The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-04-13
FOUR STORY
BUILDING
COLLAPSES.
Without Moments Warning Large
Brick Structure Falls Under
Its Own Great Weight.
NUMBER OF PEOPLE BURIED
Beneath the Ruins-Three Taken Out
Dead and Six Seriously Injured.
All the Buried Extricated.


warning and with a rush and a roar,
the four story brick building at the
corner of Second avenue and Wood
stret, collapsed to-day burying in It's
ruins u number Of people. three OF whom
were taken out dead, six were badly
hurt and several others slightly Injured.
The dead:
Mrs Martha Jones, aged 81. of 5li
Second avenue.
Eugene Bernhard, aged %, Of 1T6S
Manhattan street, Allegheny. salesman
for Armstrong & McKelvey Company,
Oscar Bigler, carpenter. home sup
posed to be near Harrisburg. Was en-
ptoyed by contractors McGovern &
Lytle.
Injured:
Noel Casper. of Ellsworth, sales
agent for Armstrong & McKelvy Com
pany, leg broken, badly bruised,
Joseph Stop lieutenant fire company
No. l, ribs broken.
Michael shang, steam filter, leg
broken and arm crushed.
James Sullivan. steam filter, badly
cut and bruised.
James V. Sims, carpenter, badly gu;
and bruised.
August Ferdegard. aged 81 was found
in the cellar of the wrecked building,
suffering severely from shock.
Building Being Remodeled.
The building was occupied by the
Armstrong -McKelvy Lead and Oil
Company. It was being remodeled by
Contractors McGoVerR g. Lytle, who
were converting the lower floors of the
corner store and that next door into
one large room, which was to have been
occupied by the lead company About
forty-eight feet OF the middle partition
had been removed and steel girders
supported by heavy iron posts were in
place and the finishing touches were
being put on the remodellng 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 only solution all
vanced for the collapse. which began
By the second floor breaking through
carrying with It the two floors above,
making n breach from top TO bottom
through the center OF the building.
The fact that the rear portion Of the
building on Second avenue did not COL
lapse saved many lives. 1t was in tha:
part Of the building that the offices were
located. in which thare vera about ten
persons. Those who were In the rAar
portion Of the building heard the crash
and ran out Of the side door into Second
avenue and escaped.
Some Stories of the Disaster.
Rumors OF many people being buried
under the debris were rife, but the list
above comprises all the casualties. The
loss to the firm will be about $4,000.
When the accident happened business
was being transacted on the first floor
as usual. Mrs. Jones was there fDr
some paint and had evidently just COM
pleted her purchase for when her body
and that OF the salesman. Bernhard;.
who waited on her, were found. the man
had 50 bill in his hand and the woman
clutched her pocket-book, demonstra-
ting the fact that the collapse came so
suddenly that neither had time to move,
Within n few minutes after the acci-
dent, hundreds of men and women
gathered, all anxious to help in the res
cue OF the many supposed to be buried.
Firemen and policemen. however, soor
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 extrl-
Gated.
Building Inspector ]. A. A. Brown
will begin an investigation tomorrow
to learn the cause OF the accident.