Shelby, N. C., Aug. 28.—
Collapse of the First Nation-
al Bank building here dur-
ing a rush business hour
this morning claimed an un-
determined number of dead
and injured.

At 12:45 this afternoon,
when excavation operations
had been under way only
three hours, a check up re-
vealed six known dead, 15
known injured, and a num-
ber of persons missing.

 
  

   
     

Police estimated the death
toll would mount steadily

as rescue
bodies.

No accurate check up
could be made of the miss-
ing persons, but it was
known that a dozen or more
had not been accounted for.

Early this afternoon the
crews had searched only
the edges of the huge pile
of debris, and it was feared
many more bodies would be
found toward the center.

The known dead:

Miss Ora Ethridge, secre-
tary to the bank president.
Guy Green, bank clerk.
Alex Boyd, bank clerk.

Zeb Bianton, a _ farmer,
who wag in the bank.

Carl Blanton, his son.

An unidentified white
man.

It was feared that a crew
of 17 negroes who were
working in the center of the
building were all killed. The
rescue crews had not been
able to get to the place
where the negroes were
working at an early hour
this afternoon.

It was knwwn that 15 per-
sons were injured, several
of whom were expected to
die. They were all taken
to a hospital here as they
were dragged from the fall-
en structure. |

Excavation work at a
nearby building was gener-
ally assigned as the cause of |
the collapse of the bank-
building. It wag known that
several persons were in a
grocery store and a tailor’s:
shop which were a part of
the building, but it was ex-
ected to be hours before
hat part of the structure
could be searched thorough-

y. |
_ The collapse occurred dur-
ing a rush hour on this lit-
tle town’s main thorough-
fare, and it was believed
that several persons in the’
street below were trapped
under the resounding deluge
of stone and timber.

The entire fire and police
forces of Shelby, referred
to as “The Summer Capital
of North Carolina,” were
taxed to the fullest in con-
trolling the crowds which
gathered around the scene
of disaster.

Many volunteers aided in,
arse operations.
e building was located
in a busy district, and was'
one of the largest in the’
 
Los Angeles, Calif —(?)—Edward L
Doheny and directors of the Pat-
American Petroleum and Transport
company, today faced a bill of com-
plaint demanding an accounting of
$10,000,000 stockholders allege they
Jost in the fraudulent Jease of the
Elk Hills naval oil reserve.

The complaint, filed in behalf of
Prank H. Kunkel, Cincinnati, and
other shareholders, declared the loss
resulted from the cancellation of the
lease by a decision of the United
States supreme court alter the com-
pany had spent several million dol-
jars in the development of the field.

BARGAIN WITH FALL.

‘The lease was negotiated for the
government by Albert F. Fall, then
secretary of the interior.

‘The $100,000 delivered to Fall by
E. L, Doheny, Jr, tn the much dis-|
cussed “little black satchel” was de-_
clared in the suit io have heen given.
by the stockholders and used as a
bribe. An accounting of this exchange
also is asked

Kunkel sets forth in the complaint
that neither he nor any of the
plaintiff stockholders had any
Knowledge of the negotintions and
deseribes Doheny’s conduct of the
deal as a “fraud not only against
the United States, but also against
the Pan-American company and its
stockholders.” Doheny 3s charged
with dominating the affairs of the
company when the lease was signed.
 