Evening star., 1943-06-13
Fifty Years Ago
in The Star

scene of frightful tragedy-the COL
lapse of the Fords The
Ford's Theoter ater Building, the scene
CoIlopses OF the assassination of
President Lincoln. For
some time it had not been used for the
atrical purposes, and was employed by
the Government as Office space. Some
500 clerks were in the building when it
toppled. The Star of June 9, 1893, car
ried several extra editions on the disas-
ter. Hundreds Of men carried down by
the falling walls of building which was
notoriously insecure! Human lives
crushed out by tons of brick and iron
-. men by the score manned and dis
figured for life. Happy families hurled
into the depths of despair; women call
ing for their husbands; children calling
for their fathers; mothers calling for
their sons; not an answer to cry! This
is but a shadow of the awful calamity
that befeu this city this morning"
Twenty-Five bodies were recovered from
the wreck some not until the following
day. Excavations to accommodate elec-
trical equipment had weakened the
structure. The facts were known to
many, but the clerks, employees of the
War Department, had been afraid to
complain.
The Star in a scorching editorial laid
the blame on demagogues in Congress
who, in fear of the accusation of be-
ing "billion-dollar Congress-" had
pinched pennies and failed to appropri-
ate funds to strengthen the building.
There is innocent blood on the head of
that intangible power known as the
Government of the United States The
mlserly congressional fingers are red
with the fluid which but a few hours
since coursed through the veins of active
manhood. :. The widows and orphans
weep for the husbands and fathers sac
rificed on the altar of legislative econ
omy and administrative disregard" In
dlgnation over the disaster mounted.
reaching its height during the subsequent
inquest.
The famous Borden trial, then going
on in New Bedford, Mass, attracted ma
tional interest. In a wire
The Borden from that city, The Star of
TrioI June IA, 1893 reported:
Everybody was interested
this morning to see how Lizzie Borden
had borne the ordeal of yesterday under
test of nerves such as no woman of
culture and social position was ever sub
jected to before. Her friends were reas-
sured when she entered the courtroom
at 9 o'clock. She smiled pleasantly" The
next day, the tenth of the trial, the
prosecution closed its case and the de-
Tense opened, producing witnesses to
testify that mysterious unknown man
in buggy had been seen near the house
at the time of the double murder, and
presumably was guilty.
From Queenstown (now Cobh), Ire
land, came a story of the loss of the Nc
Callum in collision. The
Collision Star of June IA, 1893, stated:
At Sea THE Cunard steamer Servia,
Capt. Dutton, for Liverpool,
arrived here (Queenstown today. She
reports on June 7, about 3 am, she ran
down the ship A. P. McCallum, Capt
O'Brien, from London, April 26. for New
York. The weather was hazy and
those on the Servia did not see the ship
until the steamer was close to her =
She struck the McCallum between the
main and mizzen masts and cut an enor-
nous hole in her side. = y Five minutes
later she sank Twenty-Five men were
saved and two lost. The scene of the
disaster, latitude 40 north, longitude 50
west was quite close to the United States,
being little over 300 miles due east OF
Philadelphia, but with no radio the
tragedy could not become known to the
world until the Servia reached Ireland.