Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1860 — CINCINNATI CORRESPONDENCE. [ARTICLE]

CINCINNATI CORRESPONDENCE.

Cincinnati, March 3,1860. j On Thursday morning last, between eight ! and nine o’clock, our city was startled by a j report that St. Xavier Church, on Sycamore j street, had fallen and crushed a large number of people in the ruins. The first impression j upon the minds of those who heard it seemed j to he utter incredulity, as there did not accompany the report any assignable cause that such a calamity could occur in such a substantial, well-tried building. It was not generally known that the building was being torn down to make room for a larger building. Slight and unsatisfactory as the report at first appeared, it was soon observed that the current of the populace set in one direction with unusual celerity of motion and anxious faces. Alas, indefinite as the first report was, on urriving in the neighborhood, the crowd and confusion and sad heart-rend-ing wails of sorrow that rose above the noise, all indicated, too truly, that a terrible calamity had fallen upon the city. No Church was there, and in the wild uproar every possible report obtained credence. Yet, after the wildest reports were refuted and the facts developed, enough was left in the actual casualty itself io cast the black shadow into many homes and the blackest grief in hundreds of lovi ig hearts. The Church was a heavy substantial building of brick, and in order to take it down, the always dangerous process of undermining was adopted. In this way the front and rear walls were taken down. On Tuesday night and Wednesday it rained very hard und the standing walls were penetrated with moisture to a considerable depth. On Thursday, w.lien the men went to work, this im- ! portant fact appears not to have been consid- ! ered, and fifteen men set to work to underi mine, by removing with picks, the lower inJside bricks just above the foundation. The ■ wall stood twenty feet above the foundation

and no props or other means appear to have j been set up to prevent its giving way suddenly. The digging progressed, and, in an unexpected moment, even before i*. was thought the wall was seriously affected, down° it ! came, crushing thirteen men beneath the ruins. For a few moments those at work at otherparts of the building stood'transfixed with* j horror, but they soon rallied and rushed to ; the work of exhuming their companions from | beneath the brick and debris. In » few min|T 3 redS ° f 6tron ° ar ® s "’ere aiding in l the work as if life and not the recovery of | an ‘J ma-ngled bodies depended upon the | exertion. Th ; crowd continued to increase and press upon the laborers till tiiere wu | r,ot rot>ra left to prosecute the search, when--Ihe mayor brought the police into rearai.i----i tion and forced the crowd off the ruins in : order that the work of exhuming could pro- ; ceed with proper celerity. As the crashed bodies were carefully I lifted out, friends soon recognized them, and it was a sad and melting scene to see wive* prostrate themselves upon the crushed and bleeding forms of the husbands from which they had parted but a couple of hours before lull of file and hope; and as children rushed in to learn what they most dreaded to know, a scene of sadness and sorrow ensued that melted the most obdurate hearts, and evem men were moved to tears. Ot the fiit *en men engaged in undermining the wall thirteen were killed upon the spot, one taken out not seriously injured,, and one escaped. Twelve of the dead leavefamilies who were dependent upon them. Measures are taken for a public expression of sympathy for the bereaved and for the purpose of establishing a fund to aid them through the fearful trial that has fall.-n upon them.

The members of tbe Mechanics’ Exchange arc making arrangements to induce the holding of the Fair of the national Agricultural Society in this city. The committee ~ou Ways and Means report that they have guaranteed subscriptions to the amount of $12,OUO, and can r;use any amount that may be required for the object in view. Charles Clawson was tried during the past i\ eek foi tl e homicide of R. T. Mahcnc and acquitted. This acquittal was based upon the precedent established in the Sickles case. Yours respectfully, J aster. Baeti.lt s Commercial College.— The principal ot this old and deserved y most popular Institution of the kind in this country, has been for years known to tbe bu.si- : ness community as the only instructor in the j higher branches of commercial science. lir. lact Mr. Bartlett lias no competitor in bin- ' lino. Review vlr. ;i trtieit’s late and most: ; remarkable work on commerce and bankings and they will doubt no longer.— Cincinnati Gazette.