Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-03-22
FIRE HORROR.
q Score Of Firemen Buried Under
Falling Walls.
goarfui Scenes ut an indianapolis Firo-Ths
Treacherous '1ire-PrOof" building
EngulEed In the Fiery Fur
naco--The Victims.

Bno large DOOk puOllSnlnR eSJaDllSnment
of the Bowen-Merrill Company reached
some paper, and in an instant the flames
were carried by the elevator shaft to the
fourth story. The building, fine stone
and iron structure, fronting on Wash
tngton street, was stored with books and
stationery of all kinds This large
stock was consumed and the building
wrecked. At $3.50 o'clock this loss Of
more than S15O,0O0 on building and
stock was followed by tho falling in Of
the roof, which carried more than
twenty persons down with in, including
those who were working on the various
floors.
The fire ut this hour had been driven
!, to a corner between the ceiling of the
fourth story and the cornice. Parts Of
the companies were on the roof working
their way down to the fire. The roof
seemed sound and the walls substantial,
but suddenly the walls yielded. A man
threw up his arms and sank into the
seething ruins below. Another man
dropped, and then the whole rear roof,
with fifteen men on 1t, fell on to the
top floor, where the fire was raging.
-Four men were On the upper floor under
4. the roof. These were crushed beneath
the grinding tinlbers and all the men
hurled through the falling floor beneath.
Instantly ambulances ere telephoned
for and presently the crowd below
. moaned under the porteItous develop
ments. The scene on the heap of de-
bris Immediately after tie 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 belonged were hid
den from sight A ladder across three
men was weighted down with tons OF
bricks and timber.
Another poor fellow, who was beyond
all pain, lay close beside his fellows, a
shapeless and mangled n ass. The lad
der lay across the stomach of one man.
who was screaming with sgony; another
man, with broken arm and twisted
body, lay next to him. AS fast as will.
ing hands could hurl away the bricks,
the weight was removed, but the ladder
was held too firmly to yield. The man
with broken arm was dragged free and
carried away. Under him, mute, but
breathing, appeared the upturned face
of a poor fellow not seen before. The
mortar and dust was cleaned from his
lips, but he was buried so deeply 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 re-
double their efforts. The debris had
fallen so that it lay with valley shaped
{. surface, and this made the available
space for work very small. There was
no place to deposit the materials dug
from the bottom Of the valley, except to
throw them upon the sides of the de-
preston, from which they continually
rolled down toward the center again.
All the work of relief was thus car
ried on with great difficulty. One by
one the men nearest the surface were
'extricated, but as the workers went
down further they discovered new vic.
tins and the horror steadily grew. The
forward part of the building still stood
high and burning fiercely, and threat
ened every moment to fall down 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 became
exhausted others stood ready and anx'
fOus to fill their places, so there was
mot moment Of delay Of the labor OF
relief. Every moment was filed with
an awful suspense, for all were thinking
of the friends who lay buried beneath.
Names which men inquired after were
passed hurriedly from lip to lip, and
people bent down to scan closely. the
blackened and SCARED faces. Persons
who had friends among the firemen
or among citizens who were supposed
70 have been in or near the fatal walls,
became frantic as time passed and they
could get no word. As the wounded
swere carried out of the ruins they were
met with embraces and tears Of joy, but
when the still, broken forms were borne
away, motionless and limp then it was
when the full sadness and horror Of the
calamity came upon the waiting crowd
At ll:sO p m, twenty men had been
taken from the ruins, nine Of whom
: we're dead and the rest more or less in
1ured
Following is the list Of dead: George
Faulkner, engineer No. company;
George Glenn, fireman No 10; Ulysses
sGlnEier, substitute fireman; Al Hon.
rman, pipeman; William Parties, pipe
man; Henry Woodruff, pipeman; Tom
Talentyre, foreman engine No. 2; Dick
HOwry, pipeman; Walter Jones, pipe
man; Andrew CHEEKY, superintendent
nre alarm system
Wounded Anthony vOltz, pipemani
few Rafiert fireman; Thomas Barren,
n.-n.,nn. A g Marner cnnfafn Ere de.