The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-25
ROLLED DOWN BLUFF.
Eight Children Hurt by Topping Over
of a House.


Kansas City. April 25.=Amid the
falling timbers and masonry OF a two
story frame house at 1222-24 Belle
view avenue eight children rolled 100
feet over the West Terrace bluff at II
o'clock Sunday morning and all were
more or less injured
The police ambulance and firemen
from the station at Fourteenth and
Penn streets were called into service
but before either responded the chill
dren had been taken from the ruins
by persons living in the vicinity. AS
slstant Police Surgeon CastlelaW BAN
daged the cuts and bruises of the in
Jured- Charles Daniels, a boy 2 years
OF age, was thought to be seriously
hurt and was taken to the city hospit-
al Later he was declared out of dan
ger and sent home
The collapsed building was one of a
number on the second terrace of the
West bluffs condemned for park pur-
poses. 1t was unOccupied, and was
used by the children in the neighbor-
hood as playhouse. A favorite
amusement of theirs was to swing
from the rafters of the second floor
and drop to the lower floor. They
were doing this when the old structure
fell in.
Nine children who were playing in
the street took refuge from the rain
In the vacant building. The constant
rain of the night before and of the
morning had washed the earth from
the stones which supported the one
scantling which held the building up
In the rear The weight of the chill
dren as they romped over the two
floors of the building loosened the
supporting supp brace and the building
went over the bluff in a heap. All
with the exception of two boys, Jesse
James and Earl Hamber were buried
IN the heap of boards and tinbers. All
had been taken out before the fire
men arrived but one. Denver Colorado
Cranschaw, a negro boy, was missing
and it was supposed he was dead I'M
der the timbers. Later he was found
running about the neighborhood- His
mind was wandering, and he was I'M
able to speak. He was trembling vio-
lently from fright From the second
terrace to the top of the first, where
the building fell is a distance of 100
feet. The top of the first terrace is on
level of thirty feet below the sec
ond. Hardly a single piece of the
building remained intact after the fall.
The two Stephenson children,
Charlie Daniels, Harry Bell and Denv-
er Colorado Cranschaw were on the
second floor of the house when it fell.
Three others were on the first floor.
The roof was pitched forward over
the bluff so that only the siding of
the building fell on the boys The
bricks of the chimney rained among
them but without doing injury. The
heavier framework pitched further
down the bluff
Troy Hamber was found under a
large piece of siding and a rafter had
prevented it from crushing him. The
heels of John Steph enson, a negro boy,
were discovered protruding from the
wreckage. He was pulled out scarcely
injured. Charlie Daniels was still I'M
conscious when the police ambulance
arrived but was revived at police
headquarters. Willie Hamber, boy
6 ears of age, stood in front of the
house and saw its go over. Jesse
James, one of the injured boys. claims
relationship to the we'll known out
law.