News from 1902 (March)
March 1 - Frank Harris of the Chicago Wrecking Company says that the work of demolishing the Pan-American Exposition buildings will be begun next Monday. Before the end of the second week 500 laborers and 200 teams will be employed in the work. As the buildings are taken down, the materials, larger beams, iron, glass, wire, etc., will be carefully sorted and will be sent from Buffalo to the point of ultimate destination.
Mr. Harris states that the foremen and a few skilled laborers will come from Chicago, but that most of the men employed on the work will be hired in Buffalo.
After months of seemingly interminable legal fiddling and fussing all of the persons who have obtained liens against the Pan-American Exposition buildings have been brought into line and the Exposition Company is able to give a clear title of the property to the Chicago Wrecking Company.
This company bid in the buildings several months ago for $80,000, and made a cash deposit of $25,000 to bind the bargain. But the company could not turn over the property because of the legal obstacles interposed by creditors of the Exposition company. For several days past Mr. Robert F. Schelling has been diligently at work on this problem and finally, yesterday morning, he was able to wind up the bargain with Frank Harris of the wrecking company and his attorney, Alfred W. Gray of Niagara Falls.
Mr. Schelling was able to show the purchaser a clear title to the property, the objections os all lienors having been withdrawn, and Mr. Harris promptly drew a check for $55,000, the amount still remaining to be paid in.
March 1 - The first serious accident in the removal of the Pan-American buildings occured this morning when a big section of the Streets of Cairo building fell on a gang of workmen and seriously injured three of them. A half-dozen or more men were covered with falling debris, but only three were so seriously injured as to require medical attendance. They were:
Louis Walters of 225 Watson street, whose leg was fractured and whose face and body were badly bruised.
Albert Ojessek of 62 Locust street, whose back was badly injured.
John Wagner of 252 Dearborn street, whose right arm was crushed.
The men were tearing down a high partition, heavily covered with staff, when suddenly a large section of the structure toppled over on them. From the groans of the injured it was seen that some were badly hurt and a hurry call ewas sent for the ambulance of the Sisters' Hospital. Walters was taken to the hospital. The others were taken home.
It is supposed that the partition at which the men were working had been weakened by the winter weather and they did not realize how likely it was to fall at any moment.
March 1 - Fifteen teams and two score of men were employed today in repairing the fence about the Pan-American grounds. The Chicago House Wrecking Company has undertaken to enclose the Exposition so tightly that no one may enter without special permit from Mr. Harris or the superintendent of the grounds, Robert H. Cherry. Not only are all the gaps in the fence closed but the company has begun to move the fence which enclosed part of the park domain. This will be set up along the boundary between the park property and the Rumsey and Schoellkopf lands, so that until the work of wrecking is over there will be no access to the Expostion grounds from the park side.
The plan of wrecking to be adopted will provide for the razing of every other building in turn until the last one is removed.
The "Goddess of Light" on the Electric Tower is said to have been sold to David Humphrey of Cleveland. O., who will place it upon a pavilion in Euclid Park, Among her other virtues the Goddess was always looked up to by the Midway concessionaires as the only personage inside the fence who had not been asked for a loan by the ever-impecunious representative of the "fearless and honest" morning newspaper.
March 4 - Upward of 200 men will begin tomorrow morning the process of wrecking the Pan-American Exposition.
The 7 o'clock whistle will be the signal of doom for the Rainbow City. At that hour the 200 workingmen, armed with hammers, saws, crowbars, wrenches and lines will begin the work of demolishing what required so many months to be completed. From this time on the ring of the hammer and the harsh grunt of the saw will not cease upon any working day until the Rainbow City is no more.
The destruction will be superintended by W. G. Bennett of Chicago, who is expected to arrive in Buffalo tonight. Mr. Bennett is 35 years old and has a record in destruction. He superintended the wrecking of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and also the wrecking of that at Omaha.
The Agriculture Building and the United States Government Buildings will be the first to be attacked. When they are down the others will follow by pairs.
Today the force of men employed are engaged in moving the fence adjoining the park. After today anybody who wants to see the grounds from inside the fence will have to see Mr. Harris or Robert H. Cherry, superintendent of the grounds.
March 5 - The rigidity of the system of exclusion maintatined by the Chicago House Wrecking Company at the Pan-American Exposition grounds was illustrated by a fight which took place in the Fore Court this morning between six Italian laborers and two guards employed by the Wrecking Company.
