AMERICA.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 689, 26 July 1870, Page 2

AMERICA.

FALL OF THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF LEGISLATURE.

Richmond, Virginia, has been the scene of a most appalling disaster, fifty-eight persons having been killed, and from 100 to 150 more or less seriously injured, by the fall of a portion of the State Capitol building. Two rival Mayors, Cahoon and Ellison, have for some weeks past been contending for supremacy in Richmond. It was a contest in which all the people in the city, and especially those of political aspirations, took a lively interest; and after much warfare, the rivals, with excellent judgment, determined to leave the question as to which was the rightful Mayor to the decision of the courts. Chief Justice Chase was first appealed to, but, being unable to hear the case, it was taken to the Court of the State of Virginia. The Court sat in the upper story of the Capitol building, an edifice which was erected in the last century, and, as the place of meeting of the Confederate Congress, was a noted building, although one of comparatively small size, and of no architectural pretensions. The Virginia Legislature sat on the lower floor, the court-room being immediately over the Chamber of the House of Delegates. This room was small, measuring about 20 by 25 feet, the Judges' Bench being upon a raised platform or ledge at the end, confronted by a small gallery at the other. There were about 300 persons in the court-room, embracing lawyers, politicians, newspaper reporters, legislators, and many leading citizens. The room was literally packed, when two of the judges came in and took their seats, and the audience in anxious expectation awaited the others. Suddenly a report was heard as of a smothered gun, beneath the floor, followed quickly by another similar sound. Everybody started up and gazed about to see whence the noise came. Soon there was a crackling sound, as of small timbers breaking, and then the floor was felt giving way in the centre of

the room. All felt that danger was imminent, and instinctively endeavoured to secure safety, but for almost all it was too late. The floor went down into the chamber below with a terrific crash, dragging the small gallery after it, carrying its closely packed mass of human beings down a distance of some twenty-five feet, crushing the people who were in the chamber underneath, and, to make the catastrophe as terrible as possible, causing the ceiling of the court-room to fall a moment afterwards, and crush and suffocate the victims beneath. The some twelve feet wide, on which the judge sat, did not go down, and on this many were saved. Others jumped into the windows and doors, or clung to the broken timbers projecting from the walls. In this way possibly thirty persons were saved, who, looking down into the abyss, saw a frightful scene. There were shattered lumber, plaster, clouds of dust, struggling men, and through it all came- up heartrending cries for help. The crash was felt in every portion of the building, aud its occupants ran out in dread. The neighbouring church bells were rung raising an instant alarm, and bringing the Fire Department and crowds: of people to the spot. Governor Walker, the G-nvernor of Virginia, was in the Capitol, and at once organized measures for relief. He surrounded the building with a cordon of police ; kept the mob out, as it was not known but that other portions of the edifice might fall; and, by raising ladders to the walls, began at once the sad work of extrication. One by one, the dead and dying, or wounded, were brought up from the mass of ruins to the windows and taken down the ladders to the park, where thousands of people were assembled, the relatives weeping and wailing sadly. From the mass of fallen timber and rubbish, the arms and legs of the wounded and dead projected, and to extricate them was the work of hours. The firemen and citizens, however, labored vigorously until the last one was brought out. Had the disaster occurred an hour later, when the Legislature was in session, the loss of life would have been much greater. As it was, some twenty members were killed or injured. The dead were greatly disfigured When the corpses were brought out and exposed to view, scarcely any could be recognised, they were so fearfully distorted. The faces were swollen and blackened, it is supposed from suffocation, and the mouth was a sort of coagulated froth, mingled with blood, and hardened by the dust. The calamity caused an entire suspension of business and closing of the shops; while the political feeling, which had been running high in the city, at once lost all its asperity. It appears that, in order to improve the appearance of the Delegates' Chamber, a column was some time ago taken away which supported a beam, composed of two pieces of timber, whereon the floor of the court-room rested. It was the giving way of this beam that caused the disaster.