Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-11-17

Rap;ds-Dsspits Desperate Effort No
Mors Bodies Ar Recovered.
Cedar Rapids. Nov. I'D. 3. Hale.
who was identified az one Of the coll
ored laborerS who were recovered from
the debris Of the Lynan-Stary buNd-
Ing II not dead but very much alive.
The man recovered from the debris at
IS o'clock Saturday morning. it is be-
lieved. is e. Toran. colored laborer.
Of Cedar Rapids.
A few hours after the body was re-
covered, several colored laborers iden-
titled 1t al being d. E. Hale. They
stated that they were positive about
his identity. Saturday evening. how
ever. ID. e. Hale appeared at the
morgue and smilingly notified every
body that he was not the dead man.
Other colored laborers then stated that
the body was that of E. Toran, who
has wife In this city.
Coroner King in the meantime got
himself into what he thought. would
develop into serious trouble. Satur-
day morning when the colored men
identified the body as that Of d. E.
Hale. Coroner King went to Hale's
room, and in order to ascertain the
address Of the deceased opened a
letter which proved to be In the ma
ture of q love letter from . lady In
Arkansas. Coroner King promptly tel
egraphed to the writer, Informing her
that her lover was dead as the result
OF q falling building. On learning that
Hale was alive. Coroner King sus-
pected some trouble over opening q
live mans letter. Hale, however,
thought he had played q good Joke by
remaining away and getting himself
announced AZ being dead. Hale was
very anxious to get his love letter, OF
course. 1t Was reported that Hale has
a wife here but this was not proved.
Thought They Had Body.
All day long Saturday big force Of
workmen tugged and toiled at the
tangled mass Of debris in the base
ment Of the Stark-Lyman building in
the hope of finding more bodies,
known to be buried there. When dark
ness fell their efforts had been unre-
warded. Hundreds Of tons Of con.
crete, steel. wood and tile were re-
moved but no body was uncovered.
Once. shortly after I o'clock In the
afternoon. one OF tho workmen gave
a cry and began to throw out the
smaller masses OF debris whit frantic
haste. He had seen q piece Of cloth
ing. probably portion Of . mans
coat. His comrades Joined him and for
haH an hour they worked feverishly.
until larger masses Of concrete and
tangled rods OF steel stopped their
labors. They found no body. Evidently
the piece Of clothing was torn of az
the man went down with the ruin Of
the building. His body may be COM
paratdvely near, but on the other hand
1t may be away down towards the floor
Of the basement where 1t can not be
reached for several days.
FaIsework Broke.
That It IL certain that the wreck Of
the Lyman-Stark building was caused
by breaking Of the wooden falsework
under the roof was stated en-
,phatically Saturday evening by q man
interested In the construction.
This man declared that the wood
en- form for the floor gave way, let
ting down tho $4,000 pounds Of COM
crete. This tremendous weight struck
the floor Of the seventh story, and
sent It crashing down upon the lower
floors. The heavy mass gained In force
with every inch 1t dropped. and gained
In weight every time 1t struck g. floor.
When the mass struck the second
story, the impact was like that of the
most powerful hammer.
The man who advanced this cause
OF the accident stated that many
things gave evidence Of this being the
real cause Among these he cited that
q teamster employed by Bjorsen had
plenty Of time to Jump on his wagon
and drive away between the time that
the first crash was heard ond the mo-
ment when the building struck the
ground floor.
Bjornsens teamster delivered q load
Of sand to the building and unloaded
it into the basement under the part
which L. now q wreck. He had Just An
ished the unloading and was looking
into the basement when he heard q
crash. He Immediately struck the idea
that the building was falling. He
quickly picked up the lines which were
on the ground, jumped upon the wagon
seat and shouted to his horses to run.
Before the wreckage struck the ground
floor he was about 800 feet from the
building.
the wreckage indicate beyond q doubt
that the breaking Of the false work
under the roof caused the wreck Of the
Lyman-Stark building.