Chicago, Illinois
Building Collapses During Storm
April 2, 1892
Chicago, April 2. -- A terrific wind
an thunder storm passed over the city at 1
o'clock, wrecking buildings, demolishing
out-houses and prostrating telegraph wires.
The seven story brick building at No 14 and 16
Pearce street, on the West Side, was struck by
the wind and crushed like an egg shell. The
building was surrounded by one and two-story
frame and brick buildings, at the home so
laboring men, which were also wrecked, killing
and injuring the occupants, in the rear of
the building was a two-story brick house, the
home of Thomas Hewlitt, who lived there with his
wife and children. They were at supper and
were entertaining a guest and her friend,
Mrs. Keown. When the building fell, the force
of the terrible mass of brick and iron, wood and
plaster seemed to be directed rearward and
buried the structure. All the inmates were
killed or injured.
Frank Dilleny,
who happened to be passing the
street and was an eye witness to the disaster,
first noticed the rear wall bulging out. The
rain was driving in torrents and there had just
been a fearful gust of wind. There was a
loud crash and he was conscious of a deafening
noise which continued for some time as the
masses of debris piled on the smaller
structures. Then arose cries and screams
of those of the unfortunates who were not dead
or unconscious beneath the tons of fallen walls.
An alarm of fire was turned in and as soon as
the nature of the calamity was appreciated
assistance began to arrive from all directions
and the work of tearing away the wreckage was
promptly begun. The following is a
complete list of the dead:
MRS.
ELIZA ALLEN
MRS.
J. L. GOWAN
A.L.
GOWAN, 3 years old
MARY
GOWAN, 4 years old
DAVID
L. HEWLITT, 8 months old
EDWARD MOTT, 2 years old
HORACE MOTT, 5 years old
MARY
WALSH, 20 years old, a niece of Mrs. Gowan, had
not been found at 2 o'clock a.m.
The Greeley Tribune, Greeley, Weld Co., CO, 7 Apr 1892
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