Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-03
CRIME AND CASUALTY,
Fatal and Expensive Fire
in Baltimore.
FIREMEN UNDER THE RUINS.
An Hotel Holocaust in Wisconsin.
An Arkansas StOrm-HOrse
Thieves Decimated.

Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD
BALTIMORE, September 2.-Early this
morning fire broke out in the toy ware
house of Price, Heagenberg & Co., 107
South Sharp street. Before the fremen
could get to work an explosion of fire.
works wrecked the building and caused
the flames to spread to the drug house of
j. Fl. Winkleman 4 Co., on the north,
and the hat house Of M. S. Levy & Sons,
on the south. Scarcely had the fremen
entered the edifice occupied by the drug
house when the inside OF the building
seemed to suddenly drop in; terrific
explosion followed and the immense
building collapsed. The entire fire de-
partment had by this time reached the
scene and as the attention of the men was
concentrated on the building under
which their comrades were buried, the
flames had chance to spread with
frightful rapidity. In short time the
entire block, running from Lombard to
Pratt street, was a seething mass of
flames.
At the drug house the firemen worked
bravely. Holes were cut through the
pavement and every effort was made to
reach the imprisoned men, but they
were buried 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 tiremen put forth superhuman
efforts, and after more than an hours
work it became evident that some of the
men were still alive and that they were
being roasted to death. John Kelly, OF
Truck 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
Bowers, Thomas Wagner, John A.
Combs, and Perry Ryan, of No. 2 hook
and ladder company, and Harry Walker,
George Kerins and Hiram McAfee, of
No. Z engine company. 1t is certain that
those men have lost their lives, and it
may be that others were with them when
the crash came.
The firms that were burned out COM
pletely are: Wyles, Bruster & Co.,
wholesale shoe dealers; j. II. Winkle-
man q Co.. drugs Tabb Brothers & Dom
mick, hardware; Prior & Co., toys M. S.
Levy & Sons, hats; H. s. King & Sons,
hardware; Dobler, Nudge & Co., paper
Hirshbeg, Hollender & Co., paints and
glass. The row of buildings was one of
the finest in the city, none of the ware
houses being less than five stories high,
nearly all of them having been recently
erected. Among the buildings partially
burned was the Maternite on Lombard
street, and its inmates were removed
only with great difficulty. The total loss
will probably reach 81 500, 900, and it is
pretty we'll covered by insurance, most
of which is in small policies in out of
town companies.
SEARCHING FOR BODIES.
The intense heat several times drove
the firemen from the 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 Walk
eer, standing erect as if packed
in. Near him was found what
was left of George Bowers, but no other
bodies were found until nearly O'Clock,
when that of George Kerins was uncov.
cred. The bodies were terribly disfgured,
the flesh being burned off in many
places. The search is being continued
tonight with the aid of electric lights. In
the hardware store of Tabb Bros. & Dim
mock, there were stored large quantities
of cartridges, and as they exploded sew
eral men were slightly injured by flying
bullets.
At midnight the fremen are still at
work searching for the bodies. 1t is
known that at least three are still in the
ruins, but may not be recovered tonight
as they are buried beneath the debris.
LOSSES AND INSURANCE.
The losses and insurance on the prop
critics that were totally destroyed, as far
as can be ascertained, are as follows: E.
A. Pryor & Co., loss sic, 900; J. H. Win
kleman & Co., loss $4,000, insur-
Son, loss $4,000, insurance $780,
900; Dobler, Nudge & Co., loss $780,
600, insurance $4,000; Steppacher &
Stern, loss 500 900, insurance $4,000;
Hirschberg, Hollander & Co., loss $780,
600, insurance $4,000. The other losses
on which the insurance cannot be ascer-
tanned, were as follows: H. s. King &
sons, hardware, 10000; Wylie, Brastar
& Co., dry goods, $4,000; Coffin, Alte-
mus & Co., dry goods, $4,000; Tabb
Bros. & Dimmock. hardware, $45, 900;
Fess 4 Doniman, importers of cloth, 500.
600. The losses on other buildings ag-
gregate $4,000.