Evening Star Newspaper, June 8, 1930, Page 85

< . &M building and lives to tell the story, Dpsens of others were not so fortunate. “within two hours wounded and broken men !‘lhenwfledoutby'hem. For some time not a dead body was found. It was thought that possibly more might have escaped. The hope was groundless. Buried beneath tons arnd tons of brick and mortar were other-bodies, and, as the debris began to be cleared away, it was realized that the decper the searchers got the more awful the catastrophe would prove to be. H Lives Crushed Qut. | “They were right in this surmise, Men were found in whom life had been crushed out and in whom much of the resemablance to humanity Paces were pounded into a jelly. Arms and légs were broken as one would break a match ~stem. There is gruesome work for the coroner the District. {"On the three floors of the building used by the pension records division, upward of half & thousand men were at work. Without a sign of warning, the third floor of the building gave way and fell with a deafening crash. The men on:the floor went through with it. The sec- ond floor offered no resistance and the two went through to the basement, filling it up to the level of the ground with an inextricable mass. In that mass were men. Some of them came forth alivee. No man came out unin- L * *“A man jumped from a second-story window. Hle struck upon his head upon the sidewalk was instantly killed. It was Col. George Arnold, the well known G. A. R. man. “Another man was more fortunate. He Jumped from a window and landed on an awning of the store next door. He was unhurt. There were many miraculous escapes. “One of the first to reach the outside of the @demolished building was Mr. R. H. Gilliam. He was taken to Evans’ drug store on F street. *“C. E. McLaughlin and C. W. Hathaway were brought to the same place. The latter was badly cut. “Mr. C. A. Hooper was carried out by the Capt. C. A. Krause had his head of the clerks who was saved states that, in round numbers, there were 475 ‘persons employed in the building and about 125 went down with the floors or were immediately #beneath the floors. “Mr. William F. Punk of the firm of Funk said that he thought the wreck was by the faulty manner in which the work of under- pinning seemed to have been conducted.” At the ’s inquest some of the clerks freely in giving their opinion as to who to blame for the falling in of the floors of building, and summary action is said to been taken against those who gave testi- reflecting upon their superior officers. a year later regarding this a cor- ,respondent, signing himself “Citizen,” said in ‘The Star: “I was present at the coroner's inquest when & statement was read from the Secretary of War that no employe should be molested by reason of evidence given on that occasion, yet the fact remains that within a few months witness who had expressed himself freely his ‘testimony, against his superior officer, discharged for alleged insubordination or ! y of those who were discharged, prior testimony, had records as first-class A majority of those against the awards is protest has been made dared ‘o oath (under the promise of protection the Secretary of War) of upon the streets believed to be the truth, -and what ‘évery one cognizant of the fact be- true in regard to' the Ford's The- the desire for revenge should follow wvictims to the grave is appalling.” « i Standing out beyond all criticism was the work done by the citizens’ relief committee, the I : E who had just ceased to be a Commissioner of the District of Columbia; John B. Larner, S. W. Woodward, Charles J. Bell, T. A. Lambert, B. H. Warner, John Joy Edson and O. G. Staples, ably as- sisted by Miss Anita Hendrick and Miss Ida Farnum. - Of the men mentioned, all are be- Heved to be dead now except Mr. Larner and Mr. Edson and both are quite active still. This committee collected ir all, $36,763.73, of which $3,139.53 was expended for funerals, $8.879.18 for emergency cases and $23,776.70 for weekly allowances. Less than $1,000 went for commit- tee expenses, not one dollar of this amount going to any member of the committee Coming so soon after the Johnstown flood, for the sufferers from which $50,000 was raised here, the amount collected for the relief work in connection with the Ford’s Theater disaster can be taken as a demonstration of the un- failing generosity of the Washington public. ]:[(;\\'1‘: J. METCALF, a writer, livir n Br James R. McCoarch, a clo whose pictures > in this disaster, thoug uninjured. Mr. Metcalf, however, was consid- erably crushed and bruised and was a long time recovering. Even today he does not have the ap rance of being any too robust The part played by him when the building col- lapsed is best told in his own words: “It was one of those rare days in June that Lowell so beautifully describes, when 300 men went to their accustomed place of duty igno- rant of what was to o ir that day, intent only on being found in their place.” I was one of them “For half an hour I wrote on as usual, then, finding some names that I could not make out from the rolls that T held, I left my desk and went, to the other end of the room where books could be found that would give me some help. What were the names? 