The Italians entered the grounds near the Albright Art Gallery with the intention of crossing the Exposition to Delaware avenue. They proceeded unnoticed as as along as they were in the park domain, over which the Wrecking Company has no sway, but when they arrived at the Fore Court under the shadow of the Triumphal Bridge a guard stopped them and ordered them back. The six fondled the shovels upon their shoulders and replied they guessed they would go ahead anyway. Another guard came running up during this colloquy. Both were armed with clubs sawed from the bars at the turnstiles. As soon as the Italians declared themselves and before they could swing their shovels, the guards fell upon them with their clubs. They waded through the six as men swing flails upon a threshing flooor. The Italians wielded their shovels, but they were clumsy against the clubs, and in a few mintues the six were on the run down the main approach by which they came.
The beginning of the end of the Pan-American buildings was marked this morning. The Chicago House Wrecking Company began the work of demolishing one building and expects to begin another before night.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Harris, one of the members of the wrecking company, organized the first gang of workmen and at 7 o'clock this morning setn it out upon the Fine Arts Building. This was the structure which the Pan-American Company decided to build at the eleventh hour when it first became apparent that the Albright Art Gallery, which was designed to hold the fine arts exhibits, was destined only for posterity. It is a brick structure with a roof of glass. Mr. Harris marked this as the first structure to come down, with an eye to the expected demand for bricks in the local spring building boom. It is expected that the building will be razed within two weeks.
In the organization of the wrecking gangs Mr. Harris has a system which his long experience in demolishing expositions has proved effective. He details men according to their fitness for certain duties. Certain men are assigned to the roof and others to the interior finishing. A building is wrecked in inverse order to the way it is built. The roof and interior finishing are attacked first, then the covering and lastly the framework is taken apart.
The progress made by the gang upon the Fine Arts building this morning may be taken as a fair criterion of the effectiveness of the Harris system of wrecking. At 10 o'clock the roof boards were laid bare. The gang attacked the metal tile work with pickaxes, ripping it up with whirlwind speed. The men worked under the eye of a boss who saw that there was never a let up to the jump they maintained. It was a notable contrast to the leisurely movements of the men who were employed in building the structure a year ago.
There were 150 men employed upon the grounds this morning. One hundred of them are engaged in moving the fence. These, and others to be hired as fast as they can apply, will be organized into gangs to attack the other buildings in turn. The Agricultural building will be the next one to fall under the axes, hammers and levers of the wreckers.
March 5 - Mr. Raphael Beck has removed his painting of the late President William McKinley back to his studion in the Anderson Building, where it will be on exhbition for a day or two more previous to its going next week to hang in the Capitol at Washington.
As a portrat the painting is excellent, Mr. Beck having caught the happy expression of the usually too uncommunicative face when it was filled with the enthusiasm of the Exposition speech. The draping of the Stars and Stripes back of the speaker with the light and shadows upon them give a perfect background to the portrait while in front of the stand press the throng of men and women who listened to this last speech, the faces in the foregroud being very distinct and lessening to mere specks in the distance as the eye travels on past the fatal Temple of Music, the adjacent buildings and the Court of Fountains to the Electric Tower. The architecture of the Pan-American has been well preserved and the atmospheric qualities so distinctive in the locality of the tower have been truly delineated. As a historic painting and a recor of one of the saddest events in our National History the painting should be valuable. Mr. Beck himself was one of this listening throng, he was imbued with the spirit of the day in sympathy with everything that pertained to it and painted his picture while everything was fresh in his mind. The painting is, so far as known, the only one of its kind attempted.
Its frame is in every way suitable and was designed by Mr. Charles Rohlfs. It is Colonial in style, of massive gold, withh a special national significance in the Indian heads wrought in the lower corners.
Those competent to judge the painting are congratulaing Mr. Beck on his success and are predicting a Government purchase of it. He himself is satisfied with it and that is saying much for so good a judge of what really constitutes a painting. Mr. Beck says he has sent the best work to the Society of Artists' exhibition that he has ever done...
March 7 - Sixty-five men began wrecking the Fine Arts Building at the Exposition Wednesday and yesterday another gang began razing the Horticulture Building. The Chicago House Wrecking Company is said to have hopes of selling the Temple of Music to private individuals as a museum. The fact that President McKinley was shot in it is mentioned as the basis for its value for museum purposes.
