Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-03-22
A HORRIBLE FATE.
Twelve Firemen Meet Agonizing
Deaths at indianapolis.
While Fighting the Flames on Top of .
Four-Story Building tho Roof Col
lapses, Sending Them to tho
Floors Below.-Many
Others Injured.

afternoon hre from furnace in the
basement of the large book publishing
establishment 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 Washington street, was
stored with books and stationery of all
kinds. The large stock was consumed
and the building wrecked. At $50
o'clock this loss Of more than S15O,000 on
building and stock was followed by the
falling in of the roof, which carried
down more than twenty persons, includ-
ing those who were working on the vari-
Gus floors. The fire at that hour had
been driven to corner between the
ceiling of the fourth story and the cor
nice. Parts of the fire 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. An
/ other man dropped and then the whole
rear roof, with fifteen men on it, fell on
to the top floor where the fire was rag
ing. Four men were on the upper floor
under the roof. These were crushed be-
meath the grinding timbers and all the
men hurled through the falling floor be-
meath, which gave way beneath the
weight of the mass
| One of the firemen on top of the ad-
joining 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
therel" Instantly ambulances were
telephoned for and presently the crowd
below moaned under the portentious de-
velopments. The scene on the hea p of
debris Immediately after the collapse
was pitiable and dreadful beyond all
power of description. The limos of men
here and there were seen writhing,
while the trunks to which the y belonged
were buried from sight. A ladder lay
across three men and was weighted down
by tons of brick and timber. Another
poor fellow, who was beyond IL pain,
lay close beside his fellows, a shapeless
and mangled mass. The ladder lay
across the stomach of one man, who was
screaming with agony; another man
with a broken arm and twisted body lay
next to him.
AS fast as willing hands could hurl
away the bricks the weight was emoved,
but the ladder was too firmly h eld to
yield. The man with a broken arm was
dragged free and carried away. Under
him, mute, but breathing, appeare the
upturned face of poor fellow not seen
before. The mortar and dust were
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 redouble their efforts.
The debris had fallen so tn at 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 depression, from which
they continually rolled down toward
the center again. The work of relief
was thus carried on with great diff
Guilty. One by one the men nearest the
surface were extricated, but as the
workers went down further they discov-
cred new victims and the horror stead
lily grew.
The forw ard part of the building
still stood high and burning fiercely,
and threatened 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 ii me to
think of them. AS fast as the men at
work became exhausted others stood
ready and anxious to fill their places, so
there was not a moment of delay in the
labor of relief. Every moment was
filled with an awful suspense, for all
were thinking of the friends who lay
buried beneath them.
Following is as complete a list of the
! killed and wounded as it is possible to
secure at this hour: Dead-George
, Glenn, George Faulkner, Andrew Cher
|, ry, Albert Huffman, Ulysses Glazier,
!, Richard Lowry, Thomas Black, William
Hinsley, Charles jenkins, Samuel Neal,
Espy Stormer and John Burkhoul5, all
, fremen.
Wounded-Anthony Voltz, pipeman;
Lew Rafert, fireman; Thomas Barrett;
A. c. Mercer, captain fire departme mt;
Webb Robinson, pipeman; William Par
tee, plpeman, internally hurt, may die;
: Henry Woodruff, pipeman, badly hurt;
Ebenezer Leech, pipeman, cut and
bruised. Tom Talentyre, foreman en-
gine No. 2, fatally crushed; William
Long, pipeman, slightly hurt.
Walter Jones is still under the ruins
and is supposed to be dead. The Bowen
+ Merrill Company's loss is $12f,O 900; in
surance $4,000. Loss on building, $780,
, 900. H. P. Wasson, dry goods, suffered
: loss of $40, 900 by smoke and water and
, Byram & Su ullivan, dry goods, half that
| amount. Several smaller stocks are
badly damaged.
SaItpetre Explosion.
MnLvILLE, N. j., March 1s.-The