1 know not. What was the regiment I was writing? Neither can I tell that. The events of the next few min- neighbor of the twood Park., and friend, some *ing here used probably the latter -~ -~ THE SUNDAY STAR, P o . 4 & Wreck of the first ard second floors of old Ford's Theater. utes have effectually effaced them mind. “I had found the information in search of, and was coming back to my desk. I was within a few feet of it, had just stepped on the floor that gave way when I heard a creaking sound, and, looking up, saw the floor above and about 30 feet away from me falling. Had jt fallen half a minute sooner I would have been safe. There was no time to think which was the best way to turn, but I turned toward the side of the building, and, with a crash, the bricks and beams came thick and fast upon my head and back and arms. * * ¢ “In a few moments all was still, only the occasional falling of a brick or a timber and the cries of those who were buried—Help!’ ‘Here!” I had instinctively closed my eyes while falling, and when I opened them and the dust cleared away, I found that I was resting with my left arm over a beam, my body was entirely free, but my feet and legs were pinioned so that I was unable to move them. “I was at one corner of the ruins; every one was behind me; in front was an open passage; not more than 10 feet away was a door, the panels of which had been broken out; and above me an iron beam was leaning with one end on the floor, the other braced against the wall, and that it was which probably kept back the impending mass. from my that I was WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 8 1930. “In less time than it takes to tell it a man who I afterward found out was Mr. D. came in through the broken door, and, seeing me injured, asked if I could free myself without help. On receiving a negative answer he pro- ceeded to help me throw off the debris upon my feet, and then taking me in his arms he passed me through the broken panels to some one on the other side. The latter carried me to an ambulance that was waiting. “So it was that I was not in the ruins more than 10 minutes. How the work of rescue went on I only know from what I have read. An old man was in the ambulance when I was put in, and we two were driven to the Emer- gency Hospital. I was laid at once on an oper- ating table, and my body carefully examined to see the extent of my injuries. Then I was placed on a mattress on the floor. But I did not remain there long. I was taken by the elevator to the third floor and placed on a bed, from which I did not move for three weeks. “The ride to the hospital seemed a iong one, now over the smooth concrete, now rattling over the rough pavement. At last the ambu- lance stopped. Where I was I had not the slightest idea, and it was not till after my wounds were dressed that I found out the loca- tion of the hospital.” Printers end bookbinders of the Record and Pension Office, War Department, employed in the Ford Theater Building at the time of the disaster, June 9, 1893. Left to right, first row: Charles A. Hefferman, William Donaldson, Darwin W eaver, William Ricketts, Stanton W eaver. Second row: James R. McCoach, Evan J. Gray, Spencer J. Willis. Third row: Henry Thomas (messenger), James H. Doney and Benjamin F. Wilkins. 1893, but it was two years later before even partial relief was accorded, and a year later than this before the claims were practically ad- justed. Five thousand dollars was allowed for each death caused from the disaster, and these included: George R. Allen, George Michael Arnold, Samuel P. Barnes, John E. Chapin, Jeremiah Daly, John Bussius, Joseph R. Fagan, Joseph Barker Gage, David Clark Jordan, Justus Boyd Jones, Frederick B. Loftus, Jay Hirst McFall, Otto F. W. Meder, Howard S. Miller, Benjamin F. Miller, Burrows Nelson, Emanuel G. Shull, Prank M. Williams, Alfred L. Ames, Arthur N. Girault, Michael T. Mul- ledey, George W. Robey, Charles Best Sayers, John T. Raynolds and quite likely George Christopher Bollinger. In the report of the Congressional Joint Commission, made in May, 1896, $144,800 was recommended to be paid to those injured in the disaster, the specific amounts being given in each case, and the names of those listed are as follows: Thomas D. Anderson, Frederick Achenbach, John Baker, Ethelbert Baicr, Alex- ander C. Black, James S. Busselle, Winifred Beck, John C. Ballou, L. B. Bowman, S. S, Baker, C. H. Bliss, P. G. Clark, J. F. Bixler, F, J. Calvert, Edward