Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-01-09
Haverstraw, N. Y, Scene of a
Terrible Accident, a Score of
People Being Killed
HOUSES BURIED IN GREAT PIT
Ledge Gives Way in the Night and
Houses With Sleeping Occupants
Are Carried Down Hundred Feet
Entire Mass of Ruins Takes Fire
Many Perish.

Haverstraw. N. Y, Jan. 9-At leas
fourteen persons are believed to have
perished in landslide which carried
several tenement houses down in the
clay pit here, last night. UP to
O'Clock this morning, none of the bodies
had been recovered 1t was believed
that all the missing were dead A
large force of men were kept at the
work of search for the bodies.
Undermined by the shifting clay that
had been softened by yesterdays snow
fall. several homes, with their three
score of sleeping occupants, toppled
over the brink of the pit and crumble1
to pieces. The houses which were of
wood, were set on fire from the over
turned stoves, and the debris was soop
mass of flames.
Some fifty or more tenants escaped
with more or less serious injuries.
while a number variously estimated
at from fifteen to eighteen, are believed
to have been killed outright or burned
to death. Those known to have perish
ed are:
Mr.. Nelson, furniture dealer and
Benjamin Nelson, his son.
Mrs. Silverman, and son.
Jewish rabbi
Mr.. and Mrs. Cohen and five Cohen
children.
The missing include:
Mrs. Bailey, two of the Mannion
family, the entire Lanny family. and
seven Hebrew laborers.
The landslide occurred on Rutland
street in the east end Of town, where
two blocks of houses are supposed to
have been undermined by workmen
digging clay for brick making. The
catastrophe occurred without warning,
and while the victims were asleep.
Seven houses went down in the crash.
They had stood on the brink of pit
a hundred feet deep, and when the
clay gave way were carried to the
pits bottom. The landslide broke the
water mains, shutting off the supply Of
water and greatly impending the work
of rescue. Unresisted, the flames
spread to other buildings, and but for
the timely arrival of hundreds of vol
unteer firefghters might have wiped
out the town. The landslide came
gradually at first. The ground, weak
ened by rain and snow, showed crevl-
ces near the edge of the street late in
the afternoon, and in the evening, por-
tions Of the bank began to give way.
for most of the former dwellers had
left, on account Of fear of just what
happened. Many of the residents left
their houses early in the evening, be-
fore the final crash came. The Nelson's
were endeavoring to move their effects,
and the rabbi was assisting them. This
was also the case with Mrs. Silverman
and SON. When the final slide came,
it came so suddenly that those who had
fingered in their houses, had absolutely
no opportunity to escape.
The bank caved from twenty to sixty
feet in width, at the top, and for dis
tance of two blocks. Those who lived
in the three houses at the end of the
y, ;,b on I'm th
wreck were aroused by the frightful
roar and crash above which could be
heard the shrieks of the victims. There
was plunge, a shivering of the earth
all around, and then there was still
ness. When neighbors rushed half
clad, from their houses, the buildings
close to them had disappeared. Only
a gan in the cliff side told the story.
It was very dark with no street lights,
and those who had been spared We're
so wild with alarm for their own safe
ty that it was several minutes before
any general alarm was given. Before
this could be done, the frame struct-
ures of the fallen houses had taken
fire from scattered Goals and lights in
them and soon the whole wreck was
burning fercely, the flames rising
above the side of the pit.
As crowds hurried to the scene and
the fire department galloped up, a
second landslide occurred. In it sew
eral persons who had ventured too
near the edge of the pit, We're nearly
carried over to death. 1t was neces-
sary to move the fire apparatus to in
sure its safety. and so uncertain was
the earth that the efforts to rescue
We're greatly retarded from below. Men
entered the pit. but could not get near
the wrecked houses. because of the
flames. The whole pit grew so hot
that those who sought to attack the