The Penn's Grove record., 1905-08-11
SCORES BURIED IN DEBRIS
Department Store Of Joan G. Myers
Co, Of Albany, N. Y, CoIIapses.
OVER 200 IN THE BUILDING

Actual Number of Dead and Injured Un-
known - Work of Rescue Progressed
Rapidly Immediately After the Accl-
dent-Twenty-flve Doctors Kept Busy
Relieving the Sufferings of the Hurt.
Albany, n. Y.--The roof and four
floors of the big department store of
the John G.. Myers Company fell with
a crash at $40 o'clock in the morning,
three-quarters of an hour after the
store opened for business, and buried
scores of employees i'll the ruins.
The store had been undergoing alter
ations. Following q short, fierce rain,
the whole centre and back of the roof
and all floors above the ground floor
fell with a crash, carrying everything
in their descent and 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 in 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.
The number of bodies in the ruins
could not be arrived at, even by guess,
with any degreee of certainty. The
%escuers worked like beavers and carts
were brought into service to drag from
tho cflsnnfc tho dohric 90 rriol frOra 4ho
pile, 100 feet square, in the centre Of
he store floor. The pieces of wreck
age were passed along a human chain
from the scene Of the disaster to the
OutsideS
Some of the male employees received
severe injuries because they rushed
down the fire escapes and deserted the
girls pinned in 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 foorwalkers said: "Well, l have
a fine opinion of some of the men IN
ployed in this place.
Robert NJ. Chalmers, one Of the men,
bers of tho 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 q broken
leg and a 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
If rescue.
Rumors of all sorts regarding the
number of dead were current.
The employees who escaped were so
scattered that nowhere near a definite
idea could be secured as to the number
buried under the fallen walls. 1t was
y%ariOusly estimated.
Those who were pinned beneath the
1ebris and who could be seen By the
escuer evinced brave spirits.
One of the girls said after the res
cuers had sawed q large beam which
rested OIL 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 wer1
turned into emergency hospitals, where
the injured awaited transportation 10
the hospitals.
Fortunately fire did not break out,
and there were nc barriers to the work
Of speedy rescue. At 11.30 o'clock up
ward of fifty employees had been taken
out, the most seriously injured being
/ woman with a broken back. Half
If them We're taken to the hospitals
and the others to their homes. The
lead had not been reached vet. Every
assistance was offered in the work of
clearing away the ruins.
AS usual in department stores, two
thirds CT the $50 employees are m
The news of the disaster spread
through the city rapidly, and the scene
IF 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 were devoted to carrying the
debris off the back main floor to the
streets, in order. that those caught in
the wreck might be saved alive.
A score of clergymen FASTENED to the
scene and every II had willing hands
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 a wreck.
The Pearl street or former main build
ing seemed to have escaped the col
lapse. The Pearl street building had
been widened 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 u~nderpinning of the floors
which were put in while the alterations
were going on was responsible for the
collapse.
The work Of rescue was slow. Every
one seemed stunned. The city author
tiles, however, were early on the spot.
The groans of buried employees could
be heard distinctly, and a number were
in sight, but were pinned down in the