Jay Hurst McFall

   Cause of his death was Killed in the wreck of Ford's theater at Washington.

   Another name for Jay was JH.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Miscellaneous, 15 Jun 1983, Boscobel Dial. "Jay" McFall, formerly a resident of this city, was killed in the wreck of Ford's theater at Washington. He was 32 years old and was a cripple from hip disease. Jay was the son of Andrew McFall.

• Death. AWFUL!!
The Frightful Disaster at Washington.
Horrible Scene at Ford's Old Theatre.
Men and Women Crushed in the Ruins.
The Accident the Result of Criminal Negligence - A Partial List of the Dead.

WASHINGTON, June 10. - (Associated Press.) - Yesterday hundreds of men were carried down by the falling walls of a building which was notoriously insecure. Human lives crushed out by tons of iron and brick, sent unheralded to the throne of their Maker, men by scores, maimed and disfigured for life. Happy families were hurled into the depths of despair. Women calling for their husbands; children crying for their fathers; mothers calling for their sons; and no answer to the cry.

This is but the shadow of an awful calamity that befell the city yesterday morning. Its horrors will never be fully told, its suddenness was almost its chief horror. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, was the change, and men who came to the scene of daily toil will never return alive. In the national capital of the proudest nation of the earth there has been a catastrophe unparalleled in the history of the United States, and in every mind there is a horrible conviction that its cause is to be found in criminal negligence, too parsimonious to provide for the safety of its loyal servants by erecting a building proper for their accommodation. It was between 9:30 and 10 o'clock that the floor of the old Ford theatre, occupied by the records and pension division of the surgeon general's office fell in as though they had been the cards of a card house. On each floor were scores of men at work. Without a moment's warning they were carried down as by an awful cataract.

The floor was made of iron girders - hardly strong enough to sustain the walls, but heavy enough to stamp out the human lives - of bricks held together by plaster long since dried out, of wooden beams that had been in place too long. There was no escape from such a flood. The government of a great nation could not afford to provide a safe building for the faithful employees, but herded them together in a building the unsound condition of which was so notorious.

There is shame and remorse in the souls of some men who were responsible for this state of things that confined men working for their daily bread in a building that every one in the city knew was unsafe. Twenty years ago there was another tragedy within the walls of this building, news of which was flashed to the four quarters of earth and it brought consternation whither it went. A man was killed who was president of the United States. As though the building had borne a curse upon it from that time, it ended its career in a fitting manner. Those in the multitude who could think of something besides the catastrophe alone, remarked upon the strange coincidence that the building in which John Wilkes Booth slew President Lincoln should fall and kill scores of people on the very day that the body of the assassin's brother was being laid to its final resting place.

Evidence found in the official records appears conclusive that as long ago as 1885 this building which the government purchased after the assassination and used as an army museum, was officially proclaimed by congress an unsage depository for even inanimate skeletons, mummys, and books of the army and the medical museum and a safer place of storage was provided for them; but notwithstanding the fact that in the public press and in congress also continued attention was called to the walls of the building and its darkness and general unsuitability and unsafety, it continued to be used for the daily employment for nearly 500 government servants.

While the work of rescue was going on men who ha been strangers to emotion wept like children and turned away their faces as limp and lifeless bodies of those who had been crushed beneath the ruins were brought forth to the sunshine; they would see no more on this earth. Women were helped away in fainting and in every heart stood sorrow and every eye the moisture of grief.

Ambulances were kept busy carrying away the dead and injured. The faces of many of the injured were covered with pieces of cloth, old coats, newspapers, or whatever else could be had. Some of the mangled bodies were carried out with faces exposed to the view of the great throng surrounding the building. All during the long hours while the workmen labored with all their strength to rescue those who were not beyond help, mothers, sisters, wives, and brothers hovered around in front of the building, and with streaming eyes inquired of all whom they met of some tidings of their dead ones. Some could barely be restrained from pushing their way into the building. A look into the interior told the sickening tale of how some were taken and others left. Desks were seen half toppling over the brink of a broken floor, others stood straight, but the chair which stood beside it fell when its occupant went down in the crash. Documents and papers were scattered everywhere, but as fast as possible they were gathered up and saved. Many were spotted with blood. That anyone should escape with life seems a miracle. As they were brought forth they presented a spectacle that no one seeing it will ever forget. In many cases semblance of humanity was gone.

It seemed as thought the helpers were carrying out mere bags of matter, smeared all over with blood, filthy with dirt, dirt ground into them, blood on their faces. Hospitals were soon over-crowded; drug stores were turned into temporary hospitals; houses in the neighborhood of the accident opened their doors gladly and the dead and wounded were hurried in. When the accident was over and before the rescuers could get inside to their relief there were injured men caring for their worse injured brothers. There were men who did not rush to the street to save their own lives regardless of the fact that more walls might fall and bury them once more, they staid to succor men who could not get away themselves. One man with a crushed arm used the other one to drag a man from the place of death. Every moment the throwing away of wreckage exposed the bloody and often mutilated form of some victim. Occasionally one of them revived sufficiently to need but little assistance to the outer air, but the majority of them were dusty, bruised, with clothing torn almost into tatters, were carried into clear atmosphere and through the sorrowing multitude to ambulances and patron wagons.

At first the efforts to rescue were most inefficient, but in a little while system prevailed. As bleeding and mangled bodies were brought out groans and out-cries arose on all hands. One man was found sticking head first in the debris, his feet seen first, soon his legs were uncovered and seen to move freely, showing that he was still alive. As fast as human hands could work these rescuers' did, and soon they had the unfortunate man out. He was alive when brought into the air, but dead before reaching the ambulance in the street. This was but one of the many shocking scenes attending the most horrible and most inexcusable accident that ever occurred in the city of Washington.

The general opinion is that the accident was caused directly by the weakening of the already weak structure by reason of excavations made beneath it for an electric lighting system. It was stated this afternoon that several days ago a clerk in the building circulated a petition protesting against this work being continued as they considered it imperiled the lives of every man working in the building. At the morgue the sight was horrible to behold. Blood from the bodied formed a large pool on the floor and the crushed skulls, broken arms and legs mad the scene indescribable. Then there were some of the victims who had been crushed. They had been smothered and the discoloration of the faces and necks gave visible evidence of the cause of death.

President Cleveland was informed of the sad event just as he reached the entrance of the White House by one of the clerks and at once interested himself in relief measures, learning with satisfaction what had been done my Assistant Secretary of War Grant.

The following list of the the dead thus far reported with names and the states from which appointed contains thirty-two names, including one unknown. There is a possible duplication, as only 16 bodies have been taken from the ruins. An unknown man taken from the ruins at five o'clock this evening was evidently a clerk.
The List.
George Allen, Pennsylvania.
George W. Arnold, Virginia.
L.W. Boody, New York.
Samuel P. Banes, Pennsylvania.
John Dossius, D.C.
Arthur Dietrich, Kentucky.
Jeremiah Daley, Pennsylvania.
James R. Fagan, Kansas.
Joseph B. Gage, Michigan.
David C. Jordan, Missouri.
M.M. Jarvis, Michigan.
J. Boyd Jones, Wisconsin.
F.B. Loftus, New York.
F.W. Haeder, --
F.D. Miller, New York.
Howard G. Miller, Ohio.
J.H. McFall, Wisconsin.
...

The Arizona Republican; Phoenix, Arizona.
June 11, 1893; Page One.
dm wms (#47395868)

Jay married Nannie J Lambeth about Jul 1859 in Boscobel, WI. (Nannie J Lambeth was born in Aug 1865 in Lynchburg, VA and died in 1940.)