The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-07-12


whole shaft began to tremble and
vibrate. The lone fireman understood
! Alright the ominous warning and gave a
| quick leap. He was too late At the
very moment he sprang, the whole
| structure gave way, and this human
being, quivering with life and wildly
grasping for support in the frenzy of
despair, was seen to drop into the laby-
rinth of flame and fire and finally dis
appear entirely into the roaring furnace
below His was literal death by fire,
| for the flames caught him while his wits
were still keen, his mind still active and
all his senses alive to the terrible fate
to which he was doomed
A Perfect Fire Trap.
AS fire trap, the cold storage ware
house could not have been more perfectly
constructed. The structure was $50 feet
long and $50 feet wide, and was con-
strueted entirely Of wood, covered with
staff. The main body of the building
was FIVE stories high. In the center of
this rose the smoke stack in the shape
of cupola at the top. which was
nearly 200 feet high. The base of this
cupola was about thirty feet square
About eighty feet from the base of this
| cupola there was a balcony, from which
| another square balcony rose 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 covering was laid.
1t was at the top of this cupola that
the fire was discovered. 1t is supposed
that the frame work around the mouth
of the huge chimney caught from de-
feet in the f1ue. At first it appeared TO
be an insignificant affair. But, knowing
the infiammable 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 about forty Of his men
he climbed the stationary ladders inside
the tower to the balcony and from there
/
Only one hose. that of a chemical engine.
had been hauled up when gust of wind
caused the flames to break out in an
alarming manner about ten feet from
the top of the cupola.
On the Brink OF a Furnace.
Meantime the fire had eaten its way
/ down through the net work Of timbers
| inside the structure, and, unconscious of
their danger. the fremen were standing,
as it were, on the shell of a burning
volcano. No one of the tens Of thou
sands of interested spectators who had
| gathered from all parts Of the grounds
had any intimation Of the perilous posi-
| ton in which the forty or fifty firemen
were then standing. The fire had been,
burning scarcely twenty minutes. and
the fremen were pulling and hauling at
the ropes. when suddenly tho flames
burst out around the base of the cupola
in perfect hell of fury.
So sudden and so furious was the out
break and so terrible was the spectacle
that for a moment the crowds stood
| transfxed with horror. Strong men
wrung their hands in hysterieal man
ner and scores of women tainted. All
alike were powerless to aid the un-
fortunate men imprisoned the bal
cony $50 feet from the ground. All the
| ropes save one on the north side of the
tower were burned away in an instant.
The hose from the chemical engine
withstood the heat. however. and spring
| ing forward, John Davis caught hold of
| it and slid down to the main roof of the
| warehouses, where he tainted away.
| His face and hands were terribly burned
| by the flames which enveloped his body
as he came dawn. He was taken to the
hospital, where he was cared for, and the
| physicians say 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 multi
| tude below gave utterance to a groan of
sickening horror. Another Of the i'm
| prisoned 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.
Marshal Murphy's Fate.
There remained now. according to the
counts of various spectators. from twenty
| ty-hve TO thirty men on the tower. They
were hopelessly beyond the reach of help.
The longest ladder fell short of reaching
them by fully thirty feet. Death OF the
most awful kind was fast approaching
At this terrible moment Marshal Muir
phys tall form and white helmet ap-
peared 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 all the
men around him, at that moment,
escaped alive and his injuries are such
that it is doubtful whether he will ever
regain consciousness.
AS he ceased to speak one of the men
crawled around the burning balcony and
4 ,<st,,r.,oa ,,,oD,onf toto- s,-ttb n -o.a