The
amount of advertising tat- S J
ronaae we command III
ESTABLISHED
4
the popularity of
tU's paper as an adrertiin
IS 68.
VOLUME 24.
HICKORY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1893
NUMBER 24-
WASHINGTON NEWS.
j;e rds Saved Ll Lost. Th Treasury
to lie Cleansed.
Washi:nto June 11,' 1803. If the
.'ongress of the United States were
liable to criminal indictment it would
have to stand trial on the charge of
murder in the first degree for having
killed the 22 employes of the Surgeon
General's office who lost their lives by
The falling of the floors of Ford's old
theatre, last Friday, a catastrophe
which can never be forgotten by any
at the time in Washington, and Avhich
still i the leading topic of conversation
wherever one goes. In addition to the
22 men kilted outright there were OS
injured, a number of whom may die,
and many of whom will be perman
ently crippled. Congress cannot claim
in extenuation that it did not know
the condition of this building, because
its condition had been repeatedly
called to its attention, and it actually
appropriated money some six or eight
years ago to erect anew building to
contain theArhy Medical Museum and
library which hail been in this building.
Just think for a moment what damn
ing evidence is given by this action.
Congress erects another building be
cause this isn't safe enough for the
museum and library with their com
paratively few attendants to remain
in,. and then allows. 500 clerks to be
crowded into the unsafe building. Had
a private employer been guilty of this
crime he could have been legally exe
cuted for murder; but Congress well,
the families of the dead and crippled,
who are now being . aided by private
contributions, can spend the remainder
of their lives in Risking Congress to re
compense them for their lost bread
winners. Meanwhile there are half
a dozen buildings in Washington con
taiinng many times the number of
Government employes who were in the
collapsed building that are known to
be equally dangerous, among them the
Government Printing Oil ice, with its
nearly 3,000" employes; the Patent Of
fice, the annex to the Post Office de
partment and the Winder building,
where a large branch of the War de
partment is quartered.
An attempt is being made by an
army court of inquiry to locate the
personal responsibility for the disaster
at this old death trap, if there be any,
and a coroner's jury is also at work
with the same end in. view. It is .said
that the direct cause of the accident
was an excavation which was being
made for purpose of putting in new
boilers. This may be true, -but even
if it is, that furnishes no excuse ..for
Congress for having allowed a building
w hich was officially condemned twenty-seven
years ago to be occupied by
-M Government employes. In conse
quence of the accident there is a feel
ing of excitement among those em
ployed in-the other buildings that are
known to be unsafe. Secretary Smith
is trying to allay this excitement in the
Patent Office bv having all the heavv
stuff stored on the upper floors of that j
building 'transferred ''to' the ground )
floor, j
President Cleveland was one of the I
first contributors to the fund that is
being raised for the help of the fami
lies of the elerks'tlBftt were killed and
wounded; he also directed that all flags
on the public buildings be half masted,
for the dead clerks, an honor never be
fore paid to any except high officials or
ex-ofiieials.
The number of appointments during
the past week was -unusually large,
particularly in the consular service,
but the new Government printer has
not been named, although it is daily
expected that he will be.
Tb4re are indications that Secretary
Carlisle has in view a complete reor
ganization of the ihmiense clerical force
of the Treasury department. He has
-addressed a circular letter to all of the
heads of bureaus . directing them to
prepare and send to him not later than
the 25th inst.'a.list of all employes un
der them, showing age, number of
years employed. thoe who entered the
servk-e under. the civil .service law of
IbSii: those who have wives, hits bauds,
brothers, sisters, sons, daughters or
other relatives emploved many branch
of the (Jovernment; those employed as
clerks or otherwise, with compensa
tion exceeding $540, a year, who are
doing work that-, properly belongs to
messengers, assistant messengers and
laborers; and those who are doing
clerical work but are on the rolls as
messengers, assistant messengers or la
borers. This has raised a commotion
in the department, "and no wonder, for
the information, if correctly given, and
there is no doubt about that, is bound
to lead to a grand shake-up and a large
iiuinbir of dismissals. In taking this
step Sec. Carlisle has set another good
example for the heads of all the other
departments. A grand shake-up all
round will be beneficial to the countrv
as well as to the democratic party.
GENERAL NEWS.
Gov. McKinley has been renomina
ted for Governor of Ohio.
The new cable cars are very popular
in New York, on the Broadway line.
One bank in Illinois, two in Wiscon
sin, and an iron house in Delaware
failed June 8th.
A rumor prevails that $2,000,000 in
treasure, buried by Emperor.Maximil
ian, has been found in Mexico.
The investigation into the cause of
the disaster at Washington, so far se
riously implicates. Col. Ainsworth, U,
S. A.
The World's telegraphic interviews
with Congressmen show an over
whelming disposition to repeal the
Sherman Bill.
