The Irish standard., 1889-12-07
THE FlRE DEMON

THE FlRE DEMON.
The Tribune Building Goes Up in Smoke
With the Loss of Seven Lives.
The demon Of fire IN his most awful
form visited Minneapolis Saturday night
last. With his hot breath he consumed
not alone hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of mans wealth, but
worse than all-more than it is in the
power Of dollar marks and figures to
expressive relentless 6end licked up
half score of human lives in his tri-
umphant fury.
At 1915 on the night in question a
man passing down Fourth street to-
wards NicolleJ avenue saw slender
stream of smoke issuing from the third
floor Of the big Tribune building at the
corner of First avenue south and Fourth
street. He at once raised the alarm Of
fire. A few moments before that the
night elevator man OF the Tribune
building, who had already detected the
smell of smoke in passing the third
floor of the building, heard the crash Of
glass and saw a cloud of fame burst
from the transom over the door OF the
Republican state league rooms. Then
the fire seemed suddenly to subside.
The rooms at the time were stored with
political tracts, and had not been occu-
pied for a number of months. At that
time there were about IS men at work
in the. composing room on the seventh
floor; some ten or twelve men in the
editorial rooms of the Tribune; two
men asleep on the fifth floor; more in
the editorial rooms of the Pioneer Press;
three or four men and women Oh the
eighth floors in the Office of the Folkets
Tidning, the janitor and his wife, and
four or five men asleep in the basement,
out of which number seven human
beings met a sudden and unprovided
death in manner that was horrible in
the extreme. The incidents attending
the death of each and every one OF the
victims were sickening in every detail.
The list comprises Milton Pickett, as
sistant city editor of the Pioneer Press;
VIM. E. Millman, financial editor of the
Tribune; w. E. Miles and James Igoe,
Press operators; Prof. Ed
ward Olson, of Vermiilion, S. D., and
Robert McCutcheon and E. j. Jenkin-
son, Tribune c0mpositors Reports
vary as to just the manner in which
Pickett was forced from the fire escape
His brother employees are not exactly
positlve upon this point. They feel
certain, however, that if he had onlv
attempted the perllous trip upon the
sixth story with Chaplin, Barnes and
Jones, he would have been alive to-day.
He disappeared from their sight at the
instant they had set foot upon the case
ment. It IS presumed that he had an
idea that he would be safer in trying to
battle the flames by the fire escape. To
do this lie had to pass out of the Flo
neer Press editorial rooms and up one
fight Of stairs to reach the fire escape.
With what barriers he met on this
journey is, of course, unknown. Ger
tain it Is, however, that he reached the
fire escape safely. As to how be lost
his foothold on the journey down is
where there is difference Of opinion.
The most probable theory is that a man
above him, presumably Prof. Olson,
lost his foothold and fell downward,
Pickett from the narrow lad.
der. Investigation shows that be was
terribly burned. His remains were 50
manQled as to be almost unrecognize-
able.
Probably James Igoe met the most
death. The furious flames
were almost at their height on the
seventh floor when the CIR Wd belo"
saw the head OF a man emerge from enc
window. The immense throng were
when this man finally stool
aloft on the window easement. lie ap-
peared to glance below. Meanwhile '' MS
form waYered. chen. liks : dasn. it 'n'F
man shot downward. The croWfi Closed ed
their eyes from the narrowing 81 Ut y
soon cheer went up from thousand y 40
throat q. The man had safely cla 81 9
hia hands shout q wire that extend q S
frf,,m the burniine building 70 At,s'thef
feIow. he slowly male bis way "a 'sIo,,g y
the wire. and his eft IF. 'rts were l'ass
ccbaared Al sat onSs tie cheers changed
D, ytailinf me daring ~ had Joy
m hol(. body shot 90 thls sea sgd V
IT, q .na a. rue ISL ht Wa tho sick