St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-11
BURNED LIKE TINDER.
The Building a Seething Mass of
Flames in a Few Minutes.

Boston, March 1O.-George McCallar.
boOkkeeper at the burned-Out store of
Horace Partridge d Co., says:
''AS near as | can recOllect, five min
utes elapsed between the cry Fire and
the arrival of the engines; yet in that
time the whole building seemed TO be in
one seething mass of flames. In the
rush from the building many of the
people were knocked down and trampled
upon. The pitiful appeals of the young
girls, mingled with the shouts of men as
they strove to pull them to place of
safety, was one of the most exciting
through such a one again. | have no
doubt that many of the firms employees
who were on the fifth and sixth floors of
the building have met with serious in
jury. if Some of them are not now
dead"
William S. Bumrill, of Dean. Chase &
Co., says:
IL first saw man with his hair liter
ally singed off his head, rushing up the
street to the nearest fire alarm box.
sprang to the door and saw a spectacle
that appalled, ME. A torrent of flame
was literally pouring out of the windows
in the center front on the second floor of
the Ames building. The people inside
were throwing books out of the windows.
and men and boys from the stores were
picking them up. Very soon upon the
parapet, way above the street, saw
three men and one woman clinging to
the stone work. There was no such
thing as getting ladder up to them
owing TO the network of wires. That is
the worst corner for wires in the city of
Boston, the whole street is full of them.
We watched the quartette as they clung
for a few minutes only, while
the crowd in the street stood
in breathless silence. Then the
four, one after the other, jumped off.
DOwR they came, a height Of fully six
stories, and struck sOlidly on the frozen
ground. 1t was horrible. You should
have heard the grOan that went up from
the throng in the street. Every one of
the four was unconscious when reached.
and all must be terribly Injured. There
could hardly be whole bone in their
bodies. l saw two of them rushed by
on a shutter"
Francis Galloupe says: "Iwas going
down Sumner street, past the corner Of
Lincoln street, between 4:25 and 4:26
| just as the fire started. l took Lincoln
street and saw a sheet of flame shooting
out half way across the street from the
second story of the building in which
the WoonsOcket Rubber company is
located. One steamer had just
arrived in front of the build
ing, and the hose was being
stretched. saw men, women and girls
trying to get out of the upper stories.
They were excited. Ishouted to them:
Don't jump, the ladders will be here in
a minute But they were too fright
ened. One man jumped from the sec
ond story and caught wire. He bang
| there till exhausted, then dropped. l
could not see whether the fall killed
HIM or not. l saw another mau
jump to the telegraph pole. He
Slid down without intufy. Sew
eraI took horse blankets and
called to the frenzied crowd at the WIN,
dows to drop and they would catch
them, A good many did this, and,
| though bruised, the blankets broke the
otherwise fatal force Of the fall. One
little girl too timid 70 jump was saved
by a man reaching out for her
on his way down the pole. A long
step ladder was brought over and