesman for
Armstrong & McKelvy company; leg
broken, badly bruised.
Joseph Sloss, lieutenant of COMPANY
No l, ribs broken.
Michael shang, steamftter, badly cut
and bruised.
James V. Sims, carpenter, badly cut and
bruised.
August Feragd, aged sixty-four, found
IN the cellar of the wrecked building suf-
fering severely from shock.
The building was occupied by the Arm
strong and McKelvy Lead and OIL com.
pany. 1t was being remodeled by Con-
tractors McGovern and LytIe who were
converting the lower floors of the corner
store
About forty-eight feet of the middle
partition had been removed, and steel
girdeTs, supported by heavy iron posts
were in place, and the finishing touches
were being put on the remodeling work.
The firm this morning began the transfer
Of their stock from one room to the
other, and apparently - centralized the
heavy weight of the lead and oils about
the middle of the structure.
Up to the present this is the. onIy So
luton advanced for the collapse, which
began by the second floor breaking
through, carrying with it the two floors
above, making a breach from top to bot
tom through the center Of the building.
FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCE
The fact that the rear portion of the
building on Second avenue, did not col
lapse, saved many lives. It was In that
part of the building that the officers
were located, in which there were about
ten persons.
AAAN7O "AAO "~AO AAA bAlC sAOo1 PO4 llO4 Ol
the building heard the crash and ran out
Of the side door into Second avenue. and
escaped.
Rumors of many people being buried
under the debris were rife. but the list
above comprises all Of the casualties.
The loss to the firm will be about
$40, ,00O
When the accident happened business
was being transacted on the first floor,
as usual. Mrs. Jones was there for some
paint, and had evidently just completed
her purchase, for when her body and
that OF the salesman, Bernhardt, who
had waited on her, were found, the man
had S. bill in his hand and the woman
clutched her pocketbook demonstrating
the fact that the collapse came 50 sud
denly that neither had time to move
Within a few minutes after the acci-
dent hundreds of men and women gath
cred, all anxious to help in the rescue ot
the many supposed to be buried Fire
men and policemen, however, soon had
the place roped off, and the work of
rescue was carried on systematically and
Notwithstanding the great danger from
the topping walls, the rescuers worked
until all the buried were eXtricated
Building Inspector j. A. A. Brown will
begin an investigation tomorrow to learn
the cause of the accident.