The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-13
No One Was Seriously
 Hurt by Collapse.
SEVERAL OF THE LADIES
 SUSTAINED CUTS
ELI. May Suffered Most Serious
 Hurts.
The .Rlatsorna, With . Large Crowd Upon it Gave Way as the Mona- ment Was UnveiIed--Fortu-
 nately It Fen Slowly.

More than a dozen persons were hurt. none of them dangerously, yes- ferday afternoon at Capitol Heights. when the platform used to accommo- date celebrants and participants m me unveiling of statue or nousts Lee, collapsed =
 The most seriously injured are: E. u. Nave. whose arm was badly torn; Mrs William Knox. Mrs. " H Maypin' Miss Airline Barry. Miss Barry. Mrs. Jeff FaIkner. H, c. Brown. Mrs: liar vey E. Jones, MT: ana Mrs. eiiher and Mrs Robert N. Collins,
 Roth Mrs. GiImer and Mrs. Collins aaffered severe cuts. MT. Brown, whose nome is at 721 Adams Avenue. sunered "a dislocation of the ankle. The other persons In the casualty list sunered practically no injuries beyond the shock Of fear. None of the hurts IS expected to have lasting result.
 All of them were immediately taken 4o their homes where they had medical and surgical attention. MT. Nave was hurried to town in q friends automo- bile. He sustained several severe cuts
 The collapse of the platform might well have caused many deaths except that 1t subsided gradually and it's oc- cupants were comparatively calm.
 The panic was slight and there was practically no injury from stampedtng. Judge Jones. the orator of the day, as- sisted in quieting the panic.
 According to the reports of those who were on and near the stage, 1t was the right end of the stage that first gave way. It subsided just after three veterans had stepped forward to unveil the statue of General Lee.
 There was little cry Of alarm and in a few seconds the centre began to give way. Finally with a weakening on the right the entire platform tot tered forward and downward and slowly came to the earth.
 In the meantime some had stood up-' right and some had begun to cry aloud In attempts to prevent a panic. With In SO short a time that few had reai- ized just what was the extent of the damage the entire stage was upon the ground while upon 1t was mass of commingled humanity and furniture and lumber. Judge Jones. the orator of the day, who at that time was upon his feet, cautioned all to be calm. In the collapse some one fell on Judge Joness arm but he was not seri- ously hurt
 And all were calm to an admirable degree. Most of those upon the stage had seen war and the alarms of war. danger of yesterday afternoon did not totally take away their spirit of readi- ness to meet danger. One woman who was upon the stage at the time said she did not believe soldiers on the bat tlefeld had displayed greater courage.
 But it was hard to be calm when one was either slipping down, as if he were on skates, or tobogganing on a chair, and even Judge Jones's Reclamation, General Lee would not behave in that way" did not put checks under the chair legs, though it did keep many one, perhaps, from screaming and knocking over his ne.ghbor.
 Many Reported Killed.
 Just why the platform fell none seem to have had clear idea some said the platform was too weak others said the persons upon it were too heavy. But much to the surprise of it's many friends, it did fall, and with such re- suits that the first reports of the dis aster which were sent by telephone to the Police Department conveyed the rumors that at least live persons had been Killed. and within half an hour, $ hundreds of people were huFrying to the Lee Circle, wheer the statue is
 Immediately upon the receipt or the call Chief of Police ". H, Taylor. cers Berrin. Cromwell, Cantey and Sprinkel, hastened to Capitol Heights, where Day Sergeant Oscar McDade and Mounted Officer H. T. Ragland already were. They took Lucille with them.
 But really, when they got there, 1t was to laugh-at least, almost 10 laugh; Everybody was So relieved to gerously. injured. that he felt gay and was ready to laugh at the many comic things that had occurred.
 Those who wished to produce and maintain calm, kicked the ribs of their prostrate comrades and told them:
 Keep calmp in tones of such thun- der that the victims Immediately arose and attempted to jump from the plat
 faithful member of SHonman's rss Sosrds. was S pis' M nly trying neteh to piay n taps but he had been fatally injured in the mouthpiece of the T-bone and was unable to produce a note Another, clasped to his bosom, was trying to blow the first bars of Dixie" out of his instrument.
 surely and swiftly sliding upon those below, and with rare presence of mind some one called out, that they must ship Immediately the air was clogged with borrowed furniture, which here clipped an ear, there bruised a nose.
 And in the meantime, far, far below the debris. some one was plaintively murmuring: Brandy! Watert Air Preferably brandy"
 England expects every man to do his duty" It was a musician that said that and immediately afterwards a hollow goran was heard; 1t was re- ported that the offender had been hit with a French horn. At any rate. he forebore to proceed, as 1t Is said in "The Hunting of the Shark" about that saying tremendous put rite Quietude almost immediately followed the outbreak of historical romance, and in a comparatively short time the vic- tims were removed, order was restor- ed. the chairs collected from the aero wide area into which they had been tossed and placed securely upon the earth: the statue was unveiled and Judge Jones spoke.
 After that was done. nearly every body walked bravely by the stone Hons and rode duly home on street car.
 Land COmpany's statement.
 Ohicers of the West Virginia Land Company, which donated to the city the statue unveiled yesterday after noon, said las. night that the collapse of the platform was incomprehensible
 Instructiosn had been given to the contractors, they said, that the stag ing should be SO braced as to stand inc weight of its fullest seating ca pacity. with additional braces to make