122 Shanesville Disaster:—We reproduce the account of this disaster as given in the History of Tuscarawas County, published by Warner, Beers & Co., of Chicago, in 1884. “One of the most appalling disasters that ever befell a community occurred at Shanesville on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1881, at which time a lodge of Knights of Pythias gave a festival for its benefit on the second floor of the Goeler Building, south-west corner of the square. Over two hundred persons were in attendance, and the small hall was packed. Supper had been announced in > the adjoining room, but the crowd lingered to listen to the enlivening strains of the village band, while a number of boys beat time to the music with their feet. Suddenly the iloor parted in the center, and the mass of human beings, stove, lamps and furniture ‘ were precipitated in a heap into the storeroom below. Fire was soon communicated to the clothes of the struggling victims, and for a time-it seemed as if all must perish. The doors of the store-room could not be opened for the fallen floor, which hung by its sides above, securely barred it. The doors wrere finally broken down by men from the outside.
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