St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-11

| eliminating in the mouth of the smoke
stack, where the fire was discovered.
| The interior of this tower and around
the smoke-stack were the wooden beams
| and frame work on which the staff coy-
| ering was laid.
| where the Fire Started,
1t was at the top of this cupola that
the fire was discovered. 1t is supposed
that the framework around the mouth
OF the huge chimney caught from a de-
| feet IN the fiue. AT first it appeared to
| be an insigni meant affair. But, know
ing the lntiammabIe nature of the
| structure, Fire Marshal Murphy, who
| had charge of the fire department on
the grounds, sent in a call for all the
| companies to turn out. With forty of his
| men Capt. Fitzpatrick climbed the sta
| tiOnary ladders inside the tower to the
| balcony, and from there ropes were low
cred to haul up the hose. Only one
/ hose, that of chemical engine, had
! been hauled up, when a gust of wind
! caused the flames TO break out in an
! alarming manner about ten feet from
| the top of the cupola. Meantime the fire
had eaten its way down through the
net work of timbers inside the
structure, and, unconscious of this dam
| ger, the fremen were standing, as it
were, on the shell of a burning volcano.
J Noone of the tens of thousands of inter-
ested spectators who had gathered from
all parts of the grounds had any intima-
ton of the perilous position in which
the forty or fifty firemen were then
standing. The fire had been burning
scarcely twenty minutes, and the fire.
men were pulling and hauling at the
| ropes, when suddenly
The Flames Burst Out
| around the base of the cupola in per-
feet hell of fury. So sudden and so fu-
! rious was the outbreak and so terrible
was the spectacle that for the moment
the crowd stood transfixed with horror.
Strong men wrung their hands in hys-
terlcal manner. and scores of women
tainted. All alike were poweress to
aid the unfortunate men imprisoned on
the balcony $50 feet from the ground.
ALI the ropes save one on the north
side of the tower were burned awav in
an instant. The hose from the chemi
cal engine withstood the heat, however.
and, springlng forward, John Davis
caught hold of it and slid down to the
main roof of the warehouse, where he
tainted away. His face and hands
were terribly burned by the flames,
which enveloped his body as he came
down. He was taken to the hospital,
where he was cared for, and the phy.
sicians say he will recover. Two of his
fellow firemen attempted to follow him.
but before they were halfway down
the hose gave way and they dropped
into the seething mass of fire and were
lost. As the hose parted and the men
Sank Out of Sight
in the fire the multitude below gave
utterance to a groan of sickening horror.
! Another of the imprisoned men started
down the rope on the north side of the
tower, and had almost reached the roof
| when it gave way, and he fell, striking
on his head, and was instantly killed
There now remained, according to the
counts of various spectators, from
| twenty-five to thirty men on the tower.
They were hopelessly beyond the reach
of help. The longest ladder fell short
of reaching them by full thirty feet.
Death of the most awful kind was fast
approaching. At this terrible moment
Capt. FitZpatrick's tall form and white
helmet appeared in front of the men who
were huddled together on the narrow
balcony. He appeared to be addressing
his brave followers. What he said will
probablyneve be known, for he alone. of
all the men around him at that moment,
escaped alive, and his injuries are such
that ii is doubtful if he will ever recover
consciousness. As he ceased to speak
one of the men crept around the burn
ing balcony to the east, and returned a
moment later with rope that had been
left there in the excitement, 1t was
hastily
Fastened TO the Railing
around the balcony and thrown to the
roof. Capt. Fitzpatrick pointed to it.
What he said no one knows The fore
most man seized it and started to slide
down, but ere he was halfway the cruel
flames rolled up, and he was swallowed
|
Another tried it and met the Sa me fate
One after another five of the men at this
moment Sprang from the balcony to the
roof and were killed by the fall. If any
of them survived they were burned. The
rope was burned off about halfway
down. and it hung apparently useless
against portion of the wall not yet
destroyed.
Seeing his men jumping to their doom
the heroic captain seized the rope and
started down. A ladder had been
raised, but was almost twenty feet from
the end of the rope. He dropped and
caught on the end of the ladder. Mar
sha Murphy, an old personal friend of
Capt. Fitzpatrick, and who has worked
on the Chicago fire department with
him for score of years, was on the roof
Seeing there was chance to save his