The north wall of the Lowe Building collapsed shortly after noon today and three men barely escaped with their lives. The walls have been in constant danger of falling since the fire last Monday morning and were condemned by the city building inspector. While awaiting the fire insurance adjuster to arrive in Marion and make his report, the walls were permitted to stand and with a wind from the south this morning they began to shake more than ever. The walls swayed too far about noon and came down in a heap. Only a few moments previous, two men had been standing right under the wall where it fell. A man driving a horse and buggy had just passed through the alley and got as far as the street when the crash came. Had he been in the alley by the side of the building at the time he and his horse would have been killed in all probability. Leige Norman was in his tailor shop at the time of the collapse, but the brick did not fall quite that far so missed him. They did move his cleaning house a little ways however. Immediately after the one section of wall fell the city ordered North Market Street closed for the present until the front wall could be removed.

(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at  http://www.marionfire.us/ )