The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-04-02
UNDER BURNING DEBRIS.
A Terrible Calamity at an In-
dianapolis Fire.
Over Thirty Firemen Plunged!
Into a Blazing Building.

What at first seemed an Insignificant fire.
In bookstore at Indianapolis, Ind, resulted
In catastrophe in which at least ten men
were killed and from fifteen to twenty
wounded, some with probably fatal result.
It was at two o'clock in the afternoon when
the fire which caused all this disaster broke
out in the basement of the wholesale book
Washington street. The establishment was
one of the largest in the West. The fire soon
swept through the entire structure and conn
pletely destroyed the stock valued at $780,
000 on which there is an insurance Of SIC, OOO.
at time when the fire seemed to be under
control Chief Fire Engineer Dougherty or
dered one company to the roof Of the build
ing, another to the third floor, and third
to the alley in the rear. These companies,
containing about thirty firemen, were to use
their positions in stopping the fire that was
still burning in the crevices and out of the
way places. It was twenty minutes of SIX
when these three several advances on the
fire were made. q
Just as the men got to work the building
with its load of human beings collapsed, and
they tumbled into the yawning abyss. No
warning was given. The roof seemed sound
and the walls solid. A man was seen to throw
up his arms and sink into the seething flames
below. Then another man dropped and tho.
whole roof, with fifteen men on it, fell upon
the top floor, where the fire was still raging.
-Four men were on this floor, under the roof
They were crushed beneath the grinding tim
bers, and all the men hurled through to the
falling floor beneath, which gave way be-
meath the weight of the mass.
The surrounding buildings were covered
with spectators, and these were all Witnesses
to the awful scene. Some Of the fremen
standing on the walls Of the building jumped
and were saved. Spectators on the adjoin-
ing roof ran for their lives. The great throng
In the street in front did not realize what ha9}
happened. The front wall did not fall aud
the ruins In the rear were not visible.
Even the comrades of the hremen did not
know what had happened until one Of the
fremen on the top Of the adjoining building
ran to the front of the building and
shouted to those below: "For Gods sake
throw water into the upper windows, twenty
men are buried there" 80.
In the alley were hundred or more cita-
zens, many Of them assisting firemen. The
north wall as it came down filed the narrow
space with debris, and quite number OF
citizens were buried there.
The scene at this heap Of debris immedi-
ately after the collapse was pitiable and
dreadful beyond all power Of description.
The limbs of men here and there were seen
writhing while the trunks to which they be-
longed were buried from sight. A ladder lay
across three men and was weighted down
by tons of bricks and timber. Another
Door fellow who was beyond all pain Lay
close beside his fellows shapeless and man
gled mass. The ladder lay across the stom' s
ach Of one man who was screaming with
agony, while another man with broken arm
and fvvisted body Law next to him. i-,
As fast as willing hands could hurl away
bricks the weight was renewed, but the lad
der was too firmly held to yield. The man
with broken arm was dragged free and
carried away. Under him mute, but breath
ing, appeared the upturned face Of poor
fellow not seen before. Themortar and dust
were cleaned from his lips, but he was SO
deeply buried that no immediate help could
come to him.
On all sides blackened and bleeding faces,
distorted with agony or dreadful in death,
urged the crowd who had scaled the heap to
assist them to redouble their efforts. The
debris had fallen so that it lay In valley
shaped mass and this made the available
space for work very small. There was no,
place to deposit the materials dug from the
bottom of the hollow, except to throw
them up on the sides Of the depression, from
which they continually rolled down toward
thus carried on with great difficulty -Qpe BY
one the men nearest the surface were extrt-
Gated, but as the workers went down further
they discovered new victims, and the horror
steadily grew
and was burning fercely and threatened
every moment to fall and bury the brave,
rescuers, but they gave no heed to the peril:
On either side the walls lowered and seemed
ready to fall, but there was no time to think
of them. As fast as the men at work DO.
came exhausted others stood ready and
anxious to fill their places so there was not
q moment of delay In the labor OF relief:
AS the wounded were carried out OF the
ruins they were met with embraces and tears
of JOY, but when still, broken forms were
borne away, motionless and limp, then the
full sadness and horror Of the calamity came
upon the waiting crowd.
For few minutes it looked like there was
to be horror upon horror. The debris caught
fire from the red hot bricks and blazed up
threateningly right above where the men
had been buried. The cool headed IRE
men who had not gone down to death, how.
ever. worked heroically and soon had
the flames under control. Thus the pinloned
men were saved from death more horrible
than that which stared them in tina face.
Within an hour twenty-seven bodies mad
been removed from the debris, and of this
number ten were dead. Just at dark the
workers heard the voice of man few feet
ahead of them. Improved to be that of Webb
Robinson, a pipeman.
"Hand me saw and I can cut my way
out" said he. A saw was given him and IN
a few minutes he had cut away the tlmbers
that held him, and emerged from the debris
He is badly hurt, but was saved by being
near the solid wall Of an adjoining building.
The physicians declared that half OF those
injured would die. All were more or less
burned. 1t was almost q red hot furnace
they fell into, and it seems remarkable tnat
a single man who went down came out alive,
The fall of sixty feet was itself enough to kni
all those who were on the roof of the Ill fated
building.
There were some miraculous escapes
Thomas Dillon, Superintendent of the Brush
Electric Company, was on the top OF the
north wall when It began to give way: 80 BY
aherculean effort he sprang from the falhng
wall and landed on solid roof adjoining.
The calamity is by far the greatest that
has ever befallen any fire department in the
West. One-half of the active firemen OF
indianapolis are either killed or injured,
The unfortunate men, too,. are,
the oldest and best men in the