The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-14
THREE KILLED
In STORM
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the outlines Of a woman's form beneath
the debris on the basement floor The
woman was in great agony, and the
urgency of the situation only made IT
more difficult to give prompt relief AS
sistance was given by a dozen willing
hands and lanterns were secured, but the
awkwardness of the pos ton made it diff
hcult TO render assistance Entrance to
the basement was finally secured, and it
was some little time before the unfor-
tunate woman could be released from
her position. She was pinioned under
pile Of the flooring that went through
tie floor with the mass of brick. When
released, bleeding and torn. 1t was evil
dent that she was fatally injured Her
groans were fewer, her breathing was
hard. Her left arm was broken in two
places and one of her legs badly frac-
tured, as we'll as numerous external cuts
and bruises
NO doctor being near, and the tele-
phone line out of order, it was impossible
TO secure the immediate services of q
physician. The injured woman was re-
moved to the home of Father McNulty.
where she died within a few minutes
after the accident occurred.
From the position Of the unfortunate
woman, when taken from the basement.
1t was evident that she did not come in
direct contact with the chimney in its
downward descent from the roof to the
floor. She occupied the front pew, and
from the indications 1t seems probable
that she followed the chimney to the
basement, rather than having been crush
ed by its prodigious weight. The Chin
ney remained intact during its entire
downward flight, but left a great mass
OF mortar on the floor around the hole in
the floor. The hole extends from a point
about where the feet of an occupant of
the pew would be, and when the Chin
ney came flying down, bat a few inches
IN front Of her knees, its great weight
and the force of the shock drew Miss
Mullen doWnwards, and several sections
OF the floor were prec pitated upon her.
The church was well filed with people
at the time of the accident The approach
Ing storm was unheeded by the worshin-
ers within, and the first warning that any
one had of the wind was the terrific grind
ing OF the roof timbers and the sudden
apparltlon of some large object passing
rapidly downward to the floor, which gave
beneath 1t like paper Father McNultv
admonished his congregation to remain
seated, but as no one knew what the ex
tent Of the storm would be, the rocking
OF the building, together with the dark
ness which prevailed, made it a very diff
1cult problem to face. Father McNultv
finally regained order, and after the storm
had passed the congregation was dismiss
ed. The tragic death Of Miss Mullen nat
urally cast deep gloom over the entire
congregation.
The aperture in the roof and the floor is
oblong in shape and cut through as. clean
as if 1T had been carefully sawed out
Miss Mullens body was removed to the
morgue by Coroner Nelson
Father McNulty seen at his home, de-
scribing the accident, said:
I'VE opened the service at 8 o'clock.
and it was a few minutes after that
heard tremendous crash, and when l
looked around there was a hole both in
the roof and the floor. The wind blew
quite a gale, and several loud peals of
thunder frightened every one in the
church. L had not the slightest idea that
any one of my congregation had been
killed The woman that occupied the pew
right back of Miss Mullen was uninjured
and was running about the church, fran
tically waving her hands and crying. We
tried to pacify her, and it was some time
before we got her quieted down. She was
taken into one Of the side rooms and
while We were busy with her first heard
Miss Mullen groan in the basement. and
then we went to work to get her out as
quickly as possible
II had just completed giving tnstruc-
tions to a class of young people, and on
the sides and back of me there were
quite number of children. Miss Mullen
was, however, sitting alone which ac-
counts for the fact that the accident was
not even more terrible The chimney
came through very close to the sanctuary
and was perhaps not more than a dozen
feet from where I stood at the time. The
distance from the level of the floor to the
basement floor is about twelve feet. so
you can see that the fall, together with
the sharp contact with the mortar and
bricks, caused Miss Mullen's death, rather
than being crushed by the brick as would
be naturally supposed.
Miss Mullen had been employed a. the
home of Sherman E. Day, for a number
Of years, and was about twenty-five years
old. Mrs. r. c. Fosdick. of 643 Ashland
avenue. is sister, and she has two
brothers who are said to live In ST. Paul
LIGHTNING STRUCK HIM.