New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1906-10-17

that was accomplished in a remark
ably short space Of time.
There was nothing to indicate to the
three men at work that danger threat
ened them, until the call of Chief
;Klause came, telling them that the
building was falling, and even then
some Of them thought it was sort Of
joke, but the grating of the mass Of
masonry soon warned them that there
was no time to lose and they all es-
capped from the pit just in time to see
the place they had left filled with the
debris of the building.
1t is an old structure and was erected
in a very substantial manner before
the grade of the street was established
and when this was done, with all the
other buildings, it was left several
feet above the grade and remained So
until Mr.. Rein purchased it and was
attempting to have it lowered. The
work was being done under contract
by Otto Tape and originally stipu-
lated that only the lower front was to
be removed but when the workmen got
at it it was discovered that other alter
ations were necessary and the amount
of the work was increased.
The original building is but 25x40
feet, and was to have been improved
by a new front as we'll as to have been
heightened in the rear, but as it is
now there will have to be an entire
new building from the found alton up
and the workmen are engaged at
present in removing the mass Of ma
terial that lies tangled in the space be-
tween the other two buildings.
The loss will doubtless fall jointly
upon the owner of the building and
the contractor, as it appears that there
was nothing in the agreement that will
cover an accident Of this kind and the
departure from the original contract
willhave a tendency to relieve the con-
tractor from what would otherwise be
a liability. There appears to have
been carelessness on the part of the
Workmen in the reliance they placed
on the jack screws, and it has been
noticed at different times that workmen
have been fortunate in escaping dam
age to buildings through carelessness
| in operating these tools.
The loss of the building will be a
decided blow to Mr.. Rein, as he has
owned it but a short time and the inn
provements he had contemplated were
extensive enough to have built him a
very respectable place. The property
cost him $500, and while a large
amount of that is represented in the
location of the lot, the building was
worth considerable as it was a very
substantial and well-build structure.
It was one of the few that remained
uninjured when the cyclone worked
such havoc here some years ago, and
would have stood to the end of time
under ordinary circumstances. The
crash that came with its fall attracted
the attention Of people for blocks, and
| the immediate concern was for the men
who werv supposed to have been in the
basement, but when it was found that
only one had been slightly injured
there we're many expressions of wonder
at the miraculous escape.
| It was fortunate that there was moth
| ing in the building in the nature OF
household goods or property of any
kind for it would have stood but little
chance of being saved. twill require
several days to clean the mess up and
Iget ready for the erection of the new
building, which in all probability will
be much better than the designed i'm
provements.