The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-11-24

pile OF bricks and debris now marks p
the place where only q few hours ago stood .
two thriving business Embellishments. All .
night long men have come and gone about
the place Of the wreck asking lo" IL unp- .
pened aud have left tue scene knowing
but little more about f. than when they /
arrived. One thing is cer,au-thp Two ]
story brick building In which was located /
the hay. grain, fruit and produce estab- |
llshment Of Lillieutha Bros al io' Main
street. and thai portion al the Converse
building next door In which the tloNman
Notion company did business, are now ia
rulns The collapse occurred last night
at abous II 80 o'clock and was witnessed
by no ore so far as can be learned. There
are various theories regarding the cause
81 the fail, a very prevalent one being
that craftsmen blew safe open and the
eoncussion caused the Converse building To
fail Others. including Mr. I. Flaxman,
manager OF the Flsxman Notion company
think the fan was doe 70 a weakness IN
some Of the walls. There is some evidence
to support both theories, but until the
Debris is cleared away sufficiently to per
nit an inspection Of the interior OF the
buildings there can be nothing hut spccu
lation eoncc~-ing It,
Messrs. c. l.. vlnsou, j. e. Irving and
Charles Seaman, the two former heing on
the third floor OF the faHeu section OF the
Converse building and the latter on the
second door, were probably the last per
sons on the premises. having ici, the build
ing about an hour before the wreck oc.
CURED. Mr. Nioson aud Mr.. irving a.e
that about 10 O'Clock they heard rum
bling noise which sounded Nike a trunk
being thrown nom the top to the bottom
OF the stairs, This noise they say, udght
have been due either TO the blowing OF a
safe or TO the cracking of the walls, they
inclin!ng to the latter theory
City Detective Jack Bnssey stated TO a
Post reporter that he only a short
distance from the buildings when the col
lapse occurred and that he heard noise
that sounded like n pistol shot. He i'm
mediately ran over and found the structure
jr ruins. Judging from the meager infor'
nation obtainable last night he was OF the
opinion that the fall had been produced
by a concusslon.
A man who gave his name as W. H. Nc
Donald said that he was near the knights
OF Pythlas hall In the Fifth ward, some
thing like n mile from the scene OF the
wreck, and that he distinctly heard tive
sharp conclusions, close together, sound
Ing ike explosions OF cannon crackers.
The Lilllenthal Brothers are among those
who think there was defective wall
There were two safes In their store, on'
Of which they had left open and the othel
was intact after the collapse The safe il
the Flaxmore store also showed that 4
had not been tempered with. There wer,
some safes In the upper part OF the Flax
man building, or rather In the wrecke,
portion Of the Converse building, but the!
could not DO reached last night for iuves
tigatlon.
The upper doors Of the Converse bu'ldin
were occupied by the American Cotto
company Humphries, Goodwin & Co. e1
porters OF cotton seed products; Fox
Co, cotton brokers; the Houston Cotto
OIL company. Rateson, James d Co, col
ton brokers; Ed Lewis, agent for the build
ing: Joseph Il. Berry, civil engineer, an
Major Towles. The Converse building