The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-08-17

built by Hicksun w. Bond on the cor
ner Of Platte avenue and r street,
locality which only a year ago had
been an almost valueless suburb,
given over to corn and potato patches
But a real western boom had since in
spired the town The building WAS
finished early in October, with a great
flourish Of tumpets from The city
press, proud of its new skyscrapeg-
1t was constructed, as usual. Of steel
Orders covered with thin shell Of .
masonry, and was handsomely fitted |
up with marble and mosaic, with elec
trio elevators. and mail chutes. and /
complicated heating apparatus. u
was almost filed with tenants as soon
as its offices were opened for rent
The Central National bank established |
itself upon the ground floor and, at
the prevailing rates Of rent, Bond
forsaw a golden harvest.
All went very well for a time Bonds
rents began to come in, and he was
elected a member Of the board Of
trade. Then, no one seemed to know
how, report began TO go about that
the Platte building was unsafe.
Late in he afternoon Of the 18Th
Of December, several Of the occu-
pants Of the upper floors Of the Platte
building noticed a faint tremor Of
The framework as IL from the jar Of
heavy haffic outside It was extreme
" slight. however, and at five OF six
o'clock almost every one left the build
ing without having given the phenom
non a moments thought
Several business men returned to
she building after dinner that evening,
80 deal with the unusual work Incl
dental 10 ihe end Of the year These.
when they arrived found the watch
man of the bank in animated conver-
sation with two policemen in the outer
hall
The whole building was vibrating
with jarring tremor. There was moth
ing to account for the disturbance. and
none Of the neighboring buildings ap-
peared to be affected in the least
There was no heavy traffic on the
street at that hour, and there was no
wind.
Gradually Che oscillation Of the
building became greater. It wavered
exactly as a bridge does at the pass
age Of heavy train. The news had
spread rapidly through the city and q
mob Of a thousand persons very soon
filled the street Among these were
most Of the tenants Of the Platte
building offices, but few dared 10 60
inside.
Presently some one raised the cry
that the building was rocking and the
crowd. which now extended for sew
eral blocks. surged wildly back 1t was
true Almost. impereeptibly. but GER
tainly, the dark top of the skyscrapei
was swaying against the starry sky
The swaying motion increased. but
very gradually, while the hummine
note Of it's vibrations rose to a SOUND
Of tremendous volume. Gently ant
slowly to and fro it rocked. and Z
shade further at each oscillation. II
a few minutes the shell of masonr,
and stucco began to peel OF and fall
in Jumps at first. and afterwards IL
great sheets. The whole immens,
+ crowd fell silent and there was n,
more noise or shouting The magni
tude and mystery Of the event over
awed them.
Just inside the fire lines stood Bond
+ his hands clenehed in his coat poch
D cts, impotently peering from under hi
I hat brim at his tottering fortunes
j They were all locked up in that IN
3 stable frame of steel. So far as an
g theory Of the catastrophe was cor
; eerned, his mind was blank. Only h
& felt convinced that an enemy had don
: this, and, being western bred, he wa
r not disheartened-only wrathful an
t perplexed
When the gray dawn came up owe
the prairie the skyscraper was stl
standing, though 1t swayed now Ilk
q a fiagstaff in a high wind, and it wa
d very evident that its collapse was q
/. hand. All the glass was broken frol
). the windows, a great part of the mi
q sonry had fallen and it looked Tx
the gutted ruins from a fire. AS
d reeled from side to side with a terrif
n rush and swing the creak OF the draw
d ing rivets could be heard through th
d humming Of its tense framework.
II Bonds only hope now was that
might not destroy too much other pror
n erty in its fall He had been furiou
a ly busy in helping to clear the a,
d joining buildings He had been a
it his feet all night, but he did not fe,
{, either cold or fatigue. Only he a
ie cided at this stage to telephone to n
+ wife, who must be in a state Of e
treme anxiety for she had sent two ,
three messenger boys to find him du
ing the night
" The nearest telephone happened
be in the store Of a piano dealer
the next block. The proprietor, IN
st most of his neighbors, had RENAME
down town all night. and was just 81
10 ting aouyn tn n troxy fron, a rncta,,Yn,