Evening star., 1941-11-23
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

it'S years ago. 10 tne very Gay, there
occurred in Washington a disastrous
building collapse The No
Building vember %, 1891. issue of
Collapse The Star. under the head
ing Wreck and Ruin" re-
ported the details as follows: The most
horrible occurrence in connection with
the great storm that swept across this
city little after noon today was the
falling of the new Metzerott Music Hall
that was in course Of construction.
From the debris and wreck one dead
body has already been taken. Another
one is known to be still under the ruins
and two young women have been taken
out, both badly hurt. How they ever
escaped death among the flying stones
and timbers is one of those mysteries
that can never be solved.
"A few minutes after 1890 O'Clock
there came sudden horrible crash and
the great 80-foot wall on the north side
OF the Music Hall toppled over upon the
smaller buildings that face upon F
street. Under tons of brick. mortar,
beams, iron girders and woodwork Law
four people. More than a half
dozen buildings were more or less
wrecked. The only way to reach the
worst of the trouble was through the
fronts OF the stores that face on street,
or across the great sea of tangled beams
and glrderS that are where the audi
torium of the music hall was to have
BEEN
Half a century ago the Middle West
was faced with coal shortage for diff
ferent reason than the
RoIIrood one now threatened
Traffic Jam an almost complete
stoppage OF coal trans
portation due to an unprecedentedly
heavy wheat crop which blocked all
tracks. AS described in The Star for No.
vember %, 1891: "One curious effect of
the big wheat blockade has been the al
most complete paralysis of all traffic
from Duluth and Superior to the Twin
Cities. 1t has already caused a great
famine in soft coal and dealers have
been flying around at a lively rate in a
vain attempt to make connections.
There is. of course. plenty of coal
at the head of Lake Superior but there
is no way of getting it here Chicago
Hundreds Of cars of coal are sidetracked
waiting for the switch engines to get the
wheat out of the way"
OF interest is report appearing that
same day on the resources of Alaska:
Valuable and Prac-
"Seword's Folly" tically Inhaustible
Justified Coal Mines Discov-
cred" Col Lucas
and F. W. Worster. who have just re-
turned from Alaska, report valuable coal
mines. Measures are on foot to place this
coal in large way on the San Francisco
market next year. The coal is
virtually ineXhauStible in extent and it
is asserted that cargo lots can be deliv
cred in San Francisco at 81 per ton"
| The Harvard-Yale football game held
the spotlight so years ago as it does to-
| day. yale Easily
Horord- Scores" said The Star
YnIe Gome headline for Saturday,
| November 81. 1891. THE
game was neld at Springfield, Mass. 2
pm. Harvard won the toss and took
the north end Yale has the ball. Yale
gained 10 yards on a wedge and McClung
gained 80 yards around the end.
The ball was within yard Of Harvard S
goal line in three minutes, and a touch
down was made by McClung. Yale
missed goal
This did not matter, however. Yale
won, 10 to 0. and spoiled Harvard's per-
feet record for the year. 1t was strug-
gle Of titans. Harvard Dst no other game
that year, and Yale lost none at all, being
scored on in only one contest that WITH
williams, which Yale took, 46 to 10.