The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-08-15


dent-Twenty-flve Doctors Kept Busy
Relieving the su6erings of the Hurt.
Albany, N. Y-The roof and four
floors of the big department. store of
the John G. Myers Company fell with
crash at S.45 O'clock in the morning,
three-quarters OF an hour after the
store opened for business, and buried
scores Of employees in the ruins.
The store had been undergoing alter
atoms Following . short, fierce rain,
the whole centre and back Of the roof
and all floors above the ground floor
fell with crash, carrying everything
in their descent ana leaving the sky
for a roof
Those employees who were in the first
seventy-feet Of the store on the front
ON Pearl street escaped as the roof
and floors i'll that section Of the big
building did not collapse. The destruc-
ton was swift and fearful and oc-
CURED in a section of the building
where there were scores Of employees.
Some of the male employees received
severe injuries because they rushed
down tile fire escapes and deserted the
girls pinned III the wreckage without
making any attempt at rescue. This
was not true Of all the male clerks,
by any means. and several of them
worked CALAMITY to help their unfor-
tunate sisters. Nevertheless. one of
the floorwaIkers sale: "Well, I have
fine opinion of some of the men en-
ployed in this place"
Robert NJ. Chalmers, one of the men,
bers of I'll" firm, was caught on one of
the upper floors and carried down with
the debris His position was discov-
cred carly and when rescued it was
found he had escaped with a broken
leg and Il bruised body.
The police had serious difficulty in
handling the crowds. and the work of
rescue was materially interfered with
in consequence. The whole city seemed
to have fiocked to the scene Of the dis
aster, and business generally was sus-
pended. Twenty-Five doctors and the
four ambulances which the city boasts
Of were taxed to their utmost, and
trucks and cots from nearby furniture
stores were freely offered in the work
of rescue.
RumOrs Of all sorts regarding the
number of dead were current.
The employees who escaped We're so
scattered that nowhere near definite
idea could be secured as to the number
buried under the fallen walls. 1t was
yariously estimated
Those who were pinned beneath the
debris and who could be seen by the
rescuers evinced brave spirits.
One of the girls said after the res
cuers had sawed 4 large beam which
rested on her stomach: 'I'm all right;
never mind me; there are others in
there: get them out. l can talk. They
can't" Many got out of the place by
the James street fire escapes
All of the stores on the block were
turned into emergency hospitals, where
the injured awaited transportation to
the hospitals.
AS usual in department stores, two
thirds Of the $50 employees are women.
The news of the disaster spread
through the city rapidly, and the scene
of the catastrophe was quickly swarm
ing with anxious fathers, mothers,
brothers and sisters having relatives
working in the store. The police lines.
however, were rigidly enforced, and
all efforts we're devoted to carrying the
debris off the back main door to tho
streets, in order that those caught in
the wreck might be saved alive.
A score of clergymen FASTENED to the
scene and every one had willing handa
to aid in the work of rescue.
The whole centre and James street
side of the big building from the roof
to the main floor is n wreck
The Pearl street or former main build
ing seemed to have escaped the col
lapse. The Pearl street building had
been wldened and deepened as the
business of the concern grew, and it
would appear as though the back addi-
tons had collapsed.
There were few customers in the
store. owing to the early hour.
The weak underpinning of the floors
which were put in while the alterations
were going on was responsible for the
collapse.
When the Searchers announced their
belief that no more bodies were in the
ruins, Mayor Gaus called meeting or
the heads Of the city departments, and
the following committee was selected
to inquire into the cause of the disaster
and report where 10 place the blame:
William A. Cattell civil engineer. of
New York City: William f Hanrahan,
contractor and builder, of Schenectady.
and John Magill, mason and contract
or. of Troy.
,rhe dead are: Miss Minnie G, Bull
man, Miss Katherine NJ eastman,
Miss Grace B. elmer, Michael J. Fitz-
gerald, Miss Winnifred Kelly, Francis
p. Leonard. Miss Helen Malone, Miss
Mary ArAvoy, John Il. Powers. Miss
Alice T.. Sharp. Miss Theresa Spann-
bauer. Miss Eta H. Sprinks and Miss
Anna Whitbeck, all of Albany.