Omaha daily bee., 1907-05-09
BIG WAREHOUSE COLLAPSES
One End Of Paxton & Gallaghsr's Grocery
Building in Debris.
NO ONE HURT OR IN PLACE At THE TIME
Cause is Not Determined, but struo-
ture Was old and Infirm-
New One win he
Built.

With a roar that could be heard for
blocks around. the east end OF Paxton &
! Gallagher company's building or Jones
! street from Ninth TO Tenth streets,
crashed its six stories of brick and ma
| sonry into one heap on the ground, min
gled with canned goods and kitchen hard
ware kept on each floor. about $50 o'clock
Wednesday morning. Without creak
! or other sound Of warning, so far as
anyone in the vicinity could distinguish,
little more than half of the six-story sec
tion on the Ninth street end Of the building
collapsed suddenly and in the brief interval
OF a second lay like a pile Of worthless
rubbish leaving exposed to view each floor
Of the portion still standing as though the
structure had been severed from top to
bottom with knife.
No estimate of the loss sustained could
be given Wednesday morning by {. H.
| Pickens. general manager for the Paxton
| g. Gallagher company, but the building
and ground, which was bought about one
year ago. were valued 81. approximately,
$4,000
AS the accident was providentially timed
when no one was in the building except the
night watchman, and he being in the office
at the Tenth street end of the building
just in the act Of putting on his overcoat
preparatory to going home when the crash
resounded in his ears. not a person was
killed or injured. 1t was too early for
street traffic and only an occasional early
riser on the way to work or trainman
passed that way.
Cause of the Accident.
The cause of the disaster has not been
determined. But the first thought which
came to the minds of those acquainted
with the structure was that the big
steel water tank placed on the. roof
in February was the main cause
for the collapse. This tank. which had
a capacity for sixteen tons Of water, was
erected to provide water for the sprinkling
system in the building and stood high
above the roof on a steel trestle. its sides
giving resistance to every wind that blew,
and affected by the jar of every passing
train.
II was known 10 the owners OF the build
ing and to the city building department that
the structure was old and infrm, and mis-
gvings were entertained about placing the
tank on the roof, but extra braces were
placed directly under the trestle from the
roof to the main floor, and as the Paxton
& Gallagher company had in view the erec-
ton of a new wholesale building this sum-
mer the temporary arrangement was al
lowed to stand
The portion OF the building which fell
was about forty-five feet of the old Parlin,
Orendorff & Martin company building,
which was 6sxlS2 fet in dimensions. and
which stood in the form Of an addition to
the main building OF the Paxton g. Gala
CHER company's hve-story structure, rum
ming TO Tenth street. All of the forty-five
feet fell. oxceDt the south wall, which re-
mained standing. One portion OF the cor
ner was cracked and appeared to be hang
ing very insecurely, and this will be pulled
down soon as possible.
Firemen Soon on Scene.
The collapse took place at $3.50 a. m. and
a fire alarm was turned in. Chief Salter
with several companies responding Police
man Hudson was eating his breakfast in
: a restaurant at Tenth and Jackson streets,
when he heard the roar, like the sound
OF collidng cars, and rushed to the scene,
fearing lives had been lost Oficer Lesch
from the public market was also attracted
by the noise and hurried to give aid.
other policemen were later sent from the
station to hold in check the crowd which
early began to I'LL the neighboring streets.
One effect of the accident was to break
all water and gas connections. The gas
mains were soon cut of. but had a single
Jet IN the building been lighted it would
have been sufficient to have started a fire
in the debris But with the water mains
It was not so we'll The piles of brick lay
directly over some of the connections and
It was a long time before enough of the
debris had been thrown aside to allow the
water to be shut or and meanwhile big
J streams of water poured into the base
ment and out from all the pipes which
retained their connections. The basement
} was quickly filled with water both from
, the tank, which had fallen straight through
from roof to earth. and from the water
pipes, and a fire engine was utilized to
keep It drained.
Light Stock on Hand.
THE stock in the building was much
, lighter than that carried when II was oc-
cupied by the Parlin. orendorn & Martin
company said Mr.. Pickens. 1T has been
suggested that the reaction from the strain
OF the heavy implement STOCK 70 the lighter
! grocery stock might have been the cause
OF the collapse. We are rapidly cleaning
up the debris and can probably estimate
our loss by Thursday"
The accident will cause the erection OF
I a new warehouse by the Paxton & Gala
, CHER company sooner than had been con-
! temDlaIeQ ana Mdnhbei ElCheuh VIII take
steps to this end as soon as temporary
| arrangements are made for carrying the
stock in the damaged warehouse
/ In the afternoon City Building Inspector
Withnell had all work of clearing away
the debris stopped for fear OF undermining
the standing walls and inJuring or killing
some of the workmen. The walls will be
torn down later No trace OF any human
victims have been found In the debris.
LatenseF Advances Theory.
Architect John Latenser says:
''The tank was within ten feet Of the
south wall. 1 do not want to pose as
prophesying anything. but l predict that Il
will be found the sewer recently built on
the south side OF the street Immediately
south OF the building TO a great depth has
drawn the running springs which were
under the building and It win be found that
the water has Teceded 10 a greater depth
than IL previously was
Il do not care whether the tank was
empty OF full as the support was ample
strong for it 20 be full. The tank was
filled about the fore part OF February and
has been filled ever since except for a few
hours at a time when necessary repairs
were made 10 the sprinkler system"
Mr., Pickens. Il is said, has been extremely
careful in regard 10 this building. He en-