C. Carroll, John F. Dun- ton, George W. Davis, George J. Drew, John B. Dowd, Silas J. D2wey, Horace V. Easterling, Richard H. Gilliam, George W. Green, Williamy M. Grogan, Thomas J. Griffith, George G, Garnett, William S. Gustin, Thomas Hynes, C. A. Harper, James A. Howard, Samuel N. Hil ton, Augustus Hubbo.ll. Isaac N. Hammer, Charles F. Hathaway, Homer B. Harlan, ¥er- man Housel, James G. Jonss, William Jones, Milford M. Jarvis, Wellington Kregler, Charles A. Krause, William B. King, Clifton Lowe, Frank F. Linden, Charles Lucas, Willlam W. Lecture, Eugene Leger, William Ludgate, Percy S. Lowry, Danicl P. McCormick, Theodora Morley, Charles R. Miller, C. E. McLaughlin, John A. Miller, Frank J. Metcalf, C. J. Moore, George N. McLavghlin, John A. Magee, John J. Meding, Charles S. McLaughlin, Simeon T. Neal, John E. Nichol, B. J. O'Driscoll, John O'Neill, Charles R. Owen, Polk K. Pennington, Charles H. Patterson, C. M. Punteney, Charles L. Patten, R. M. Patrick, George T. Prewitt, Seth V. Peck, Cassius C. Parker, Morton E. Rose, Louis A. Rosafy, Wiiliam T. Richardson, Lioyd J. Smith, Fountain F. Sams, Frank B. Smith, Edwin H. Spang, James A. Stewart, H. M. Shannon, Robert A. Smith, Charles D, Shadbolt, Charles J. Simms, Daniel K. Sar- geant, George W. Smoot, Peter U, Sommers, James L. Taylor, H. C. Thomas, Francis W. Test, John H. Thomas, Smith Thompson, Will- son H. Thompson, W. W. Valentine, James W. Webb, Nathan P, White, Nathaniel P. Worley, Robert J. Walker, Arthur P. Whitney, H. P. Willey, James A. White, W. L. H. Wright and Albert G. Young. In other words, as the press put it at the time: “It cost the United States $264,800 to settle the claims of the Ford Theater victims. If $100 had been spent in repair at the proper time, all the rest of the money, as well as lives and limbs, would have been saved.” MAJ. GEN. FPREDERICK C. AINSWORTH, who was exonerated for any blame for the disaster, still resides here in Washington, having reached his seventy-seventh year. He was born in Vermont, and entered the Army from that State in 1874 as an assistant sur- geon, with rank of first lieutenant, being five years later promoted to captain. In 1891 he became surgeon major, and the year before the Ford's Theater disaster was again promoted to be a colonel and placed in charge of the Rec- ord and Pension Office. Six years after the disaster he was made a brigadier general and became a major general in 1904, being retired in 1912. The old FPFord's Theater Bulilding, around which has centered so much intense history— world wide, national and local—occupies the site of the First Baptist Church, the comneér stone of which was laid in 1833, and here Rev. Obediah B. Brown, celebrated clergyman of his day, was for many years the pastor. In 1852 another Baptist organization ereeted a church on the site of the telephone office, on Thirteenth street between G and H streets, and subssquently these two bodies combined, the Tenth street congregation moving to Thirteenth street in 1859, the last service being held im the old church in September of that year. On December 10, 1861, the trustees sold thd Tenth street church to David W. Heath and hq sold it to John T. Ford, the first theatrical performance given being by the Carlotta Patti Concert Troupe, which gave two performanced on November 19 and 21, 1861. After closing for a short while for extensive repairs, in accord..ice with plans by James & Gifford, chitect, it was again opened im March, 1862, as “Ford's Atheneum,” undeg which name it continued until it was completly destroyed by fire on December 30, 1862, clun-»;‘ the engagement of the Reichings. The new building, as it stands today, and in which Lincoln was assassinated, was imme- diately begun by Mr. Ford, and by August, 1863, was opened to the public with the “Naiad Queen,” which was followed by Maggie Mitchell and other well known stars of half a century and more ago. After the tragody of April 14, 1865, it was taken possession of by the Gov- ernment, which leased it for a short while and later purchased it from its owner, After the calamity of 1893, it was repairad, and was again reoccupied on July 28 of the following year for clerical purposes. At one time the Army Medical Musecum was hous:d here, until it was moved to Seventh and B streets southwest. The building to the extreme right in the picture was erected in 1876 by members of the medical faculty of Columbian College (now George Washington University), It stood there for many years and s°>rved many pure poses until removed a few years ago to be cee placed by a gasoline service station. On thig site there will soon be erected a building for the Potomac Electric Power Co., the Govern- mcnt]hl.vln' recently bought its building at Fourteenth and C stréets, for its extensiv building plan.