Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-07-11
DEATH DID ITS WORK SWIFTLY
beginning of the Blaze Which wrouch,
Such a Horror.

Such a Horror.
Death has never done such swift and
CHASTITY work at fire in Chicago since the
dark days of October, 1871. The horror of
/, the spectacle will forever remain as a
hideous night mare in the minds of many
F, thousands men and women who cazed
upon it. 1t was intensified by the dizzy
height from W hich the victims were seen
to fall into vast furnace of blazing tim
Der and other inflammable material.
Deeds of heroism were done by the fire
men, who persisted and those who live to
grieve over their lost comrades. The CO.
lumbar guardsmen were not lacking in
bravery and devotion to duty in the hour
of danger, and in the face of death Tore
is mourning within the White City, for
the blackened remnants of human beings
full of life and hope yesterday are lying
beneath the wlter-soaked wreck or stretch
ed out in the norgue outside the gates.
just Little Tongue of Flame.
The sun was shining it's brightest from
blue sky at I:3) O'Clock p. m. and the pleas
ure-seeking people were passing under the
shadow of the cog storage warehouse
Suddenly 10y, William Sheppard son
of the guide book publisher, saw tongue
of flame escaping from the cupola of OBJ
servatory tower which forms the topmost
section of the warehouse. From the
ground to that first flame there were $50
feet of space. The boy gave the alarm
and in few minutes the men from the
fire stations 't the Casino and the Termin-
al station cars dashing along with hose
cart, engine and hook and ladder Tie
altitude of the blazing Qbssyyati, I tower
and its isolation from the great main roof
made the work of the fiIemen hazardous
and slow from the outset.
Went Up to Their Awful Fate.
Before the fremen got to work several
painters, electric light men and others
employed in the building assembled by the
elevators to the main roof and afterwar,.s
climbed up the spiral staircase, which W
built around the deathtrap of a smoke
funnel. until they reached the balcony
underneath the cupola They found that
the flames had gone too far to be smotA-
cred by the chemicals at hand, and wait
ed for the firemen to join them, thinking
they could be of assistance Captain
Hardness, of the guards, ordered Sergeant
Douglas to take eight men up to the b z
ing tower ana aid the firemen The ser
geant and his eight men went and by
"a strange chance all are alive to tell the
tale and mourn the loss of brave comrades.
Seemed To BE No Danger.
Not so with the firemen They went
out on the roof and hauled up the hose
with ropes to the first story of the towers
on the east and south sides of the ware
house. Others rushed up the spiral stair
way of the main tower to the landing ne
the blazing top, and lowered ropes on
three sides for the men below to attach
the hose to. Until this time the fire re-
sembled the flaming mouth of small
blast furnace and at distance there
seemed to be no danger menacing that
men at work hundreds of feet in the air.
The experienced eye of Chief Murphy, in
command of the Worlds fair fire depart-
ment, failed TO suspect any risk to
his men when he ordered them to go up to
the tower below the blaze But he sent
nearly all of them to a death, the horror
and agony of which no human tongue or
pen can describe.
Flames Above and Below.
Those few moments of realization that
flames surrour ded them above and below.
followed by their last act in life. must
have been an eternity of hell to every soul.
sixteen-foot ladder was placed from the
first section of The tower to landing on
which the meI were. but no one though
of running a big ladder from the main
roof to the tower so as to connect with the
small ladder. Without a thought of the
fate that was soon to overtake them the
thirty odd mel outside the tower were at
work on thu east and south sides. All
this time the flames were burning through
the larger portion of the tower beneath
them.