The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-01
A MASS OF RUINS.
The Building a Veritable Fire Trap
and Full of Danger.

tne Irioutel, the Minneapolis Office of the
FtoneeT- trssS, and the EpenfnQ Journal,
besides a large number of Offices. The
| dT1oune editorial force was on the
seventh floor. and the composing
rooms were above it. Access to ths
building was by an elevator, around which
q narrow and dark stairway wound. At
night this stairway was the only means of
lngress or egress. The building might be
called veritable fire-trap, and the danger
TO those l)cated there had been often COM
mented upon.
NO CHANCE OF ESCAPE.
The fire broke out in the third floor, and
| soon the upper stories were cut off from the
| street. The building was on corner, and
tue only adjoining buildings were only one
story In light, 50 that no means of escap.
ing was afr fJrded in that direc ion. The
flames cut off the escape OF the Pioneer
Press force on the sixth floor, as well
as the Tribune folks on the seventh and
eighth floors. Reporter Banes of the
the building, and left behind him Milton
| Pickett, assistant city editor, and one of
the Oldest men in the service of the paper.
LOST IN THE BURNING BUILDING
| Pickett was lost in the burning building
There are also as yet uncomtirmed reports
of the death of otlers connected with tho
| PloneeT-FreSS but the Tribune force suf-
| fered most. They were located higher, and
had less warning of their danger
oLsEN's TERRIBLE FATE.
John Olsen, president of Vermillion
| Dak.) College, was in the composing rooms
| at the time the flames broke out, looking
after an advertisement to be inserted in the
morning paper. He jumped from one of
the windows to escape the flames, and met
with an even more horrible death from
| shattered limbs and body.
BRAVE IGoE's FATAL JUMP.
James r. Igoe, night operator of the as
sociated press, met a sad death as the re-
| suit of his faithfulness to his employers. He
was at work on the seventh floor when the
report of the fire was first received, and
Immediately opened his key, stating the
| fact to the head Office at Chicago, and
| asking for a minutes time to investi-
gate. Soon he returned to his instrument,
apparently thinking ne was safe, and told
the sending operator to continue In a
moment he said he would have to leave,
and ne found too late that escape was cut
off. He jumped from a seventh-story
window, and was so badly injured that he
died before reaching the hospital. He leaves
a family.
AN AGED PRINTER GONE.
An oil man named Piece, printer, was
also killed.
At midnight six bodies had been taken
from the ruins, which were then falling in.
! The loss will easily reach over 81, ,00O, 900.
The Tribune building was ten stories
high. 1t was constructed of pressed brick,
with stone trimmings. Its front, on Fourth
street, was 200 feet, and its depth was about
seventy-fve feet on First avenue 1t was
| plastered on wire laths, and was reputed to
| to be fire-proof The main front was pro-
fuselY ornamented, and it was also artisti-
lvr hVsntr xxySf rinl min nd hal
comics.
ITS OCCUPANTS.
The first floor was occupied by the count
| ing rooms of the EUening World and
| Tribune, and by stores and offices.
| The second, third, fourth and fifth floors
| were also occupied es offices, chiefly by lat
torneys and real estate men.
On the sixth floor was Mitchell Simmons
| job printing estab ishment, the Minneapolis
| department of the st. Paul Pioneer Press,
and a few of the Tribune editorial rooms.
The eventh floor was used exclusively by
| the Tribune for it's editorial, composing,
| and stereotyping rooms.
The Scdndild Uidn, weekly newspaper,
the HenSka, the AmericGnshG Poster, and
an extensive book bindery occupied tue
entire eighth Fl )or
The ninth and tenth floors were used for
| general storage for the various concerns in
the building, and for sleeping rooms for the
| janitors. The ninth and tenth floors were
| great open halls, and the eighth floor had
| large apartments and a few Subdivisions for
| the offices of the concerns located there.
| The seventh floor was still more subdivided,
though it contained the large composing
| and stereotyping dep artments of the
| Tribune. Below this the stories were sub
| divided for offices.
BUT ONE ENTRANCE.
| There was but one entrance, which was
also the only exit from the building. This
entrance was near the Fourth street center.
| The stairway assembled around the four
sides of the elevator.
The Fourth street front, which was the
| long front of the building, faced west.
| On the second, third, fourth and fifth
floors ball exte lded through the center of
each from south to north, lighted from
windows at each extremity. AT the north
| end of this hall was the only fre-escape in
the building, and it led down to an alley.
This f1fe-escape, of course, extends from the
roof to the ground.
THE NEWS HEADQUARTERS.
The office of the associated press was also
located on the northwest corner of the
building on the seventh flo II, and was
occupied jointly by the operators and tels-
graph editors of the Tribune. To reach
either Of the fire escapes on the stairway it
was necessary to to pass through several
adjoining rooms. In case of fire having
fair start in the building, filing it with stiff
ingan binding smoke, this way of escape
would be very perilous to the steadiesJ head
and most courageous person. 1t
would likely be be ewildering to follow this
labyrinth through the darkness and under
excitement. 1t is not unlikely that the
| Associated Press men, Walter Il. Miles and
| James F. Igoe, both of whom lost their
| lives, were completely exhausted pe1ore
reaching the fire-escape.
AT THE MoRGUE.
At the morgue lay FIVE bodies. That of
Prof. Olsen has been enclosed in plain
pine coffin On the floor are the bodies OF
Jerry Jenkinson, q compositor on the 1rt6'
qtne. a young man shortly to be married:
| Beside him we're two bodies SO bloated ana
| burned, with blood still oozing from their
| terrible wounds, that thus far they
have not been recognized. On two tables
| a. O the corpses of Robert McCutcheon,
compositor, and Milton Pickett, a reporter
| on the Pioneer Press
| Jenkinson endeavored to make his escape
on the heavy telegraph wires. de clamo-
cred down a short way, but was unable 10
retain his hold and was obliged TO let go
and dropped to the ground, and when plcKed
up he was dead.
| PICKETT'S DEATH
| y..t --at Lnovvn how Pickett met his