The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-07-11
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all tn IN TO death, the horror and agony
of which no human tongue or pen can de
scribe Those few moments of realization
that flames surrounded them above and
be- " followed by their last act I'm life
must have been as an eternity Of hell to
every soul. A sixteen foot ladder was
| placed from the first section of the tower
to the landing on which the men were, but
no one thought Of running a big ladder
! from the main roof to the tower, 50 as to
connect with the small ladder.
! without thought of the fate which
was soon 60 overtase them, the thirty odd
men outside the tower were at work on the
east and south sides All this time the
! flames were burning through the larger
section Of the tower beneath them. The
first intimation Of danger came to the
victims when smoke appeared under them
and as the wind blew it into their faces
they retreated in an orderly body beyond
the landing to the north side of the tower
with the exception of one man, a painter
who slid down the hose which had been
brought up to the south side of the tower
1t may be that more would have taken
this apparently sure and safe means of es-
cape had 1t not been for the smoke which
seemed to envelop them. 1t seemed as if
the victims changed position because they
feared flames would soon follow the smoke
| which they saw
Death quickly came to put an end to
suspense and agony. The flames had
been devouring five feet of frame work
which surrounded the cast iron shaft that
! pierced the tower below the men. Quick
as a flash the fire burst through the square
tower just underneath the imprisoned
men on all sides The gold letters Her
cules Ice Skating Rink and Cold Storage
| Warehouse were in the center of the
tower and around them the flames cir
culated
In few seconds the imprisoned ones felt
the scorching fire coming, and with one
impulse of self preservation the men
moved quickly to where the ropes were
attached nj the northwest corner. The
man nearest the rope grasped it and de-
scended, but for only few feet. The rope
was burned in two, and with feet down
ward the first victim shot through the air
to the main roof He turned partly over
before he struck, and bounded up before
! lying as if dead.
A great cry of anguish and fear came uI
from thousands on the ground and at
other points where the first of those awful
leaps and falls could be seen. Strong meu
wept and became hysterical Some cried
aloud for God to save the poor souls penned
between flames They got on their knees
and prayed to God that all might not per
ish. Woman could be seen everywhere
fainting and wringing their hands, bury.
ing or turning away their faces and crying
| Historically at the sickening scene An
intramural train, facing the fiery specta
Gle, had to be stopped because some of the
| IN I'd fol /,
| terical
But worse was to follow worse No
sooner had one man struck the roof than
another leaped from the tower before the
Mortified gaze of the spectators. His body
kept straight down until near the roof
when he turned somersault, and a sec
ond cry of horror came from thousands
of throats. The two ropes on the north
side of the tower, where the doomed men
were huddled at the edge, were almost use
less for the saving of life, yet for the first
possession of the one corner at least ten
fought as savage beasts.
They only prolonged their consciousness
of life, for all were doomed TO die, yet they
struggled to catch at anything which
seemed to hold out chance to leap and
live. One by one they dropped from the
tower, some clinging to burning rope as
far as it afforded them any hold and then
shooting through a solid sheet of flame ia
the roof The sight was too much for even
the military men and the old fremen on
the ground to bear without shudder and
a turning away of faces Human forms
leaping through flames hundred feet or
more down, down to sure death, presented
a sight the stoniest heart could not wit
ness unmoved
The last man on that tower died the
hero's death among all those heroes who
faced the furnace below them. He had
waited without apparent fear until there
was only himself left, like Casabianca,
who stood on the burning deck. He was
a fireman, and he grasped the remnant OF
burning rope just as the whole tower struc-
ture parted diagonally and fell towards
the north, right over the PROSTATE bodies
of the poor fellows who had leaped to es-
cape the pitiless flames The last man
who went down to death with the tower
kept feet down as far as the rope went
and then the rush of flames and air was SC
great that his body was turned round and
round in the passage within sight of all
and the blazing tower fell over his form
making a funeral pyre and ending his
agony, if he was not dead before striking
the roof
One victim remained on the tower until
the flames from below had burned his legs
so that the flesh peeled from the bone
When the tower toppled over there was nc
hope of saving those who had not been
taken off the roof.
The most sublime deed of herosm in
that tragic hour was performed by thret
firemen in ample time to save the life OF
their superior officer, Captain James Fitz
patrick, the assistant fire chief at the fair
He was on the roof when the tower fel
over without warning, and his leg was
broken, besides being crushed by falling
timbers The captain crawled towards
the edge of the roof, already on fire, anC
held out hand in mute appeal for help
The noble rescue, although it only re
suited in saving the captains body from
further mutilation by fire, was watched by
thousands of people in breathless suspens,
and rewarded by mighty cheer when the
body reached the ground to be tenderly
laid on a stretcher and borne to the hos
pital in the ambulance. But the captain
. never recovered consciousness, and died a
o'clock.
In the cold storage vaults were a stool
Of vegetables, fruits, wines, liquors, frui
and dairy products, valued at $4,000, al
of which Is destroyed.
At 10 o'clock last night six bodies hal
been recovered, when work was tempo
rarily suspended. Only one body, that o
William Denning was recognizable.
Best photographs and erAyonI at Dabb'h