The evening world., 1892-01-12
Belief that Several Men Perished
at Rochester's Big Fire.
They Were Seen lust Before a
Crash Of Falling Walls.
Sibley Seed House and Part of the
Slbley Block Destroyed.

RoCnksrERJan. ia n,rce fire broke out
shortly before noon Ia the Hiram siblcy
seed House, ten or eleven story building.
covering nearly whole square bounded by
East Muln anu StilSon streets and North ave-
nur, and the building was soon huge mass
OF names.
How the flames secured such hcadway is II
mystery.
Tile illmc- were on the top OF the great
building eight stories high, and bclor, the
bremen could get AZ the blaze II was nee, -
sary to carry their lines oT hose up the Main
street nr,-cscapc 10 ihc top OF the trent bald.
ing. I'M, done the water had no apprcciablc
cilcct On the iiamcs.
Al l..:!U 4. VI, only twenty minutes after
the urCncn received the first warning. the
south wall Of the biz building fell III with II
rcsoundlng crash, which echoed and re-
echoed like heavy thunder.
The mass OF debris lcll upon tine ROOF OF the
Sblcy block, fronting IN niun street, crash
lhy IN the rear uari oi the store ~ iiuwc a
BasS"tt.
Before the noise had died away u woman
Appeared in ,htd-NIury window over Howe
a Ias>rtt', siur" ana NHihiy CndtaNurtd to
raise the Sdsh and gain the Irc escape. she
was seen by two incincn. Who mashed the
window and Jumped into the room, which
was dfn>" with smoke.
The woman was caIIich ouj and down the
hrc escape 10y one ~ th" men. After them
came lhc oih'l hrrinnn bearing ia his arms a
baby.
At the same time Ioliccman Mouadhan,
who had been searching the upper stories ur
the 'front.' building, discovered woman and II
srNun-ycar-old Elri on the third iloor, 50
da2cd by fright that they were unable To make
their way IL the street. The bluccoat con-
durrcd his two charges to the street IN safety.
At ln!h IA portion OF TIA" east wall ana u
moment later TIA" south wall huc"ulnhrd 10
tine neat, and a mug" mass OF debris irll to the
roadway ON Achilles street
just before the wall crashed through the
church three nrcmch wci" >rcn to enter the
chapel.
Fears were entertained that they had been
Eilled. but soon they emerged from the burn
ing chapel, which was 10y this time cnvcloped
In Iiancs.
A reporter saw Hiram W. Sibley al 1
o'clock. lie sadthe rear building had been
recently refltled AZ considerable expense and
had been pronounced by the insurance men
Il good risk. IT was equipped with automatic
sprlnklers and had II large tank on the roof.
III. flames seem To have started On the
sixth moor, but MI. sihey says The upper
stories We're unOCcupicd, and he cannot ac-
count Tor the iirc. The structure was worth
about 100000.
Charles Van NoOrni>, son of eN-Congrcss-
man John Van NOorhi>, rescued "A young In
Iaut from a room On the top lloor VI the slUley
block. Its mothers name Is said to b. Clifford.
Detective Long was In the back hall uf the
top fioor with ten or twelve rrcmen and citi-
2tns helping To rescue the people within.
when the walls cavcd IN aud all were buried
In the ruins. When Mr.. Long aud TWO other
or the rrcncn succeeded In escaping they
saw nothing Of the resi- of the people who
were with them.
Mr.. Long feels sure that there are some Of
them in the ruins.
Tie lirc, however. was gotten under con-
trol before the Who'll" III IN" front structure
=