Three persons killed

Three persons killed

15 Sep 1882

THEEE PERSONS KILLED

Yesterday, shortly after noon, without a moments’ warning, one ‘ of the huge buttresses of the north chancel of St. Patrick’s”Cathedral fell to tho ground with a terrific crasb, the force of which smashed the pile of masonry into a groat heap of-debris. Tho adjoining portions of tho building were considerably damaged. We regret to say but the catastrophe involved the death of three persons – a young girl and two boys, who were overwhelmed by tons of stonework and also tho dangerous injury of a baby, who is not expected to recover. The details of the occurrence are shocking in tho extreme. It produced in tho thickly populated district around the Cathedral the intensest excitement, and when the news spread tho excitement extended with it throughout tho metropolis, giving rise to the most disturbing rumours, Almost immediately an enormous crowd of people gathered to tho scene, and within the succeeding half hour the multitude became of such vast proportion that the intervention of the police was necessary to keep tho people at a judicious distance from the building lest other portions of it should give way and in their fall produce further loss of life. Captain Talbot, Chief Commissioner of Police, on arriving took charge of the force, which numbered about fifty men. These were sufficient to induce the excited crowd to move back from Patrick’s-close, into which tho buttress had fallen, and chains having been laid across tho thoroughfare, at each end, the work of searching for the human beings who were known to be beneath the debris commenced, and resulted in the shocking discovery of three bodies, two of which wore crushed and severed into atoms, which made identification almost an impossibility, and added heartrending scenes to tho catastrophe.

The buttress which fell so suddenly was near seventy feet high. It and three other buttresses were erected to support tho north wall, which rum alongside Patrick’s close, a very wide thoroughfare, occupied almost entirely on the side opposite tho cathedral by small shops for the sale of secondhand furniture and articles of a very miscellaneous description. The side of tho street nearest to the Cathedral has no houses erected upon it, and beyond the narrow footway are tho boundary iron railings of the Cathedral grounds. Inside these railings on the north side tho grounds are not wide—probably about fifteen or twenty feet from the railings to tho base of the buttress. These ware built of solid masonry, topped by a heavy pinnacle in cut stone, -weighing many tons. The buttress which fell spread across the entire space between its base and the opposite shops.

The Cathedral is built upon the lowest ground in tho city, and almost since its partial restoration after fire in the latter part of the fourteenth century its base was subject to the disastrous effects of water lodging around the foundations. The Poddle River, which runs beneath the building, is the cause of the lodgement of water, and frequently causes an inundation of the grounds. The excessive damp which, spits of all efforts, could not be overcome, made it absolutely necessary that steps should be taken to strengthen and preserve the foundations, and at the beginning of last June the Cathedral was closed and placed in tho hands of contractors for the execution of the necessary improvement. Messrs Duckrell & Sons, Martin, and Co. undertook contract for the laying down of encaustic tiles throughout the floor, and Mr. Stephen Adams, of Bishop-street, undertook excavations for the purpose of laying down suitable apparatus.

Mr. J H Pile, of Great Brunswick street and Abbey street, was entrusted with a construct form underpinning and concreting the endangered foundations. A moat had been dug along the north wall. The excavations were carried to a depth of a few feet below the base of the foundations. Mr. Pile’s workmen, it is said, commenced underpinning the first of the butresses a few days ago. On Wednesday last this buttress they state, gave indications of not being safe and yesterday morning five or six of Mr. Pile’s workmen applied props to the foundation, and the proceeded as expeditiously as possible with the contract work.

Shortly after twelve o’clock, the man being in tho excavated moat, their attention was attracted by a trembling motion in tho butress, and seeing, when they looked upwards, the nature of the occurrence that was about to take place, they jumped out of tho moat, with a shout of alarm, and rushed into the graveyard. The next moment supplied simple proof that their escape from death was close and providential. Down fell the buttress with a dreadful crash. The base of the masonry sunk into the excavation underneath, but the main portion of the column, without perceptibly losing any of its solidity until the crash occurred, spread across the graveyard and the street. A section of tho iron railings was smashed, and tho dwarf wall dislocated by tho tremendous force of tho fulling stonework, Two enormous masses of stonework and mortar lay in the centre oi the street. The topmost part of the pinnacle fell upon tho roof of a one storey house on tho opposite side of the Close and burst through it into the yard at the rear, fortunately without injury to any persons. Near this house the heavy entrance gate of a yard was smashed by other portions of the descending pinnacle. Here two children who had rushed to the shelter of the archway lost their lives, their bodies being almost crushed into pulp and a girl named Sarah Egan, in whose arms was a child two years old, was also knocked down and died a short time afterwards from her injuries. The infant was not killed, but received very serious injuries—a fracture of the skull and several bruises on the body. An arch, shaped like an ellipse, which spread from the buttress to the north wall of the building, fell almost simultaneously with the buttress, and crushed through the slated roof beneath, but the groined arching below the roof proved sufficiently strong to sustain tho weight of the debris, and thus saved tho grand organ.

