A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2051, 15 June 1893, Page 16

A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.

FIFTY LIVES LOST BY THE COLLAPSE OF A BUILDING. (P£R Press Association.) Washington, June 9. Ford's Theatre, in this city, which was used as offices by the Pension department, collapsed. A thousand people were employed in the building, and so far very few have been found alive. •Tune 10. It is stated that 200 were buried in tbe ruine of the Pension department house. Three hundred were in the buildiDg when it collapsed, but portion of the floor remained intact, thus enabling many to escape, while others jumped from the windows. The number of killed is estimated to be under 50. The building had been condemned as unsafe, but was preserved from reasons of sentiment, it being the scene of the murder of President Lincoln by Wilkes Booth in April 1865. June 11. Tbe cries of those buried by the collapse of Ford's Theatre were most appalling. The three floors fell in rapid succession, and the dead were horribly mutilated. The cavalry, who were early on the scene, were successful in extricating a number of those within the building. The cause of the collapse is attributed to the underworks having bean removed for the purpose of an installation of electricity. One hundred of the occupants of the upper floors saved themselves by jumping on to the adjoining roof.