The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-07-14

md 10 terrible was the spectacle that for
the moment the crowd stood there trans
fixed with horror. Strong men wrung
their hands in q hysterical manner and
scores Of women tainted. All alike were
powerless TO aid the unfortuate men i'm
| prisoned on the balcony 150 feet from the
| ground.
! All the ropes save one on the north side
of the tower were burned away in An In
slant. The hose from the chemical engine
withstood the heat, however, and spring
ing forward John Davis caught hold Of IL
and slid down to the main roof Of the
warehouse where he fainted away His
face and hands were terribly burned by
the flames which enveloped his body rs he
came down. He will recover. Two OF his
fellow firemen attempted to follow him,
but before they were half way 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 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 1t gave way and he fell ON his head
and was instantly killed.
There now remained, according to the
counts of various spectators from 25 to 80
men on the tower. They were hopelessly
beyond the reach of help. The longest
ladder fell short Of reaching them by full
80 feet Death OF the most awful kind
was fast approaching. At this terrible
moment Marshal Murphy'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 probably
never be known for he alone of ali the men
around him at that moment escaped alive,
and his injuries are such that 1t Is doubt
ful II he will ever recover consciousness
As he ceased to speak one OF the men
crept around the burning balcony to the
east and returned a moment later with a
rope that had been left there In the excite.
ments 1t was hastily fastened to the rail-
ing around the balcony and thrown to the
roof. The foremast man seized it and
started to slide down but ere he was half
way the flames rolled up and he was
swallowed into the mouth of the awful
volcano Another tried it and met the
same fate One after another five OF the
men at this moment sprang from the bal
cony to the roof and were killed by the
fail.
The rope was burned off about half way
down and it hung apparently useless
against portion of the wall not yet de-
stroyed.
Seeing his men jump to their death the
heroic Marshal seized the rope and started
down. A ladder had been raised but was
almost 20 feet away from the end of the
rope.
ua L.
the ladder, but received injuries which
proved fatal.
A large quantity Of linseed oil was
stored on the top floor and when the tower
fell it crashed through the roof to this in
fammable fuel and then the flames rolled
up high in the air.
Seeing that it was hopeless task to at
tempt to save the building and as all who
escaped alive had left the roof, the firemen
now directed their efforts to keep the fire
from spreading. The Worlds Fair stables
just south of this big warehouse was
burning and the fire had spread to roofs of
several hotels across stony Isle avenue Just
outside the grounds.
With q good deal of effort the hotels
were saved but the stables were burned to
the ground. In less than two hours from
the time the fire started the big cold stor-
age warehouse was leveled to the ground,
a smoking ruin.
1t is doubtful il any Of the bodies will
ever be recovered, so furious and terrific
was the heat. The building being of wood
and added to this the barrels OF oil made
the fire one of the hottest the department
has ever had to fight
A complete and accurate list of the dead
will be difficult to obtain, as many OF the
bodies were entirely destroyed, and not
even the officers Of the fire department
will know who of their men are gone un-
til after roll call to-day