The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-12-06
iveswere in constant danger from the falling
walas.'
INTERRUPTED FOR THE LAST TIME.

Attic time the fire broke out the Tribune
people were busily engaged in getting out
their large Sunday edition, and the PIONEER
PRESS had just sent their next to the last
package on the 10 o'clock Milwaukee
Short Line train to st. Paul. An hour later
most of the compositors would have been
out of the building eating their midnight
lunch and loss of life would probably not
have occurred; at least it would not
have been SO disastrous. Mr.. Blethen,
the proprietor of the Tribune, had
the presence of mind to give an immediate
alarm to the fire department., while the
Others foolishly thought they could ex-
tinguish it without aid from the fremen.
DIR. Albert Shaw, the eminent political
economist was in the act of dipping his pen
in the inkstand preparatory to finishing an
editorial, when told Of the fire below.
He had seen similar fire once start in the
building and it had been readily extin-
guished, SO he did not give it serious
thought. He was very glad to escape with
his life, however, a few minutes later.
THE ORIGIN UNKNOWN.
No one knows how the blaze originated.
The rooms of the Republican league had
not been occupied for long time, and the
only theory to account for the fire is that it
was due to spontaneous combustion. The
blaze when first seen was in among the
campaign literature in the room just at the
end of the hallway. There was no fire in
the other two rooms adjoining, also used by
the league. There are two large tanks of
water in the attic. but these only fed the
ravenous flames, which licked and devoured
everything, human or inhuman, in their
pathway. The fire naturally spread to the
top floors first and then worked its way to
the bottom. The building was Quilted as
well below by the falling Of heavy ma
chinery through the burning floors. Por-
tons of the walls also
FELL INTO THE STREET WITH BOAR
that could be heard blocks away, endan-
gering the lives of firemen and spectators.
The spectacle of the mighty fire tiend would
have been grand one, had not the presence
of death cast deepening shadows over it.
Mr.. Blethen, proprietor of the Tribune,
directly to the Globe Office. He will use
the Globes presses and the first
page of that papers edition. He
estimates his loss at $40, 900, calculating that
the presses and all the other fixtures to be
total loss. The insurance will not exceed
$4,000. Mr.. Blethen will get out paper
as soon as he possibly can.
According to another estimate, the loss
on the building is about $4,000, with
500, 600 insurance. This will have to be
borne by the Tribune Building company.
The Journal will lose about $50, 900, with
about $4,000 insurance. The Tribune
is insured for $4,000, and its loss
will be fully covered by insurance. The
Tribune Job Printing company will lose
about $4,000, with $4,000 insurance.
George f. Hitchcock, court stenogranher,
occupied all office on the fourth floor.
He will loose all the evidence taken
in cases in the district court for number
of years. Hart & Brewer and Cross and
Carleton, lawyers, lose valuable law libra
ries. The Tribune and Tribune-Star, the
evening enition of the Tribune, lose all
their files. The loss of life is
not accurately known, but it will
number at least fifteen persons, as many
were seen to fall back into the fire. Mill.
man, the commercial editor who lost his
wife few weeks ago by asphyxiation, lost
his life. The Tribune Job Printing COM
pany are probably the heaviest losers. as it
loses number of valuable presses, its full
competent of type and its bindery.
ANOTHER PORTRAYAL.
The associated press gives the following
version of the calamity: Zone of the most
horrible holocausts which ever happened in
this city took place last evening at 1920.
An alarm of fire was turned in, and it was
soon known that the Tribune
tall eight-story building occupied almost
wholly by printing Offices. In an incredi-
BILE short time the flames were bursting
through the roof and the windows of the
upper stories. The fire department was
promptly on the ground but were pow
erless to seay the flames. How came
scene that stout men turned from in hor-
ror, one that froze the blood of the thou
sands who looked, but were poVerless to
save. Faces white with terror were seen at
he upper windows piteous cries for help
and shrieks of agony filled the air. The larg-
est ladders hardly reached to the fifth-story
windows. The flames at the very first
seized on the elevator and the only stair
way, and all the means Of exit from the
upper stories were cut off excepting the fire
escape at one corner of the building. This
afforded means of escape to a number,
but many were cut off from this by the
flames. Some men were seen to leave the
building by means of telephone wires.
They went fifteen or twenty feet
HAND OVER HAND,
and then dropped and were crusked out of
all semblance to humanity. Three others
jumped from windows near the same place
and we're instantly killed. One poor wretch
in the upper window was seen in his desper-
alton to place a revolver to his head
and fall backward into the flames
The fremen did everything possible, but,
most Of the doomed men being in the sixth
and seventh stories, were out of reach, and
little could be done for them. One man
jumped from the seventh story on the First
avenue side and was crushed to pulp. It is
now thought that at least fifteen
or twenty persisted in the flames
The printers held a meeting at o'clock