One thing that may prevent the desecration of the building at the hands of the dime museum shark is the impossibility of moving the Temple intact. It cannot be taken down in sections. The frame work consists of small timbers. The main trusses are formed of planks nailed together. To be taken down it must be reduced to fragments not much larger than kindling wood. The purchases would need the original plans in order to reassemble it, and the result would be practically a new building. The staff covering would be necessarily sacrificed.
Last October when the proposition was being actively advocated for saving the Temple of Music for a permanent memorial to President McKinley, Director General Buchanan and Director of Works Carlton stated that the building was of too flimsy a character for such purpose, and would need to be completely rebuilt. Those who have dreaded seeing the building becaome the spoil of the "cheap show" man have always been reassured by the fact that the nature of the construction of the Temple of Music rendered it impossible to be moved and set up again without such changes being made as would render it practically a new building.
March 12 - Letter to the Editor: It certainly will be very unfortunate if the Electric Tower is not kept in Buffalo as a reminder of the beautiful Pan-American and as a demonstration that Buffalo is the Electric City. On account of the flimsy construction of the Temple of Music it would be impossible to preserve that, but no such argument can be used in regard to the Tower as the most of the construction is of steel.
If it were placed at the Front the revenues from a restaurant and the elevators would make it self-supporting, and the pleasure and satisfaction that the citizens, young and old, would derive from it would be sufficient dividend fo any money that we might invest.
Buffalo's progress is bound to be rapid from this time on and it will be largely the result of the Pan-American . If Denver, without any of the reasons that Buffalo has for preserving the Tower, can raise the money necessary surely Buffalo can. If the matter is taken up with a little of the spirit that was manifest during the subscription period of the Pan, we will be albe to save the Tower for Buffalo, and in 10 years from now we would be so proud of it that we would not part with it for many times what it may cost. Also save the Goddess of Light, even if we have to purchase it from the Cleveland popcorn man.
What is done must be done quickly and the press is the medium through which to bring it before the people.
Find out the approximate cost and try the popular subscription plan for raising the money. Enter my subscription for $10.
CITIZEN
March 13 - Ex-Mayor Diehl has sent to the NEWS theletter of a Buffalo lady addressed to him and making the suggestion that there be a revival of the effort to save the Electric Tower for Buffalo. The writer says that she will gladly contribute to the project to the extent warranted by her means and suggests that an opportunity be given to test public sentiment on this question.
Inquiry of the Chicago Wrecking Company brings the reply that the Electric Tower has not been sold to any person or city, but is the property of the wrecking company, so that it is not too late to comply with the suggestion of Dr. Diehl's correspondent.
The lady writes, "I am confident that a large number of our citizens would cheerfully contribute to its purchase if given an opportunity, and have expressed informally deep regret that this crowning feature of the recent Pan-American could not remain as a permanent souvenir of our enterprise."
Dr. Diehl suggests that a movement be started to save the structure for Buffalo.
March 15 - Editorial: Everybody in Buffalo would be glad if a definite movement could be inaugurated to buy the Electric Tower of the Exposition and put it up in some permanent form at the Front or elsewhere. It wil be a charming and impressive monument of the beautiful Pan-American as well as a most attractive feature in the pleasure spots of the city.With a five cent elevator charge and a summer restaurant privilege it is probable the Tower could be made to pay the cost of its maintenance. But the initial expense of taking it town and rebuilding it in some more permanent form would be considerable.
While it is probable the wrecking company would sell the Tower at just about what structural steel is worth, when it is purchased the expense of the new life of the Tower will have just begun. The labor of taking down and re-erecting the steel frame will be a large item and the cost of a new outer covering of cream terra cotta or other permanent envelope would be no small sum. Those who are planning for the saving of this splendid monument for Buffalo must not make the mistake of thinking it can be replaced too cheaply. Be sure of your estimate before you go ahead.
March 15 -Letter to the Editor: Yes, by all means let us keep the Tower and let the citizens of Buffalo pay fot it, which I believe they would be glad to do. But first of all find out what Buffalo will do with it when it is turned over to them. Will it be packed away in some out-of-the-way place or will it be sold for old junk, the proceeds to be turned into the City Treasury?
Ex-Mayor Diehl is right in coming to the front and speaking for the Tower, but first let him look up the other end of "buying the Tower for Buffalo" for if it is to receive the fate of the Adam organ it might as well go th China for all the benefit Buffalonians would derive from it.
E.G.
March 18 - At last, after many months of needless delay, it seems as if some action was to be taken to put Convention Hall in shape to receive the great organ presented to the city by J.N. Adam. At present the organ is stored away like so much old lumber and if it were to remain in that condition for long it would unquestionably go to ruin.