The Fargo (N. D.) fire destroyed half
the city, cost six lives, and three mill
ions1 worth of property, and left three
thousand people homeless.
A lot of the firemen at Waco, Texas,
have confessed that they set a good
many buildings on fire so that the city
would buy new lire engines and in
crease their force.
Who says Mr. Cleveland is any re
specter of persons? He has just ap
pointed a millionaire chief of the Bu
reau of Statistics in the Treasury De
partment, a Mr. Worihingtoii Ford, of
Brooklyn, N. Y.
w
RIOTOUS STRIKERS KILLED.
Eight Bodies Found; Iosill3' Mere were
Shot Down A Large Nnmber "Wounded.
Chicago, June iK A pitched battle
took place this afternoon between
strikers and employees of the contrac
tors on the drainage canal at Romeo.
Some of the strikers came down from
Lamont and others came from the
north. They at once began firing on
the contractors and their rten.
Those who came from the north
drove off the men on section 10. The
men retired fighting, but had gone on
ly a short distance when they were set
upon by another division of the strikers
and a number of men were killed and
many more wounded. There were
about twenty-five wounded, all of them
strikers. Some of the men were fright
fully wounded and it is prable that
many of them will die.
Of the men employed on the drain
age canal, about 100 negroes in the em
ploy of Contractors Edward Loccker,
Smith & Jackson, King Brothers, and
John McCormack refused to join the
strikers. This morning they were
armed with shotguns, Winchesters,
and revolvers and told to protect them
selves. -
Lookouts with powerful field glasses
were stationed in towers to give the
warning of the approach of the stri
kers. WJwn the party frm the north came
in sight about noon they were sur
prised to be met with a fusillade from
the men at work. They deny firing a
hot or making any hostile demonstra
tion. At the first fire they started to run.
The negroes gave pursuit, and seven
teen of the strikers were captured
and imprisoned in a box car, in which
tliev Mere afterward eonveved to
Joliet.
When the party from Lamont ap
proached the camp from the south an
hour Later, the lookouts gave notice to
the. negroes-who were placed by the
men in charge at various coigns of van
tage on the summit of the huge piles
of rock which surround the camp.
The strikers approached.- uncon
scious of the reception hi store for
them. When about OOO ft-et from the
camp a whistle was sounded. This
was the signal for the negoes to fire.
Many fell at the first fire, while
those uninjured started to flee. They
were almost surrounded, however, and
as the firing continued they lnvauie
thoroughly bewildered.
At last an avenue of escape was dis
covered, and then began- the race for
life. The negroes gave ptirMiit, firing
as they ran, bringing dovn a striker
very few rods. For a mile and a half
the chase was kept up.
Two of the wounded striken were
seen to fall into the canal. Others
died where they fell in the roadway.
N. Y. Sun.
Salisbury went wet by 155 majority
out of 467 votes.
A TERRIBLE DISASTER.
THE COLLAPSE OF A GOVERNMENT
IJULLIHNG IN "WASHINGTON.
Fall of th Old Ford Thatr OTr 500
Peepl In the Building Twenty-One
Persons Killed and Many Injured.
Washington, D. C, June 9. Anoth
er tragedy, less national in character
but involving the loss of many more
lives and much more human suffering,
has stained the walls of the old Ford'
Theatre, Washington, where Abraham
Lincoln was assassinated by J. Wilkes
Booth in April, 18G5, and the horrors
of the scene were by no means lessened
by the knowledge that a blunder
surely in this case almost 'worse than
crime" had caused the death of from
twenty to thirty persons at least, and
inflicted injuries upon fifty or dxty
more.
Evidence as found in. (the official
records appears conclusive that as long
ago as 1885 this building, which the
Government purchased after Lincoln'
assassination, and used as an army
museum, was officially proclaimed by
Congress an unsafe depository for even
inanimate skeletons, mummies and
books of the Army Medical Museum,
for which a safer place of storage was
provided by act of Congress. So the
comforting official assurance is given
that while thirty clerks may have been
killed, the pension records are all saved
and uninjured. The building collap
sed in the midst of an illjudged effort
to remedy some of its defects.
There were 475 persons, mostly Gov
ernment clerks, employed in the build
ing, and nearly all of these were at
work when the building fell. Excava
tion for an electric light plant was
being made in the cellar of the struc
ture a three story affair and, accor
ding to the best information obtain
able, the workmen this morning had
dug beneath the foundation supports
in front of the building, weakening
them to such an extent that the Avails
gave way before they could be
jacked.
