COLLAPSE OF A BUILDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12758, 7 January 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

COLLAPSE OF A BUILDING.

naiuiuw kscai'e of WORKMh'X. TItKKK men had a marvellous escape fl 1)111 death in Ma re -street. Hackney. They were ' housebteakeis, and were engaged hi pulling down a, simp winch aloud just opposite [ Well-street. The Turk is being done in connection with the scheme of widening which . is being carried out by lie London County Council ami the Hackney Borough Council ill ii ens!. of £500.000. The men were stand ing "ii '-I'" I'roiil wall ill' the building, in the precarious style in which housebieakcrs are ' accustomed to stand, when I lie whole build- ; m- suddenly collapsed "like a house of tiiYds. '1 he Hull was accompanied ' l.\- a. | hind report mid a cloud of dust, as ii there ; • hud been an explosion. This is one ol (hi ' busiest parts of Mare-sheet, and tramears aiv constantly passing quite close to the pavement, lor the .street, is very narrow. .the fallen, btickwork, however, just | stopped -hoi I; of the tramline, though it covered the sidewalk and part of (lie road. j Immediately ... crowd collected, and the ' 'police, had the « real est dim. vin elearim' ' a space round the heap of bricks, 6ft in' j heigh:, at least, which had jot. before been ■i three-storey building. .lmmedb"Hv the wildest rumours were afloat. There had been a dozen or Iwentv men at work, ,vd they were a.li buried, all killed, with tlio neap o) bricks a.- their tombstone. But , almost befoie the du-t had cleared awav it , was known thai only three men had been I '"' the budding, and thai two. though shaken, and plastered with din,, had miraculously escaned mute, unhurt. But where was the third': That 'was 'the . problem which ma.nv willing volunteer ■ I workers and the lire brigade. ti, o "hiindy- ' I won ol London, set themselves to .solve ! j There was a brief auxietv that some : I passers-by might have been buried in the ■ j fall, but that was very soon removed when •\ the, brickwork had been cleared off the ' j coveted head: iH-rst. undeir some beams ' i pavement. Then Thomas Prime Mas dis- • ; which had prevented his head from belli" > Lcrushetl. lie was (judo conscious, and I wmii ho had been given a drink of brandy I was even able to direct the workers how to . sot, about the task of securing his release ; His body and limbs were buried under a, ■j neap of bricks and mortar, and ii look an ' j hour and a-half to extricate him. He bore I j the ordeal -pluckily ami when his rescue ■ ! was effected was able to give his name and address before being taken to die London , j hospital, where he was found to be badly ! hurt, but not in a dangerous condition. ■ , There seems to be no adequate reason for the collapse of the building, except that it j was an old one, and that the cellars, which ■ 1 are fairly deep, were of course empty. The :] two houses on either side, are quite uuin- , > Mured, though one- of them, is also prepared ' , ' ior demolition.. J