It required considerable pressure to get the Republican majority of the Committee on Public Buildings to take action, but move they finally did, and yesterday presented the following report:
"Your Committee on Public Buildings, to whom was referred the communication from His Honor, the Mayor, calling the attention of the board to the fact that the resolution passed February 24, awarding the contract for the changes in Convention Hall, necessary to the installation of the organ, was defective insofar as no aye or nay vote was recorded, as required by the Charter, beg to report:
"That the contract be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, but that the Commissioner of Public Works shall not execute the same until the necessary funds are available."
The report was adopted unanimously.
March 18 - Letter to the Editor: For three weeks we (a young couple) have been endeavoring to find a suitable retn, but we find that the landlords are evidently under the impression that the Pan-American is still in full sway, according to the exorbitant prices they are demanding for their houses. Do they the think Buffalo rent-hunting public has lost its faculties and judgment or have they (the landords) lost theirs?
Before the Pan some of them had a house which they might have rented for $25 or $30 a month. When the Pan hove in sight they put a range upstairs and call it "Flats" and then they demanded $25 per "Flat" or $50 for the whole house, and while the Pan was an excuse there is nothing to excuse such prices now.
We looked at a flat on the West Side last week which the woman in the other part of the house informed me they never received over $19 per month for before the Pan, and now they gently but firmly demanded $30 for it.
There are two of us without children and we have a large and steady salary to depend on but we do not wish to spend it all in rent.
M.H.
March 18 - Commander James H. Bull has been ordered to light-house service on the Florida coast, and is to leave Buffalo within a few days to enter his new assignment of command. He has spent part of the winter in a hospital in New York effecting a complete recovery from the results of his fall from the Government building at the Exposition grounds during the period of construction. (See June 1901 Story 1 Story 2)
"My new duty carries me into the lighthouse service for the next two or three years, said he today. " I have just returned from New York where I have spent the last two months in the hospital for the finishing touches of my restoration to health. While there I passed the examination of the naval medical board and I have been assigned to lighthouse duties along the Southern coast, principally the Florida region. That service will last for some time and then comes shore leave again, probably.
"I shall leave Buffalo the latter part of the week to assume my work, and my family will soon follow. We shall live aboard the tender, which is a commodious and very comfortable steamship, making regular trips of inspection to the lights along the coast and stopping frequently enough to give the household plenty of time to enjoy the land. My home will continue to be in Buffalo, for a naval officer has a right to an official residence, even if he is seldom found in it. In that way he retains his citizenship, I may add, his social anchorage. I am much attached to this city in which friends have been kinder to me than I can explain to them through my terrible accident and subsequent long road to recovery.
"Neither myself nor my family can ever forget the least comfort that any one brought us when the shadow hung over it so long. I should be an ingrate not to hold Buffalo in my heart after such kindness, but even before that I had become attached to the city and proud of the friends already acquired. We look forward to a long vacation some time to be spent in this city, which I call home from this time forth."
March 20 - If Buffalonians want to buy the Electric Tower it is to be found upon the bargain counter at the Pan-American Exposition. It has never been sold to a party in Denver.
"I never authorized the statement that it was sold," said Mr. Harris, agent of the Chicago Wrecking Company, this morning. "The morning paper that said it was made up the story out of materials supplied by a lazy reporter's imagination. The paper said I sold the Tower one day, and the next day roasted me for doing it in the editorial columns. But what can I do about it? Nothing.
"The 'Goddess of Light' upon the Tower has been sold, but remains still upon the top of the Tower."
The NEWS has received many letters offering subscriptions for a fund to buy the Electric Tower and erect it at the Front. The writers express the opinion that it would be a disgrace to Buffalo to have any other city secure this great feature of the Pan-American Exposition. They say the citizens of Buffalo should lose no time in buying the tower which will ever be a great drawing card for the city and will bring thousands of visitors here every year.
Considerable work has been done upon wrecking the Exposition. The Fine Arts Building is down and the wreckers began yesterday upon the Fisheries Building of the Government group. Already the grounds are beginning to resemble a vast emporium for second-hand lumber. There are piles of posts upon the lawn before the Service Building and between the latter and the Hospital. Piles of boards, planks and scanting fill up the Grand Court before the Electric Tower.