The explanation of the cause for the
accident is the only one advanced, but
it seems somewhat strange, in view of
the fact that the top floor gave way
first. Men who were in the building
say the crash came without warning.
Those on the top floor Were suddenly
precipitated to the floor below, and
the weight of falling timber and furni
ture carried the second and first floors
with it. Fortunately only the forward
half of the floors gave way. The outer
edges of the floors and the rear; part of
the structure remained intact. The
walls did not fall.
The general fire alarm was turned
in a few minutes after the crash, and
then ail the ambulances in the city
were summoned. As quickly as pos
sible the police and firemen formed a
rescue brigade, and ready hand as
sisted them to take out the killed and
wounded. In less than an hour about
25 people had been taken out, and every
few minutes thereafter some still form
would be borne on stretchers from 'the
building. Police and army ambulances,
cabs, carriages and vehicles of every
description were pressed into service
for taking away the dead and injured.
All hospitals in the city were utilized
in caring for the injured, and scores of
physicians volunteered their services
for the work. Every hospital in the city
was called into requisition. Ambulan
ces, carriages and other vehicles filled
with wounded were quickly traversing
the city in even. direction.
One of the bravest and most daring
incidents connected with the calamity
was performed by a colored boy 9 or
20 years of age, named Basil Lock wood.
As soon as the floors collapsed and the
dust cleared away, realizing the danger
of those at the rear windows who were
wildly climbing out and calling for aid,
he climled up a large telegraph pole
as high as the third story and lashed a
ladder to the pole, putting the other
end in the window. By this means ten
or fifteen were assisted down the lad
der in safetv.
None of those who escaped injury
could tell which of the floors first gave
vruv. To the occupants of each floor
there was bit; one crash heard, and in
stantly the whole building was filled
with blinding lime dust. Running
directly through all of the floors and
in the middle of the building was a
light-well ten feet or more long and
nearly as many wide. The fatal area,
was in front of this, leaving a space of
six or seren feet in width undisturbed
on either fide. The entire back part
of the building, containing more than
half ofi
le floor space, remained in-
There were many very narrow es
capes from death. A number of clerks
whose desks rested directly upon the
line where the floors broke away sa veil
themselves, while the desks at which
they sat were precipitated down the
awful chasm. Others -who were walk
ing across the room heard the ominous
sound and stopped, just at the very
threshold of death.
When the crash came those who sur
vived heard a mighty scream of an
guish from their comrades as they sank
out of sight, and then groping in dark
ness they found their way to safety,
trembling in ever yjjoint with the pallor
of death in thoir faces. Xo women
were employed in the building, but in
a few minutes after the crash the wives,
mothers and daughters of the victims
began to arrive. Within a very few
moments hundreds or more of men,
stripped for the hot work, jumped into
the building and began throwing out
the wreckage in front and under the
floors which remained standing in the
rear.
About 10,30 o'clock the dead and in;
jured began to arrive at the Emergency
Hospital faster than the corps of sur
geons could attend to their injuries.
Shortly after the arrival of the first un
fortunates a crowd began to assemble
in front of the hosrntal, many of them
being the wives, daughters and rela
tives of the dead and injured. Their
weeping and frantic cries for informa
tion were heart-rending. They great
ly interfered with the work of the
physicians, and Dr. Keer, in charge of
the hospital, determined to put them
out. Load after load of the wounded,
blind from the debris and with limbs
broken and maimed, were dumped at
the door. They had to remain outside
for some time, as the force and facili
ties of the hospital were unequalled to
the emergency.
At other hospitals and in the drug
stores adjacent, to the accident similar
scenes were being enacted. In the
meantime the work of rescue was going
bravely on at the ruins. About half
past eleven o'clock a company of the
Fourth U. S. Artillery from Washing
ton Barracks arrived on the scene of
the accident, and the men were distrib
uted about the ruined structure to
guard against interference -with the
workmen. Shortly after, the cavalry
from Fort Myers, Va., reached the spot
and' assisted the other regulars in
maintaining order.
The main duty of the soldiers was to
guard the rebellion records, .stored in
the building. The clerks who escaped
weref pressed into service and went will
ingly to work removing the bundles of
valuables. A great deal jof the work
of the Pension office is dependent on
these records, and their value to the
Government and to individuals is ines
timable they cannot be replaced.
Every few minutes during the first
two hours after the accident, dead and
wounded men were taken out of the
debris. To the on-lookers all the bruis
ed, maimed and dust-covered bodies
seemed bereft of life. One man whose
face was covered with blood and who
was seemingly dead suddenly raised up
in the ambulance in which he was
placed and swallowed a glass of whis
key. This brought a cheer from the
crowd, and thereafter every rescue was
accompanied by applause.
