The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1906-11-13
BUILDING CO[LAPSES
HUNDRED ARTISANS ANDs9
LABORERs CARRIED DOWN
IN THE RUINS.
Citizens of the Town at Once Be-
gin the Rescue of those Pinned
Down by the Wreckage
and Tangled Iror Work.

ooWu NY IHo w leCkdSe
and Tangled Iror Work.
Long Beach, Cal, Nov. 9. With
no warning save the cries of the
workmen who first felt the floors
sag beneath their feet, five stories
of the central part of the new $780,
600 Bixby Hotel collapsed at 9:35
this morning, carrying nine men to
death in the tons of tangled wreck
age. About $50 artisans and Ia
borers were scattered through the
structure at the moment 1t fell, and
of these nearly 100 were carried
down in the ruins.
Seven bodies have been recovered
from the mass of debris in the base
ment, and one of the injured died
late this afternoon at the Long
Beach hospital. The last two vic
Tins were found at O'Clock this
evening, and the rescue crews are
still at work in the hope of uncov-
ering the body of another man sup
posed to be buried there.
Nine injured workmen are being
cared for at the hospital, but it is
believed that all will recover. All
OF the men on the contractors roll
are accounted for save one, suppos-
ed to be still in the ruins.
Immediately after the collapse of
the structure hundreds of bystand-
ers lent willing aid in the work
of rescue. Tue Southern Pacific
and Salt Lake & Pacific Electric
railroads sent crews of laborers to
the scene and under the direction
of City Marshal Young, Mayor
Downs and Contractor Spalding the
task Of removing the wreckage was
begun. Company II, Seventh reg
iment, N. G. c. was called s-out and
lines were thrown about the hnild-
ing, all but the rescuers being ex-
cluded.
Pitiful scenes were enacted among
the throngs who stood outside the
lines waiting for news. An aged
mother sat all day long on the bluff
overlooking the hotel, weeping and
watching for the body of her son.
Five times the stretcher bearers
were called, and, headed by a Cath
olic priest, little processian emerg-
ed from the building to where the
undertakers' wagons were waiting
At the first call for help the wo-
men of Long Beach began prepar-
ing food for the rescuers and estab-
lished commissary tables near the
| building. When it became appar-
ent that the bottom of the ruins
would not be reache d tonight, lights
were placed over the wreckage that
the work might not be interrupted.
Late in the day ths Salt Lake rail.
road brought steam crane to the
bluff behind the hotel, where 1t
could be used to move the heavier
pieces of wreckage.
Conflicting causes are assigned
for the collapse of the central wing,
and to Investigate the disaster a
commission of architects and engin-
eers was this afternoon appointed.
The new hotel is built on the
beach sands facing the ocean. To
this fact Contractor A. F. Spsuld-
ing attributes the disaster, alleging
that the footings were insecure and
weakened the structure.
John A. Austin, of the firm of
Austin & Brown, architects for the
building, ascribes the disaster to
the premature removal of the sup
port of the cot crete work on the
fifth floor, alleging that the cement
had been given but three instead of
six weeks to "set."
Almost without exception the
men contend that the building fell
from the top, carrying the lower
floors with it.
R. A. Zee, who was taken from
the ruins With his leg gashed and
suffering from internal injuries,
said:
II was at work on the ioulth floor
of the building mailing down sjoist.
I noticed four or five laborers carry
Ing a heavy beam from the front
towards the central portie n of the
building. When they arrived about
the center, I saw them let the beam
fall with unusual violence.
The whole building shook, and
tbon sooroed to ruuohlo ord foil ha
meath all of US. l saw workmen
Jump In all directions, and In an
attempt to escape the wreckage. ]
fell straight back into theinterior Ct
the structure. When l struck the