The grounds were the throne of the abomination of desolution this morning. A keen cutting wind shrilled from the North. The visitor entering the West Amherst gate who has not been on the scene since last fall would be appalled at the destruction wrought in the past few months. Two frail huts, the palm thatch of which was being played upon by the wind like a kazoo is all that is left of the Philippines Village and a stray cat was crawling among the ruins voicing the solitude in long drawn howls. A rat of a chestnut pony was stabled in the arched entrance of the Service Building. Alt Nurnberg stood intact but silent. With the exception of this, the Bismark restaurant, Darkest Africa, the Golden Chariots pavilion and an obelisk and two minarets of the Streets of Cairo, the entire North Midway consisted of acres and acres of staff and kindling wood. The Infant Incubators, the Press building, the cheese box that enclosed the arena of Bostock's animal show and the Baker and Lowney buildings partially razed were all that was left of the South Midway.
The north building is entirely demolished.
The Exposition buildings are still in pretty fair condition, externally. The color scheme certainly stood the winter well. But the way down through the Grand Court is strewn with broken lamp posts, shattered vases and mutilated statuary. The horsemen upon the pylons of the Triumphal Bridge still sit, their mounts prepared to take a flying leap to the four bias corners of the globe, but the shields between the pylons are broken and the spears are shattered. The paneled bas reliefs have been carried off.
Of the State and foreign colony there are left only the Cuban building, the Louisiana Rice Kitchen and the half-dismantled Missouri State building.
March 24 - Col. Francis G. Ward, Commissioner of Public Works, is one of the most enthusiastic of the many advocates of keeping the Electric Tower in Buffalo. He thinks it would be a short-sighted economy that would prevent the erection of the tower at the Front, where it might stand a beautiful beacon by night the growing commerce of Buffalo.
"What plan do you propose for saving the tower and putting it up at the Front?" Col. Ward was asked this morning.
"I would have the city buy it," the colonel replied. "These plans for buying it by private subscriptions are incomplete, and ineffectual, and unsatisfactory. The city should acquire it and maintain it through its Parks Department. I don't know what the building would cost, but as the whole Exposition was sold for $80,000, I don't suppose it would cost very much. It would be a beautiful monument at the Front. There it could be seen for miles upon the lake and along the Niagara frontier. No city in the country would have so beautiful a structure as that Tower of Light when illuminated at night. It would be a distinctive feature of Buffalo, and add greatly to the already high reputation for beauty of the Queen City of the Lakes."
"But how about the cost of lighting it? It has 11,000 incandescent lamps. Would not the cost of operating these be too high?"
"I haven't investigated this question, but I do not think it need be a burden. Some system might be devised whereby it could be run at little expense. If the Common Council will authorize the investigation and take an interest in the proposition to buy the Tower, it wil not take long for us to ascertain what it will cost to light it."
March 25 - The great Stadium of the Exposition has been attacked by the wreckers and it will be laid low in a few days. It is estimated that it will produce something like 2,000,000 feet of lumber. The Midway is nearly dismantled and the work of demolition is going on in several of the larger structures.
The Electric Tower is to be kept to the last. It has not been sold, but there is hope that it may find a buyer. The present asking price is $30,000.
March 26 - District Attorney Penney yesterday sent to the Buffalo Historical Society the revolver, cartridges and handkerchief which constituted the principal part of the equipment used by Czolgosz in assassinating the late President, William McKinley.
Mr. Penney hesitated for some time as to whether it would not be better to send these important relics to Washington, but he decided finally in favor of his home city and, with the articles, send an explanatory letter.
The letter is as follows:
Buffalo, March 25, 1902
Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo Public Library Building, City.
Gentlemen:
I herewith present for preservation the revolver, cartridges and handkerchief
used by the assassin, Czolgosz, in killing our late President, William McKinley.
It has seemed to me tha these ought to be preserved in some suitable manner as a subject of historical interest. I have been hesitating as to whether or not I should send them to Washington or commit them to your care. I have finally determined upon the latter course.
I trust they will be properly disposed of.
Respectfully yours,
Thomas Penney
In reply Mr. Penney received a letter of which the following is a copy:
Buffalo, March 25, 1902
Thomas Penney, District Attorney, Buffalo, N.Y.
Dear Mr. Penney:
In accepting for the Buffalo Historica Society the revolver, cartridges and handkerchief used by the assassin Czolgosz at the time of the assassination of the late President, William McKinley, I desire to thank you for your interest in this society which has led you to give them. We will place the relics of a national tragedy in the museum of the Society and will watch them carefully.
I will send you a formal acknowledgement of receipt at an early date.
