The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-28
Occupied by Storage Company and
Filled with Goods Belonging to
Hundreds of People.
SIX PERSONS BADLY HURT
Some Burned and Others Injured
by Jumping or by Bricks.
Parry Company, of Indianapolis. Loser
to the Extent of SIC, ,OOO-MOst OF the
Goods Insured-0ther Casualties.
special to the IndianapoIis Journal.


PITTSBURG, Oct 27.-Shortly after
O'Clock this afternoon the entire fire depart
ment of this city was summoned to Elev-
enth and Pike streets. BY the time the
first engines on the scene were in service
flames were bursting from almost every
window and door of the immense building
occupied by the Chautauqua Lake Ice Com
pany and the Pittsburg Storage Company.
The building occupied a space of 800 by 100
feet. was of brick and stone. seven
stories, or ninety feet in height.
Edward Spears, an employe. discovered
the fire and gave the alarm. He was work.
ing on the fourth floor. Almost instantly
he was enveloped in the flames. and al
though he attempted TO fight the fire he
was driven back TO a window fifty feet
from the ground, through which he made
his escape. He crept out upon the narrow
sill. and, dropping down, hung by his hands
until rescued by the ladder men of Truck
A. His hands, arms and face were liter
ally roasted. -.
1t was scarcely five minutes after tho
discovery Of the fire until the great struct-
ure was ablaze on every floor. A soaking
rainfall aided greatly in preventing the
spread of the fire, which several times
threatened destruction to the many valua-
BILE properties in the vicinity At o'clock
the occupants Of surrounding buildings
were notified to move out. Between Null
berry alley and Pennsylvania avenue, on
the southeast side of the burning building,
were a cheap class of tenements crowded
to suffocation by Polish Jews and Slavs,
who were thrown into a panic. Fifteen
minutes later the side OF the building fell
with terrible crash, burying the build
ings just vacated. At 2:30 o'clock the four
upper stories of the Thirteenth-street wall
fell outward, burying the street to the
depth OF ten feet and crushing the house
of John Glenn on the opposite side OF the
street. On the ground floor of the ware
house were five loaded freight cars Just
before the crash they were drawn from the
burning building to place of safety. Hun
dreds OF thousands OF dollars worth OF
property stored in the building was de-
stroyed. The large warehouse of tho
Haveriy Storage Company, on the opposite
side of Pike street caught fire several
times, but was not seriously damaged The
rear of a number of Pennsylvania-avenus
buildings were also severely scorched The
most serious damage here was to Hiber'a
drug store which, with contents, was al.
most destroyed. A number of narrow es-
capes were made by employees in the stor-
age building. The casualties were:
I. j. HEILMAN, who dropped from a
third floor window to the alley. His in
juries are fatal.
MARTIN GRIFFITH, badly burned:
firemen
EDWARD SPEARS. burned about head,
handS amos ana ars1s; may not recover.
WILLIAM FOX, also rescued from third
floor by firemen, badly burned
WILLIAM SMITH. burned about face
FRANK MCANN, engine company No.
Z. struck by falling walls; legs fractured.
A number OF people were knocked down
when the crowd of spectators surged back
at the time the walls fell Many men
tripped and fell and were trampled under
foot. Several received painful but not dam
gerous bruises. Sheets of iron were cast
from the burning buildings by the fury
of the flames and hurled into the crowds.
Scores Of people received slight injuries
which were either dressed i'm neighboring
drug stores, or the people made their way
home without assistance. During the prog
ress of the confagration the excitement
was intense. The streets in the vicinity
were packed with people and a thriving
business was done by picI1-pockets and
sneak thieves. A number of thieves were
arrested and locked up. President William
Scott stated tonight that the loss to the
Chautauqua Lake Ice Company and the
Pittsburg Storage Company viii reach al
most a million dollars. He could give no
estimate of the amount OF insurance as
the papers were all locked I'm the safe now
in the midst of the flames. The storags
apartments. he stated, were filled with au
kinds OF goods, some OF which was very
valuable che goods are owned by proba.
bly, several hundred different people, ane
all mostly insured by the owners as we1
as by the storage company.
At midnight the loss was placed at s700s
600; of this $4,000 was sustained by the
Chautauqua Lake Ice Company. and SJ00.s
900 by the Pittsburg Storage Company.
President Scott OF the latter concern.
stated that nearly every firm doing busi-
ness in the downtown district Of Pitts
burg had goods stored in their warehouse
and the losses would range from $1,000 to
$1,000 Every newspaper in the city had type
fixtures stored i'm the building. Several
firms from other cities were also losers by
the fire, among them the Parry Manu-
featuring Company, of indianapolis. and
the Cleveland Spring Bed Company, Of
Cleveland. The loss OF the former Is placed
at $4,000 and the latter 5000.
At 10 o'clock tonight the fire is turning
furiously confined by the tottering walls,
which are white with the intensity Of ths
heat.
the l.. r. a 4. n.