The Dean of tho Cathedral was in tho building at the time of this occurence, when the dreadful nature of the accident was realised by the people, efforts were immediately made to remove the debris and recover the bodies of tho persons it had overwhelmed. The work was carried on with rapidity under tho directions of Mr. Harty, Assistant City Engineer, and Mr. Kenny, Inspector of drainage works for the Corporation. Soon the workmen who were engaged searching for bodies, came upon some portions of human remains. They were crushed fully two feet into tho earth. The sight which tho mangled bodies presented was horrifying, and caused great sensation.
They were of themselves quite unrecognisable, and tho identification of tho bodies was only secured by means of the clothes which they had worn. The remains were found to have been torn asunder. The legs and arms were almost wholly severed from the trunk, through which the intestines protruded. Their headB were almust reduced to pulp, and the brains were visibly scattered about. Tho hair and blood were mixed with clay and stones. Description cannot picture the shocking spectacle. Subsequently at tho hospital the remains were identified as those of, James Bolger aged nine years, of 27 Bride street, and John Ward, aged ten, of 26 Bride-street.

They had been playing, it was stated, in the Close where the buttress commenced to totter, and were unable to escape. Some minutes after the finding of those mangled bodies, the body of a young girl was discovered, “When tho debris was removed from her life was not extinct. Two compound, fractures were upon, her skull , her thigh was also fractured, and her right foot almost severed from her leg.
In her arms was an infant (“very seriously injured, but also alive), which led to her identification as Sarah Egan, aged sixteen years, of 41 Bull-alley, and the infant which she had been carrying when the buttress fell upon them was identified as Francis Mooney, aged two years, tho child, of one of her relatives living in 73 Patrick street. “Without any delay both were conveyed to the Adelaide Hospital, Peter street, Dr. B. W. Richardson and Dr. Blanchford, resident, administered restoratives, and did everything possible to sustain life. Bub her strength rapidly departed, and tho poor girl died within five minutes after her arrival at tho hospital. Previous to death, however, tho last rites of tho Catholic Church were administered to her by Kev. Father Ward and Father Slattery, of St. Nicholas’ Church,’ Francis street. The infant was carefully treated, but little hopes are entertained of its recovery. The remains of the two boys were gathered together and placed in a coffin, which was removed to the Adelaide Hospital, and from thence to the Morgue, to await an inquest. The body of Sarah Egan was conveyed to the same place during the evening*

The scene at the hospital was very pitiable. An immense crowd assembled outside and remained for a considerable time. Many of them were relatives and friends of the deceased. When the parents of tho children, by means of the clothes, recognised the mangled remains which had been collected into one coffin, they lost all control over their feelings, threw themselves upon the ground and wept bitterly. The boy Ward was identified by his mother; the girl Egan by her brother. The Registrar, Mr. Hunt, was most courteous in the communications to persons interested in making inquiries regarding the lamentable accident. The bodies of tho two victims were so dreadfully mangled that the experienced surgeons of tho hospital at first believed that there was ;t third male victim.

At two o’clock Mr. Park Neville, City Engineer made a careful inspection of the foundation of the fallen buttress and of the foundations of tho buttresses adjoining, as some apprehensions were expressed lest the calamity should be repeated. The foundations of tho whole of the northern flank walls of the Cathedral are exposed in the excavations which are being into with u view to carrying out necessary improvements in tho drainage of the building. Sir. Neville expressed an opinion that it would be well to put up supports to the buttress next to that which has fallen. This, of course, will he done at once. Mr. Peter Wilkinson coachbuildor, status that shortly after eleven o’clock he was looking out of the window of his residence, which is exactly opposite the buttress which fell, when she suddenly saw that portion of tho building give a slight shake, and than the large muss of stone fell. He saw a woman with a child having a narrow escape. They were walking, and seeing the heavy tons of masonry coming down, they rushed into his yard and uninjured, although large stones were falling about them all the time.

When darkness fell last night the debris had but all been cleared away. A noteworthy fact connected with tho accident is that the high buttress fell out in one block from top to bottom. This was caused by the elliptical arch which crashed through tho roof forcing tho whole mass outwards, when that part of the structure tottered. The buttress came clean away from that part of the wall which it was intended to support, and with which it might or might not have been dovetailed. As a buttress simple and pure it should staud as a support without incorporation. As an ornamental buttress it might be incorporated with the wall.

No steps have been taken to strengthen or prop the other buttress, subsequently the people residing opposite are in a stats of terror, and have in many _instances left their houses. Many of them, including children and women, with babies in their arms, passed the night under the heavy rain. The debris has fill been cleared away, and teo thoroughfare is stopped by chain, whilst watchmen are on the spot.
The following account o£ the manner in which the girl Egan met her death is told by her late neighbours, as well as by persons who witnessed the affair. She was walking along the street with, the infant Francis Mooney in her arms, when a horse yoked to a van took flight on hearing tho loud rumble which, occurred a few seconds before the buttress tumbled. She did not appear to be aware of any danger save that of the runaway horse, and ran back right to tho place where the buttress fell. In a moment she was overwhelmed with the falling mass. She received terrible injuries.
The ankle and thigh of her right leg were fractured, in addition to which she sustained numerous wounds and contusions about the head and shoulders, whilst her back was broken. The infant escaped with severe injuries about the head, and though it was at first thought that he could not recover are now entertained that ha may survive. An incident, painful in one sense, but which is more than compensated for by the humanity displayed by a gentleman connected with tho Adelaide Hospital, had come to light in connection with tho child, and is given on good authority. It appears that there in a rule existing that institution that no Catholic is allowed to remain a patient, we the infant would have had to be removed last night had not the gentleman referred to given up his own room and bed, and consequently changed tho little patient into n visitor. Tho inquests on tho three bodies will be held to-day at twelve o’clock.

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