Yours Truly,
Edward Strickland, Assistant Secretary
The articles are in the same condition as they were when taken from Czolgosz the moment after he fired the two shots, one of which proved to be fatal. The handkerchief is a cheap one and is scorched by the powder burns due to the fact that the assassin held the revolver under the handerchief just before shooting it.
March 27 - The Assembly has just passed Senator Hill's McKinley Monument bill. The Monument bill went through the Assembly without discussion and without a dissenting vote...
Provisions of the Monument bill:
The Governor shall appoint a Commission of five citizens, two of whom shall be residents of Buffalo and the other three residents of the State, to serve without compensation excepting actual expenses.
It authorizes the Commission to contract for a procure the erection of a McKinley monument in Niagara Square at Buffalo.
It is provided that the city of Buffalo shall deed to the State a site on Niagara Square for the monument, the site and monument ever to remain the property of the State.
It provides for the appointment by the Commission of an executive officer and secretary, to serve without compensation.
It stipulates that the Commission shall, at proper time, submit to the Governor and Legislature a report showing in detail expenses incurred in the erection of the monument.
It limits the expenditure for the monument to $100,000, making $50,000 available when the Commission adopts the plans and specifications and the balance on the completion of the monument.
March 27 - Now that the McKinley Monument bill is secure throught the cooperation of Gov. Odell and the Legislature, the people of Buffalo should make a definite move to save the glory of the Pan-American - the tower of light. So long as there was a doubt of securing the monument as a State memorial little was said in these columns about the other object dear to the hearts of people who were deeply impressed with the events of last year and anxious to preserve reminders of those days of splendor and of national sorrow.
The preservation of the Electric Tower has been advocated in many letters to the NEWS and various sums have been offered in contribution to that object. Now is the time - the psychologic moment - for a general movement to save the tower. Something has already been done to give practical form and effect to public sentiment in this matter. At the suggestion of some proposed contributors, steps have been taken to see what the tower could be bought for from the Harris Wrecking Company of Chicago, who paid $80,000 some time ago for the whole plant at the Pan-American. Ex-Mayor Diehl has been consulted on this subject and has sought to get a figure from the company, with what success could not be learned iin time for publication today. The matter is mentioned here to show that the movement has a practical character so far as it has gone. If Dr. Diehl gets what he considers a fair offer and if the probable cost of lighting the tower, which Commissioner of Public Works Ward is investigating, seems likely to be moderate, steps will be taken by Dr. Diehl and others for the ciculation of a popular subscription fund to place the Tower at the Front or at some other suitable spot.
In connection with this the NEWS would suggest that the small fund contributed by individuals to raise a McKinley monument might now be used for the tower if all the conditions mentioned are found favorable and it the contributors are willing to have their gifts so used. The matter is submitted here for their consideration and the NEWS would be glad to hear from them...The money will not be needed for the monument now that the State has undertaken that work...
March 27 - The Buffalo Historical Society is on the move. Today big vans drew up to the Public Library building, so long the home of the society now getting into its new home in the former New York State Building at the Exposition, now the property and permanent home of this society.
The first articles to be transported were the curios and equipment of the Museum. The Dr. John Lord collection is already in the new building and the whole vast store of treasure will follow with all convenient speed. It is estimated that it will require from two to three weeks to accomplish the transfer, for the hauling is a long one and the work is of a kind that is hard to be rushed since a large proportion of the collection must be handled carefuly to avoid damage.
March 27 - Relic hunters have hacked a square hold in the floor of the Temple of Music, near the spot where President McKinley stood when he was shot. They secured chips for souvenirs.
March 27 - Albert Wayley, 24 years old, employed by the Chicago Wrecking Companyh on the Pan-American grounds, fell a distance of 40 feet and struck on his head yesterday afternoon. He was removed to the Emergency Hospital in an ambulance. Wayley was at work on the annex to the Manufacturers building. A beam broke and he fell to the ground. He sustained a compound fracture of the left leg.
March 28 - William Ramsford, 35 years old, a lineman employed by the Buffalo General Electric Company, fell from a pole at the Pan-American grounds yesterday afternoon. Ramsford was at work at the top of the pole, removing wires that have been unused since the close of the Exposition. He had finished his work and hwas descending when his foot slipped on a cross bar which was wet and he fell to the ground, landing on his feet. In descending, his right arm caught on a projecting spike, and the skin on his right forearm was ripped off from the elbow to the wrist. He was removed to the Riverside Hospital in an ambulance. His injury was dressed and he was able to go to his home at 362 West Avenue.