Huntsville gazette., 1890-03-22
A TERRIBLE FATE.
Ihirteen Firemen Killed and Ten More
injured by the Collapse of Burning
Buitding at tIndianapolis-A Fearful Sight
that Made the Stoutest Hearts Quail
List OF the Dead and Injured as Far as


| ipJTou oy the Collapse of a Burning
Buitding at Indianapolis-A Fearful Sight
that Made the Stoutest Hearts Quail
List OF the Dead and Injured as Far as
Obtained.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, March 1S.-Tnis
afternoon fire from a 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. This large stock was consumed
| and the building wrecked.
AT half-past five o'clock this loss Of
| more than S15O,O00, on building and
stock, was followed by the falling in of
the roof, which carried down more than
twenty persons, including those who
were working on the various floors. The
fire at this hour had been driven to a
corner between the ceiling of the fourth
story and the cornice. 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 un-
| der the roof These were crushed be-
meath the grinding timbers and all the
men hurled through the falling floor
beneath, which gave way under the
weight of the mass.
| One of the firemen 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!
| Instantly ambulances were telephoned
for and presently the crowd below
| moaned under the portentuous develop
| ments The scene on the heap of debris
Immediately after the collapse was pitt
able and dreadful beyond all power
description. The limbs of men here
| and there were seen writhing, while the
trunks to which they belonged were
buried from sight. A ladder lay across
three men and was weighed down by
| tons of bricks and timber. Another
| poor fellow, VINO was beyond all 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 broken arm and twisted
| body lay next to him.
| AS fast as willing hands could hurl
| away the bricks the weight was re-
moved, but the ladder was too firmly
held 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 were
cleaned from his lips, but he was
buried so deeply that no immediate
| help could come to him.
| The debris had fallen SO that it lay
with valley-shaped surface, and this
| made the availa BILE space for work very
small. There was no place to deposit
| the materials dug from the bottom of
| the valley, except to throw them up on
| the sides of the depression from which
they continually rolled down toward the
| center again. All 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.
AS the wounded men were carried out
| of the ruins they were met with en-
| braces and tears of joy, but when the
still, broken forms were borne away,
motionless and limp, then it was that
| the full sadness and horror of the cal
amity came upon the waiting crowd.
AT this hour G1:30 p. n.y. twenty-five
| men have been taken from the ruins,
| nine Of whom were dead and the rest
more or less injured. Others are known
to be under the mass of debris, but have
not yet been reached
The following is as compile te list of
| killed and wounded as it is possible to
secure at this hour 01:30 p. m.):
DEAD.
George Glenn.
George Faulkner.
| Andrew Cherry.
Albert Huffman.
Ulysses Glazier.
Richard Lowrey.
Thomas Black.
Espy Stormer.
| Jno. Burkhoult.
VIM. Hynsley, all firemen.
Chas. Jenkins, pipeman.
Samuel Neal, captain.
WOUNDED
Anthony Waltz, pipeman.
Lew Rafert, fireman.
Thomas Barrett fremen.
A. c. Mercer, captain fire department.
Webb Robinson, pipeman.
A. NJ. Partee, pipeman, internally
nurt; may die.
Henry Woodruff, pipeman, badly hurt.
Ebenezer Leech, pipeman, cut and
| bruised.
Tom Tallentyre, foreman engine No.
l fo 70