Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1905 — EIGHT ARE KILLED IN BEDS [ARTICLE]

EIGHT ARE KILLED IN BEDS

Wall in File Ruins at Minneapolis Falls on Hotel. In Minneapolis, eight persons were killed about 1 o’clock Tuesday morning when the wall of the O. 11. Peck building on Fifth street south, which was left standing by the fir# of last week, toppled over in a high gale and struck the Crocker hotel, a three-story structure op Fifth street. Tons of brick and mortar crashed do«n through the flimsily constructed building, throwing the floors into a mass of debris in the basement. There was no warning of the disaster, and the fourteen persons who were sleeping in the hotel were caught and eight killed. A passer-by wdio heard the crash turned in a fire alarm and the department arrived in time to check flames in the wreck. Responsibility for the accident will be the subject of a thorough investigation. J. G. Houghton, the building inspector, had made an inspection of the standing walls, but had given no orders concerning them. He had ordered the demolition of other walls that seemed to threaten to fall. Guests at the hotels had been afraid because of the proximity of the wall and had moved elsewhere, but as nearly a week had passed and the wall stood apparently firm they had come back. The terrific northwest gale was the cause of the fall and it exerted a greater pressure than the building inspector expected. C. L. Smith, a hack driver, one of the roomers, had a curious premonition that saved his life. He was nervous and could not sleep. Twice he arose, dressed and went outside to see what the wind was doing. The second time he told a policeman he thought the wall was unsafe. The officer laughed at the idea and the words had scarcely left his lips when the wall fell.