River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-09-06
GUY cALleo 10 oEArH-


BALTINoRE, Nd, Sept 3-Fire broke
out in the toy warehouse Of f. A. Pryor ~
Co, 107 South Sharp street. about o'clock
Sunday morning, aud before the nremen
could get to WORK an explosion Of fire.
works wrecked the building and caused
the flames to spread with alarming rapid
ity 70 the drrg house of 7 Il.
WlnkelUan * Co. on the north,
and the hat house Of NJ $. I.eyy &
Co on the south Scarcely had the
hremeu emit q , ring occupied bv
the drug .ul inside Of the build
ing seeme, 90 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 on the building under
which their comrades were buried. tho
flames had chance 10 spread. and spread
they did with frightful rapidity. In an in
credible short space Of time the entire
block. running from Lombard to Pra.t
streets. wag a seething mass of fame. At
the drug house the hremeu worked brave
ly 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 grOaus came from the
pile. which seemed TO make the
working fremen put forth superhuman
efforts After more than an hours
work it became evident that some Of
the men were still alive and that they were
being roasted 10 death John Kelley, Of
truck No ,, managed 10 crawl out from
the rubbish, and of the men who entered
the building be was the only one to escape
"a Il. harsrasa 4 aasHf
his injuries are not serious.
The names OF the men known 10 have
been buried in the ruins are: George Bow
ers, Thomas Wagner John A. Combs,
Perry hyan, Harry Walker, George ker-
ins, Hiram McAfee IL is certain that 'tnse
men have lost their lives, and it a. 90
that others were with them when the crash
came
The origin of the fire will probably never
be known. No fire was used in the Pryor
establishment, aud it is supposed that
Spontaneous combustion was the cause. A
system or electric lighting was introduced
in the building recently, and il was only
tried last night, ana it might be that
defective insulation started the flames
and the combustible nature OF the contents
OF the building served as food for the do
stroying elements. The fire was discOy-
cred by a drunken man who stopped to
rest on the steps Of a building opposite.
There was considerable delay in getting
the alarm, and whom 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 fircmen from the building whore the
bodies of their unfortunate comrades
were lying under tons OF brick and iron,
but they persisted in the search,
nd 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 until nearly 6 O'Clock, when that Of
George Kerins was uncovered Tho bodies
were terribly disfigured, the flesh being
burned off in many places.
In the hardware store Of Tabb Bros &
DimmOclr there were stored large guam
titles of cartridges, and as they exploded
several men were slightly injured by the
flying bullets.
The firms that are completely burned
out are Wylis, Bruster q Co, wholesale
shoe dealers; j. II. Winkelman q Co,
drugs Tabb Bros. 4 Dominick, hardware;
49, II r.; e So b,r5,,,.,,,
49,, ~, :. r., -, - tIir,b
' rIi,,Is, = ~ ~ - ~ -
~, sot = - -,
~ -" - oo..e' ,ar,td,sne 49,
~ e'iI 10y 90, 49, - No,.l,- al H1
80 - -, -, -,,,eI -
.ne'l NhI 49, $500 49,, 49,
sIe.'..o - straat cd So ~
,,,.e7 r1,, ,rftT ,'.s,+ 5;e
-.
nv loco o,, ;r,s,,,a,,co ~, tho ,,ro,,ertia,
,I,at ,,-o,,o to+,I1,. Adastro,cd as Tar ne car
10 80. go ,ined arc "a foIIoyrz.
$50 Toss Tas,rqooe
r r. PRYOR & Co...-......... 10000 SlGaOE
J. H. Winkleman & CO... 900 63,0g
N. , Levy a .ns..-- .'...'' $500 49,
S So2,oa, Si.r' & ssPcrp 590l0 S90T
Hirschberg, Hollauder & Co. $1,000 40,OS
The total losses. on which the insurance
can not be ascertained, were:
II. s. King & Sons, hardware. $4,000
Wylie, Brustar s Co., dry goods $50 %; Colin
Altefnus Co. airy goods s2e0o'' laoo bfos
. biihhoc"' Aa'""'Fe' s''''O'' w. % L
Dasiill--' -. IL. .a.,, I..,- I'D %,
AHe9o e. 'N0 i9 o'
Tue row Oh siti"ti SUI - 'uu "a p" = , "
fra.t stree1' "e."eeH Z az = anu -
on LOMBARD street oe1"ee" oHdIp "il'
tiauO' a. -. -. - - -,
aged, additional losses aggre kttIng so,