An incident of the day was the num
ber of the clergy who, on hearing of
the disaster, flocked to the scene utter
ly regard 1;S3 of their own safety, en
tered the building, the rear walls of
which were Viarningly bulging out,
and ministered to the dying and in
jured. Ministers of all creeds were
present. The hairbreadth escaies nar
rated by survivors were numberless.
One of the most thrilling scenes of the
whole affair was the tight of a dozen
men who were left in the comer of the
third story, climbing down ahose-piie
to the ground.
The President was informed of the
sad event just as he reached the en
trance to the White House by "one of
the clerks, and he at once interested
himself in the relief measures, learning
with satisfaction what had been done
by Assistant Secretary of War Grant,
who had come over to the White
House before noon.
When the crash came there were
supposed to be in the building 49G
clerks, 18 messengers, 20 laborers a to
tal of 534 persons.
The work of clearing away the debris
continued from half-past eleven until
three minutes jast five o'clock before
another bod v was found. Tim rnrk
. ixju yiuif in iue cellar ill uif
extreme front of the building, when
one of the laborers announced that "he
saw a liand." Shovels and picks were
immediately dropped and the debris
was removed by hand." The body of
the unfortumite man, who from his
dress was evidently a clerk; was lying
face down, with one arm doubled un
der him and the other extended. The
back of his head was badly crushed
and his face was cut in several places.
The body was removed with all pos
sible care and sent to the Ihorgue to
await identification. Lalorers did not
cease their efforts until about 7 o'clock.
Work was therefore stopped, the
. 1 . : . . J
and a police guard stationed there for
the night.
A meeting of citizens was held this
afternoon to put into operation meas
ures for the relief of .victim's of to-day s
catastrophe. It was called to order by
Commissioner Ross, and Commissioner
Parker was chosen to preside. With
but little preliminaries, the purpose of
the gathering was achieved in the ap
pointment of a committee of five to
r t.
caiiuj mu meaning lur mi uhtiji lions'.
While this was being done, brief ad
dresses were made by B. II . Warner,
Rev. W. A. Bartlett A. Smith Thomp
son, a clerk employed in the collapsed
building, and Bishop J. T. Hurst. Dr.
Bartlett's ringing arraignments of the
Government forits moral responsibil
ity for the calamity met with warm
commendatioii of the gathering. lie
said the chief officers ought in some
way to get together and provide means
which shall secure to the suffering
ones tnat care anu support wmcii a
niggardly policy had made necassary,
and "not saddle a single dollar upon
this long suffering community".
Thompson's speech was largely de
voted to abuse of Col. Ainsworth,
Chief of the Record and' Pension Di
vision, whom he charged with the. di
rect active cause of the casualty. He
said the large, fine, airy, safe rooms in
the War Department building were sa
cred to the storing of records, while
Ford's Theatre building, utterly unfit
for clerical duties, was crowded with
clerks, many of whose lives had been
sacrificed by this one man's dictum.
The' theatre had been 'a, 'perfect hell
on earth," he said; no military prison
or jail was comparable to it in disagree
able features, while the insecurity of
the structure was notorious, it having
been comdemned no less than three
times. Thompson stated that although
seventy- two years of age he liad been
providentially enabled to make an es
cape from the second story of the
building by means of a ladder. ,
The total amount of subscriptions
obtained was announced as about
A5,500; the largest being $1,000 from
the dry goods firm of Woodward &
Lathrop. President Cleveland, who
had been asked to preside over the
meeting, but was unable to do so be
cause of pressing official business en
gagements, sent his check for $100, and
Secretary Thurber his for 25.
Joint Board Meeting.
The joint Board of Magistrates and
County Commissioners met in regular
annual session June 5, 1S93. " On call
of the roll 26 out of the C3 magistrates
in the count v answered to their names.
All the county commissioners were
present, with L. It. Whitener in the
Chair.
The levying of the county taxes was
taken up, and after many motions and
much discussion, 'IS eentjq was levied
on the 100 value tar county purposes,
and 4 cents for M-hools. There was al
so levied on unlisted subjects under
schedule 41P the same taxas that lev
ied by the State, except on marriage
license, on which no tax wa levied.
It wa recommended that the Board
of County Commissioners appropriate 2
cents on the $100 value of the amount
levied for county purposes, to build a
bridge across South Fork river. It
was also agreed that the committee
appointed one year ago to select a lo
cation for the bridge, be continued,
and that M. T. Hull he appointed on
said committee in place of D. W. Itam
saur. The committee was instructed
to report their action to the Board of
County Commissioners. A motion U
adopt the alternative road law was lost
The body then proceeded to elect i
new Board of Education. The ballot
ing resulted in the election of Rev. J,
A. FoiL S. T. Wiifong and J. U. Long.