The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-03
Eleven Stories of Structural Steel Came Down With
 Terrific Crash
WORKMEN ARE BURIED
 IN THE MASS OF RUINS
Mrs. Ella Lacie Storrs Is Killed While Taking Luncheon With Friend at an Adjoining
 Hotel.

New York, March 2.-Fourteen persons are believed to have been killed, Of whom the bodies of only five have been recover ed, about a, score injured and several are missing through the collapse today oi the steel skeleton of the Hotel Darlington, thirteen-story apartment house. In course ot erection at 57 West Forty-sixth street
 The steel frame work had been erected as fas as the eleventh floor, and the structure was swarming with iron-work- CTS. masons and laborers, when the up- per floor sagged and collapsed, and the whole structure fell with crash that was heard for blocks, and shook all the buildings in the vicinity. A portion of the steel fram fell upon the rear of the Hotel Patterson on West Forty-seventh street, crushed in the wall of the dining room, killing Mrs. Ella Lacie Storrs, the wife of Frank Storrs. a wealthy resident of Rye, as she was sitting at luncheon with the wife of the Rev. Dr. Minot Savage, who escaped unhurt.
 The Dead.
 The other dead, so far as known, are: Frederick Morrils, foreman of the Roeb- ling Construction company.
 Farrell Eagan, derrick man.
 Two unidentified men, apparently la borers.
 The moro seriously injured, with one exception, were laborers on the building. Among those missing is Frank j. Allison of the Allison Realty company. the builders of the hotel, who is known to have been in the building when it fell. | Efforts to recover the bodies of the dead and rescue those imprisoned in the wreck were begun by the f1remen immediately after the crash, and the work of search Ing the ruins will be continued all night. Owing to the enormous mass of metal wreckage, days may elapse before all the bodies are recovered.
 Floors Were Overloaded. The cause of the disaster generally &C., eepted Is the overlooking of the floors. Foreman James Halpin in charge of the | iron workers. stated that there was large quantity of cement and other build | Ing material on the fifth floor, and that | on the ninth floor were S3 iron beams which were to have been used in con structing the remaining floors of the 1 building.
 That criminal carelessness is chargea- ble to somebody, Is shown by the fact that the building department had placed repeated violations against the build ing. the last one being filed today at the instance of Inspector Charles French, be- | cause "the side walls were more than two stories in advance of the front walls and the floor beams were not properly bolt ed and tied"
 In spite of this and previous warnings, those responsible for the construction of the building went ahead regardless of consequences.
 Ruins Brown Stone Front.
 Adjoining the collapsed building on the west, is the four story brown stone resi- dence of Harold Brown. Some of the huge iron beams struck the side of the house and stove holes in the wall and roof, and dislodged part of the brown stone front which was thrown to the street. The occupants escaped uninjured. On the east side is a house occupied by A. Walpole Cragie as a school for boys The pupils had gone home to luncheon few minutes before the crash occurred Some of the beams struck the house tear ing off portion of the roof and smash ing holes in the side walls
 MrS' otorrs, whose husband Is In Lon don, was sitting at luncheon with Mrs. Savage when the crash came. and she and Meier, the waiter, were buried un- der the debris of the roof and walls Mrs Savage barely escaped being struck but her skirt was pinned to the flood bv mass or fallen bricks Mrs. Storrs was breathing when extracted, but died with in few minutes. The waiter Is believed to be fatally injured. The other occu- pants of the dlningroom escaped un- hurt
 Hotel Patterson Shaken.
 The hotel Patterson was shaken to its foundation and the rear fire escanes m several stories were torn from their fas- tenings. and all the windows on these floors were smashed The occupants of these apartments hastily quilted the building. The Rev. Minot J. Savage was i'll in his apartments in the front of the hotel at the time of the collapse. At Il o'clock tonight the contractor in charge of the wrecking work said that his men had discovered seven bodies, and that two were known to be pinned under the wreckage on the east side of the building
 Was Constant Contest. Records of the building department show that from the beginning to the end there has been constant contest between the building department and the Allison Realty company, the contractors and owners of the property. Amendment af- ter amendment to the plans were filed and the engineers of the building department time and again approved suggestions for the betterment both for the owners and the architects
 The plans for the building were filed by the firm of Neville & Bagge, architects, and called for the construction of a fire- proof building twelve stories in height,