Evening star., 1948-01-04
History of D. c, Disasters
By John cIoeett Proctor

by John Ilo9eft Proctor
- HE recent collapse Of q pari
y Of the Empire Apartments
with Its tragic results -as
- deplorable rs 1t was 30 fal
rs the loss OF life Is con-
cerned has been many times re-
peated In local history, emitting, OF
course, the large number Of con-
nagrations which have occurred here
In the past.
Back in April, 1901, the sixth door
hallway Of the Shoreham Hotel, ut
the northwest corner Of Fifteenth
and H streets, crashed, carrying four
other Railways down to the cafe
below. There were no injured re-
ported. but the hotel was not again
opened until the following Septem-
Der !.
On August a, 1888, the massive
stone tower Of the Church Of the
Covenant on Eighteenth street
crashed to the ground, carrying with
1t the front wall. Damage was
$22,500. When Metzerott's Music
Hall, now the Columbia Theater, on
Twelfth street near +, was in course
of construction, about the summer
Of 1892, the south wall fell, causing
the death Of an aged recluse who
was trapped by the falling wall,
said to have been unsupported and
too green to resist the heavy wind
and torrential rain upon that &C.
casion.
These incidents were . few Of
the minor events Of this nature
which might be mentioned, and can
hardly be compared to the Ford's
Theater disaster of June 8, 1893,
which proved to be one of the sad
dest days in Washington. At $50
o'clock that morning the lives Of a
score of Federal employees Of the
Record and Pension Once Of the
War Department were snuffed out
without . moments warning and
ever 50 many more were injured,
some permanently crippled for life
and others died later. It was the
second disaster In which this old
theater building figured. The first
was when Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated there on April IA, 1855,
and the one of 1893, more than "a
years ago, was directly due to the
undermining of a pillar In the in
terror of the building by workmen
digging a tunnel. Result, 20 clerks
killed, 6S badly injured.
Students in Crash
How well the writer remembers
this disaster. It seems but yester-
day. The students Of the National
University Law School had just re-
ceived their diplomas at the
Academy of Music three days be-
fore, where the address was deliv-
cred to the graduates by Benjamin
Butterworth of Ohio, and where
the music was furnished for the
occasion by the Marine Band under
the direction of F. Franciulli, who
succeeded John Phillip Sousa. Three
of our boys went down with the
crash. A. L. Ames Of Iowa, the first
on the list to receive his diploma,
died soon after the collapse. Quiet,
painstaking, dignified, he was liked
by all.
Charles F. Hathaway. a prince
of q fellow and president Of the
class, was severely hurt and was
a long time recuperating. although
he never thereafter seemed to be
fully restored to health.
About 20 years later, on Satur-
day, January 28, 1922. at $40 pm,
occurred the lamentable Knicker-
booker Theater disaster, believed to
be the most tragic calamity of its
kind ever to occur in this city.
The theater stood at Eighteenth
street and Columbia road and was
erected In 1917 and was valued at
$100, 900, and had q capacity of
1,700 persons. The day before the
disaster, a heavy snowstorm set IN
and continued without interruption
until 26 inches of snow had fallen.
It was this heavy weight of snow
that caused the roof Of the theater
to fall In upon the balcony, and
then the entire mass of debris to
fall into the orchestra below, killing
80 persons and injuring 1873.
The dead and those about to die
were removed to the First Church of
Christ Scientist at Columbia road
and Euclid street, which was turned
into q hospital and public morgue
for the time being. OF course there
had to be a corners inquest, to
ascertain If possible the cause Of
the tragedy and to fix the blame.
This jury consisted of r. c. Brown,
M. A. Winter, w. w. Riley, M. w.
Kelly, c. j. Gilbert and H. D. F.
Long, and they brought in their
verdict holding for the action Of
the grand jury, Reginald w. Geare,
John Howard Ford, Morris Hacker,
Donald Wallace. Frank L. Wagner,
Richard G. Fletcher, John l.. Nc
Donald, Thomas L. Cotigan and
Julian r. Downman.
Grand Jury Indictments
On April 3, the grand jury re-
turned indictments against Reginald
w. Geare, John Howard Ford,
Donald Wallace, Richard G. Fletch-
er, Julian R. Downman and the
Those Were the