, 1877-11-16

| 4Hu kuEy WeHC u hUah h14h4 lHlA u HnIt VII tHG
top joisis. The resu!t xas that when It caught
fire In the root before, in 1915 VIC couldn't rnisc
the floor from the bottom, and hal to let 1t
burn out. When the building Tas reconstruct
cd / protested nganss tic putting in Of Tint
lour beneath tho ronf the same n~it was before.
showed them the Hanger Of 1t. hut no attention
Vas paid 10 what saf.t, and this time We had
the same thing TO contrns aenfn:t. Assistant
] Shay came tn ME ah.i asked for long hookn 10
| ptil down The lath and plastcr. IIosaii he ha!
! isssAr rnti dawn ft,s ttlifa's. Dat We could
never have gotten holes thtouQh with hooks.
told him Tint the floor could nut bc raiscd OF
showed up"
1low thick was that foorinr1" ..
couldn't say. Bupp,sc about m iuch.n
"if tterc had betn simply Isth and plaster.
don't know. Theru wouldn't have been
70 mitch to burn. II there had bccn unly latil
and plaster there | lon't know that VIC could
,ng Impression Is Tint VIC could have done tct-
ter II VIC had had show n tho t1rc before It run
all ovcr the placc. The ceiling On that Top
floor Is very hiei,-from twelve to fourteen
{eet,-ata,i Working VIII hooks there would
"wHERE wKRE ToU WHEN THE TANK rxkLf't
"0n tho second 1oor. I want to tell yon
about that tahk. It was an Iron one 418 or 4x
henry. Its weight nlote would have carried it
To the frat floor. 1t was probably supported by
woolcn nrriehts. snd when The fire burned
them down II caulc."
~ was right oves the stairway, and when II
went through the hoorf."
"wcrc yon near enough to bear the rrtcs TINT
"When tho craah came I heard ono man
Eroan, md went over and tried to lift up the
lmare which eorerctt him. hut tho .noru lifted
tue niare II seemed to hurt him. was al,nc.
srht up three men to ret lin out, and got
strcAm TO r1ay on the tank to prevent thoso be-
meath trnm burning. Two or three wcrg *aitt to
be dn1cr It. rlosc who wcrc on the stairs were
cnrricl llown by the tank. There werc four or
five of tletn.. The tnan I trtcIl to get out was
rescued. SO l was told, aud the rest Of them
must hare gotten ont. ns only U'lioufke was
missing when left the fire Ut o'clock this
"9vs5 ", the statrwar il a singular place to put
"yc., a tank Of that description ought never
to tr put In snch plaec: II It had lccn In tle
the lloors, hut no one would have been Injured
by 1t. But it was right orcr the stairf, where
the men were Eolns. up and counting down.
sh sn te east o he se3s md ~ TX Il
nlsu VIA dtEcttly ovcr the starway. Thnt
didn't fall through, for the reason, suppose,
that nearly oil the water had been lrawn unt
81 f, y; Ihe snpp1rt,,, had been burned, aud 1t
Tho tank which tcll carried thc t'rc into tho
ut lid to the first floor. ! am not positlvo
TINT tho tank went into the lmscn,unt, but
man who belonged to tho building came to mo
and said: 'iu anil look Mt the elevator on the
south efde.' liz thought II would fall and car-
~ tire Into The basement, but though 1t wls
pretty heavy 1t di,ltt't CONC tiown.n
TUE BASEMENT.
"Nhen the fire got into the basement by tho
"a 81 lug tank 1t spread in that part Of thu
ut h,,l been In tho t,ascment before that,
burning tlr.hcrs having fallen down the north
elevator. VIC hadn't lucn In ths building ivu
minutes ltcture tho brands wcrD coming down
from above and fa,!lnR Into tile hasc.nrnt, but
put water on them Immediately, and Kept a
strtatn there for some time,-u Hight atEcaIi,, nr-
dertnR away powerful 0ne,--onc which ct,ulfl
reach the ton oi The building from the first floor
"Wnen the Iru eat Into tl.o bascncns the
second time dia yn,i attempt to put 1t out-or
couldn't you gct at II ~
"So effort was made 10 put stream into
We throw watcr IN the dctrls around tue tank
burned"
s. Were y. you s, finally driven out Of tho building
III Was Just like this: When tho tank came
down. carrying the four or tlve men with It,
that haa tendency to fdghtcn the rest, ami
ihc men WHO wure on the third, fourth, and
tiith Hours lighting tho fire got SONG what seur
was-an assistant tlnt the building wasn't tafc
and thor ought 10 be orslcrctl out. And some
Of tho assistants thought the building would
se' ,ss sSs"' posnen pssts' @ss ofa.1sa 81 4 'S
had directed thc assistants to be sure sure and
keep the men on the top noors-to open all thc
. windows % 70 M q to sct tho tmolte out, aud e1vc
them fresh air. Vas surprised when found
thcy wera coming down. I went up to the
fourth door, and had got No. l1s mel, and ono
or I've other companies up there, when
roKTtoN or TltH H0oP. FELL 1Y-
tho northeast part near where tho tunk Ind BEEN
II made quite q racket, anil carried down with
it q greas Heal Ut fire, and filled thu building full
Of smoke. The men couldn't REQ What they
tn wsIc aal,n9, ss It iookSd ve1y dsugs,oG.
and get thcni down lover We fought
ten minutes, and then I ordered nearly
kept On the dr.t floor ali tfs tl,e, doing ali sho
execution possible"
"A,tsnt'on was manty directed. then, to the
"Ycs. That was a! ws could 90, and pre-
vent The nrs from covering the eu.sre base-
Inent."
"couLD TOT REACH 1T FROM TUE orTs1DE3"
"Ilerc was ono stairway that led into It,
tre'i three Or four times 70 gst down, but We
tNo otto got into the basementr'
NO, hut We guarded the elevators and the
polnt where the tank went down. And % tho
ontstlc had two streams playing constantly lntD
the aouth elevator. People Nho saw water cuing
into m window On the Washington street front
didn't know That the Intention wRs 10 put cut
brands wtfrl wero falling down tho eleratOr,I
ba.aan.l nn!"t you put any water directly n.o tho
Yes, but We had great difficulty to lind al
cntraurx. 1t was hsrl task 10 cut open those
IRON and Glasa 1tgllts In the sidewalk and pcxt
10 tue building. Wa Ind to taks crowbars art!
picks, but 1inallv not them opcp. Ladders woru
put down, aud men dgscendcd, but were driven
out ~ tho snUko. Three different times |
thought we had ths fire down 10 that
we could get ia from tho south,
east, and west sides, but Al at oneo
there would conta q volume OF smoke, and they |
euuldn't 1.-Two there. hut along about o'clock |
We gol such hold that men with four OF tvp
streams walked right along from tho aoulh aud |
east, and tn little wh,lr others got In from tho
vest, and there wasn't Mucll hre leIk III . |
quarter Ut an hour" ~,
"tlaso You any general observations 10 make
,, ENoINga, Hos1, Krcl"
NNnd