Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1888-09-08
DUTY CALLED 70 DEATH.
seven Baltimore Ffremen Meet Their
Fate While Fighting = Furious Confla-

(sE rate While FtYheln8 = Furious COnfia.
|sl grafton In Which the Loss Is Estimated
ut 81 ,OOO, 900.
u BALTIMORE, Nd, Sept. 3.--Fire broke
out in the toy warehouse OF E. "A. Pryor &
Co., 1O7 South Sharp street, about o. clock
Sunday morning, aud before the firemen
could get to work an explosion Of fire.
works wrecked the building and caused
the flames to spread with alarming rapid
ity to the drug house Of j.. b.
Winkelman & Co., on the north,
and the hat house Of NJ. s. Levy &,
Co. on the south. Scarcely had the
fremen entered the building occupied By
the drug firm when the inside Of the build.
ing seemed to suddenly drop in, terrific
explosion followed, and the immense
building collapsed The entire fire depart
ment had by this time reached the scene,
and, as the attention OF the men was
concentrated the building under
which their comrades We're buried, the
flames had chance to spread, and spread
they did with frightful rapidity. In an in
credible short space of time the entire
block, running from Lombard to Pratt
! streets, wag a seething mass of flame. At
the drug house the firemen worked brave
| ". Holes were cut through the pavement
and every effort was made to reach
under great mass Of brick and iron,
and fierce flames were roaring around
the spot. Awful groans came from the
! pile, which seemed to make the
working fremen put forth superhuman
efforts. After more than an hourss
work it became evident that some Of
the men were still alive and that they were
being roasted to death John Kelley OF
truck No 2, managed to crawl out from
the rubbish and OF the men who entered
the building he was the only one to escape
with his life. He was cut and bruised, but
his injuries are not serious.
The names of the men known to have
been buried in the ruins are: George Bow
ers, Thomas Wagner, john A. Combs,
Perry Ryan, Harry Walker, George Ker-
ms, Hiram McAfee. 1t is certain that these
men have lost their lives, and it may be
that others were with them when the crash
came.
The origin of the fire WALL probably n ever
| be known. No fire was used in the Pryor
establishment, and it is supposed that
| spontaneous combustion was the cause A
! system OF electric lighting was introduced
IN the building recently, and it was only
tried last night, and lit might be that
| defective Insulation started the flames
and the combustible nature of the contents
OF the building served as food for the de-
| stroYing elements. The fire was discov4
cred by drunken man who stopped to
rest on the steps of building opposite
There was considerable delay in getting
the alarm, and when the engines
arrived the building was in flames
| from cellar to roof, The fire.
works in the upper floors at once be-
gan to explode, with the rapidly spreading
flames, presented the grandest spectacle
ever seen in this CITY,
The intense, heat several times drove
the fremen from ithe building where the
bodies of their unfortunate comrades
were lying under tons of brick and iron,
but they persisted in the search,
and shortly after noon the first body
that OF Wagner-was brought to light.
| Near the spot was the body of Harry
Walker standing erect, as if packed in.
Near him was found what was left OF
George Bowers, but no other bodies were
found unhillnearly 6 o'clock, when that OF
George Kerinsswas uncovered. The bodies
were terribly disfgured, the flesh being
| burned OFT in many places.
In the hardware store of Tabb Bros. &
Dimmoek there were stored large guam
| titles of cartridges, and as they exploded
several men were slightly injured by the
flying bnllets.
The firms that are completely burned
out are Wylis, Bruster & Co., wholesale
shoe dealers; j. II. Winkelman & Co.,
drugs Tabb Bros. Il Dominick, hardware;
Pryor & Co, toys; M. S. Levy & Sons
hats; III. S. King & Sons, hardware
Dobler, Nudge & Co., paper, and Hirsh.
berger, Hollander & Co., paints and glass
The TOW 0fubuildlngs Was one Of the finest
| In the city, none of the warehouses being
less than five stories high Nearly all OF
! them had been recently erected. Amone
the buildings partly burned was the
Maternite on Lombard street, and it's in
mates xeue removed only with great diff
Guilty.
The loss and insurance on the properties
that We're totally destroyed, as far as car
be ascertined, are as follows: