New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-09-03
SEVEN FIREMEN KILLED.
SEVERAL OTHERS HURT IN BALTIMORE.
LOSSES ESTIM ATED AT A MILLION AND A HALF
OF DOLLARS-THE WORK OF THE FLAMES
COMPLETED BY POWDER EXPLOSIONS.
ny TELEGRAPH To THE rRrErNyI
By TELEGRAPH TO THE TRTBUNE.1


and block OF buildings destroyed in the hea:t Of
the business portion of this city to-day. It was
the most disastrous fire that has visited Baltimore
since the one in Parl1-st. fifteen years ago. The
| locality is n dangerous one and peculiarly un-
! fortunate in the way Of fires. The block, three
sides OF which swept by the flames, is
bounded by Sharp, Pratt, Hanover and Lombard
| SITS. On the east side OF Sharp-st there n
row of fine six-story iron-front buildings all Of
them nearly new Tonight they a of
smouderng ruins, beneath which the poor fire
men who lost their lives fingered for hours in
! terrible agony, their comrades being unable to
rescue them. The killed are:
George Bowers. Thomas McGowan John A. Comb
Perry Ryan. Of No. Truck Company.
Harry Walker George Kerlns, Herman NJ Cato, Of
No Engine.
Those who were seriously injured are;
II. L. Eek and John Kelly. of No. > Truck Company.
The fire originated in the history building of
f. A. Prior & Co.. in Sharp-st The building
was stocked with toys, and IN the cellar a
large quantity of fireworks. The flames
were first discovered at 80 a. m. Tho several
alarms brought, within fifteen minutes every
fire engine company in the city. The fire. how
ever, spread over the building in less than ten
minutes. The explosives including thousands
of cartridges in an adjoining hardware building.
great that people in all parts of the city were
awakened These explosions however, did not
! frGhtcn the fremcn from their task
The adjoining buildings of j. II. Winllclman &
Co, wholesale druggists and j. II. 5. Levy * Sons,
/ hat Dealers soon succumbed The stores Of III.
s. King X Sons, hardware merchants: r bb Bros.
d Co., hardware; Wylic Brustar .S Co., dry
goods commission merchants; D. Holiday & Co.,
dry goods; and DoDlcr, Nudge d Co.. paper man
ufacturers, all large iron buildings were quickly
destroyed About half past ) o'clock the
/ flames had passed through the block to the rear
of the building in Pratt-st, between Hanover and
Sharp SIS. So rapid was the progress Of the
! lames that the people in Pratt-st. houses had
| barely time to escape with their lives. The large
paint stores of Hirschberg, Iollander &c Co,
Nos 1O6 and los Pratt-st., first caught
| fire, and soon in furious
blaze. This firm has two buildings filed with
window-glass and varnSh. and also store on the
northwest corner Of Sharp and Hanover ST West
OF Hirschberg Hollander .S Co.'S buildings the
fire attacked the Of the buildings Of S. Braf-
man. clothier: f. IT, H. De Lat 1t and shoe
dealer, Henry Merz, plumber; Ne Lowenbach. Ste
phcn Schroeder securing and dyeing establishment;
Boquell's candy factory, and A. J. Fleur X Co.'S
store The upper stories of these and other build
/
the frightened people hurried from their homes,
some Of them unable to save anything but their
lives. The inmates of the Maternity Hospital in
Lombard ST., were panicstricllen. and several Of
| the invalid women would have thrown themselves
out Of the high windows but for the policemen who
were trying TO save their lives All the sufferers
were rescued and carried in ambulances to the
Maryland University Hospital. The rear buildings
Of the Maternity Hospital were badly damaged, as
was also other property in Lombard-st.
The iremcn killed lost their lives without the
slightest warning When the fire was fcrcest in
the hardware store of Tabb Bros. & Dimmoclz
the drug house of Winllelman & Co had not yet
been touched number Of men from No. Truck
Company and No. Engine Company rushed up
stairs, and in a short time a hole had been cut
through the wall in the third story TO the hard
ware store The drug store rapidly
filling mp with smoke. and the work hard on
the men, At this time the in the street
was terrible There was a continuous noise sound
ing as If whole battalion of soldiers pouring
shot into an enemy The fremen could not imagine
what the cause was. Every once in while
Of the workers would be astonshcd at receiving
stineing blow upon his face. One stopped
and picked up ball from a cartridge. This eX-
planned the mystery The hardware house was
full Of cartridges and probably there powder
also stored there
Captain Leddon was standing in the street CIV
ing orders to his men and watching the roof He
noticed that tho two walls seemed to part as If
they were forced from each other by some hidden
power The walls seemed to 60 further apart and
the higher wall seemed weak, as though it would
topple The keen watcher knew the danger, and
rushing across the to the door he called out
at the top of his strong voice Come out OF here,
boys. She's coming down.
lie roIratcd the cry. Those standing at tho
foot Of the steps rushed out. The sound reached
way up TO the fourth story and startled those there
The rooms were dark and thick with smoke.
Fircmen Eek and Morrow were greatly exhausted.
A few moments before Morrow had said to his COM
panion:
The walls Of this house higher than the
one We are in.'
They heard the warning call below and started
down, taking tn, hose with them. the men below
helping them Assistant Chief Murphy had gotten
down to the third story, and he called outi
Come on. boys come on
The second cry from below reached them and
the carncstncss of that voice startled them. Down
the steps they rushed, some recognizing now full
well the dancer. while OTHERS did not seem TO
know il. Suddenly there was a loud crash The
wall i'm falling pressed the hOOrs down under Us
weight as II fell. Engineer Murphy Was At the
door with three men behind HIM Ihc heaXy
fell shot Murphy right ont Of the door upon the
street and AT the same time closed each of the
three doors that led to the stIcet The doors had
shut him out in safety but they shut in the
others who were but few feet behind him. To
die Horrible death. For hours aitcrward they
could be heard ggcaning. ~ 20 o'clock 10
nighf all except two of the bodies had been re-
covered
II is difficult to get at the cXact losses, as the
owners are out Of the city. rough estimate OF
thr to,aI loss Is 81, 100000. Among the heaviest
losers are f. A. Prior 4 Co, 81 oO.000. on stock;
Tabb Brothers & smith 100000; J. H. Wmkcl
man 4 o.. 100000; Doblcr. Nudge n Co.
$50 900: NJ : Levy q Sons. 500 600; ID IIalli-
dav a Co. about $4,000; Henry : King Il Sons,
about $4,000; ITFschbcrg. Ilolhnder IL Co,
about 500 600 The above estimates are only
losses on stocks OF goods
DROWNED WHILE Y4CHTING
NcWturc y y Sept. tSTcciall.-Frank Osirandcr