The state herald., 1891-04-17
FIRE IN CHICAGO.
4 Marrow Escape for the Audience Az
Theatre.

On the evening Of the 18th Chicago
suffered one of the most destructive con-
aagrations that has occurred there since
The big fre Of 1871. Tho loss Is fully
y, 100000. 1t was at almost tho exact
geographical confer Of tho city that the
aames started, and, like the terrible dis
aster twenty years ago. began in stable:
In this case the stable was the property
Of the woll-known furniture manufacturer
and politician, John M. Smythe, and was
located In the rear Of his big house fur
nishing establishment on West Madison
Street, near Halstead Street. The flames
speedily communicated to the furniture
establishment and o moment later to
Kohl & Middleton's dino museum. A
general alarm to the fire department was
soon followed by special calls for extra
engines rs the fire was seen to DO gaining
ground with extraordinary rapidity.
Tho first intimation tho inmates Of Kohl
& Middlcton's museum had Of tho proxim-
ity Of the fire was when someone opened
q window on tho third floor, through which
volume Of smoke poured, filling tho entire
floor. A wild panic followed among tho
400 persons in the building, most Of whom,
however, were on tho first floor watching
. variety performance. Those on tho
first floor were first appraised Of their
danger by tho stampede on tho upper
floors, and as they arose to their feet and
fled preclpitately toward the front door,
tho fro appeared at tho roar windows,
increasing tho terror Of the crowd.
The emergency brought out hero In
the person Of Policeman Patrick Shelby.
Forcing his way through the frightened
people who were madly retarding each
other in the jam at the exit, he stationed
himself at tho head Of the stairs and,
drawing his revolver, declared his inten-
tion to kill tho first person who refused to
obey his orders. BY GOODNESS and deter
mination he succeeded In quieting the
panic and, with one exception, everybody
reached the street In safety. The exccp-
ton was q. II. Messenger, o young man,
who, before Officer Sheedy reached the
stair landing, made u rush for the front of
the building and, throwing open the win
dow, jumped out into the street He fell
with full force on the pavement and was
unconscious when picked up. Several
persons following him were stopped bor-
ror stricken long enough TO be corralled
by Sheehy md his revolver.
When the fire broke out DIR. J. z. Ber-
gcron was attending Mrs. Sarah Macks in
fiat In one Of tho buildings subsequently
burned. When the fire got too close DR..
Bergeron seized the suffering woman and,
wrapping her In blankets, descended three
flights Of stairs with his burden and
carried her to house near by. In less
than fifteen minutes q fine girl baby was
born amid tho crash Of falling walls and
the hoarse shouts Of tho fremen. Both
mother md child are doing we'll. DR..
Bcrgeron lost valuable set OF instruments
and his ovcrcoat and hat in tho fire, but
tonight was happy In having saved his
patient
1t took forty fire engines and nearly 800
flremen to bring the fire under subsection.
Several times 1t seemed US II the men
would be compelled to abandon their
engines SO intense was the heat, but
chcered on by interchangeable officers they
managed to withstand the heat by turning
tho hose on themselves. Tho nerve dis
played by the firemen was heightened by
tho fact that all tho time they knew at
least 100 barrels Of oil were stored In the
cellar Of the Smythc establishment, liable
ut any time TO create . terrible explosion.
When tho fire had ut length been brought
under control IL was found that tho losses
aggregated over three quarters OF million
dollars.