The Forrest City times., 1888-09-08
SEVEN MEN KILLED.
Baltimore Firemen Crushed While
 Brayely Doing Their Duty.


 Two Others Seriously Iujurcd-Taliias
 Walls Bury the Unfortunate Men--Th
 The First EspIo.ion-The Pccuninry
 Loss.
 BALTIMORE. Mp. Sept. 2.-Ten or the largest business houses on llophlhs Place were destroyed by fire this morn ing. and while trying to extinglish the flames seven firemen lost their lives and two were seriously injured. The killed are: George Bowers, Ihos. Wagner, John A. Comls, Perry Ryan, hll of No. ? Hoo& and Ladder Company, Harry Walker, Jacob S. CorrinS and Hiram McAfee of Engine Co. No, :. The injuted are John Kelly and A. l. Eek. The fife bfoke out about 4:S0 this morning in the warehouse of E. A. Pryor X Co. and was discovered by an officer on the beat. Chief llenneck, soon After his arrival. saw it was go ng to be stttbbofn work and directed general alarm to be turned in. br ng- ing to the scene of the oniagration the entire department, By the time the fremef got to Nor< the entire building Was in flames the toys Wltn which tiia warehouse was stocked burning like finder. ~
 Find ng it impossible to save this structure the chief distributed his men and had them direct their efforts toward saving the ad oining buildings. These, however, pfo3 6 atortiye. he wind was blowing perfect elle at the time. and soon swept tic flames Into the hard Hilre store of Tabb Bros. Dimmock. a colossal waTehotise ad- joining that of Pryor X Co. From here it trave!ed to Winkltihah X Co. $ drug house. and the three big build n9s blazed together, throwing out q lght that could be seen from every section of the city. The terrible heat thrown out did not deter the men, wlo bfavciJ clambered into and onto the buildings.
 THE FIRST EXPLOSION.
 Suddenly and without warning an explosion in the Pryor building shook the foundation of every house in the block. The firm carry, in addition to their stock of toys and china ware. an assortment of fireworks which was stored in the basement. When the fire reached the expl siveS, of which there were some 15,00J cases, the result can better be imagined than described. The walls, already shaky, were lifted from their foundations and fell with a crash, fortunately none of the iiremen had yenturel into this luild Ing, con seluently this explosion did not result in any loss of life. The flames, now released from all restraint, shot in ev- cry direction and soon the entire block was blazing. WInkleman's store, strange to say. was at this time burn ing only in the upper stories, the low CT floors being comparatively free. and the fremen massed their strength on the grst floor from the rear of which they prepared to fight the flames. A hole had been cut through the wall to enable the men to play on Tabb's storehouse and they did good work. SEVEN MEN BURIED.
 This cann0nadiug kept up and Capt. John J. SeGdOn of Engine No. ,. who was standing without giving orders, noticed that the walls of the Winkle man building were slowly parting. He saw the danger and called to the men | to come out as she was coming down. | He sepeated the cry and those standing at the foot of the steps rushed out | Those above, however, did not get the warning in time but when they realized the danger they started out on run. | Before they could get to the door there was tremendous explosion. even more deafening than any that had yet | been heard, followed by crash. The walls fell in and bore each floor down under their weight. As they fell one of the firemen, John Murphy, was l standing at the door. He was shot out of the door upon the street and escaped without injury, but the same wall which saved Murphy caused the death | of three of his companions, who were | immediately behind him. It closed each of the three doors that led to the street, and, as they swung to, shut in | the others. Had they Teen but three l seconds quicker they would have been saved. The beams and timbers fell up l on them and crushed the life out of two, while the third was terribly hurt McAfee, Lecomb, Ryan and kearns were caught further hack and borne | down
 When the walls fell Capt. Brannon of No. : truck was coming down from | the third story. Kelly wa, immediately | behind him, burned, bleed ng and hurt
 He hauled the in. ured man through a | window an succeeded in pulling him 1 10 a place of safety.
 As soon as the walls fell the liremen ceased playing on the building and di- l rected their attention to the buried | firemen. The fire meantime swept along | the block and lefore long Lad gutted every large building on that s.de of the street A numl CT of small dwellings | gtp a1 .la T but the wind changed in time to save them from Icing entirely destroyed. | The paint house of Iiirshl erg Ilol- lander X Co. was the only large house that suffered on that street.
 ALL BUT TWO BODIES RECOVERED.
 All day long tie tirenen worked in the smoky ruins with fire all around them. They succeeded in getting out | all but two of the bodies, those of Ryan and Lecomb. The poor victims were | charred almost beyond recognition. The saddle death is that of Harry Walker. Though young man he was one of the braveSt and most daring on the force. Five years ago he was awarded medal for saving the lives | of three children from burning dwell l ing. He was drum ma or of the American Band and Drum Corps, com posed of boys, and when they heard of | their leaders death today they locked to the ruins and cried bitterly.
 Much con plaint is made because of the wires strung along the fronts of the big buildings, and which prevented the firemen getting into play the Hayes 1 trucks. The whole block is ruined. The net damage is estimated at Sl 300, GOO, with an insurance of about Sl 900 GOO.
 At midnight the firene are still hard at work searching for bodies. It is known that at least three men are | still ill the ruins. but they may not be recovered to night as they are buried l beneath tons of debNs-
 Indiana "wh'te Caps"
 | INDIANAPOLIS, ND, August 2S - Gov. Gray has written again 10 the