The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-08-02
MEN And HORSES BURNED.
THREE FIREMEN KILLED.
Large Express Stables and Several
Residences Burned-Two
Hundred Horses Die.

The warehouses and stables Of the George
W. Knox Express company, occupying over
a quarter OF block at Second and B streets.
Northwest. Washington, DC. were destroyed
by fire Wednesday. Three ilremen lost their
lives.
over 200 heavy draft horses. nearly all OF
the companys express wagons and the con-
tents OF the large storage building were
burned.
The Adams Express company stable, ad-
Joining the Knox building TO the north. was
also entirely consumed. About $50 horses
were ia the Adams Express compapy's stable.
but all were taken out by the hardest kind OF
work on the part OF citizens and policemen.
Eight two.story houses on the alley north
Of the Knox building and two small frame
houses back oi the Adams stables were des-
troyed. Six or eight other residence houses
were more or less damaged.
The total Lose will exceed $3.50, 900. AZ 10
the amount Of insurance, no definite infor-
nation can vet be- obtained
The bodies Of the following flremen have
been recovered.
SAMUEL +. MASTIN. fireman. No. /, OF SOC
Eighteenth street. Northwest.
MICHAEL FENTON. Areman. No. /, OF 232
Thirteenth aud a Hulf street. Southwest.
. DENNlS lllNAitl | l., UFt0lhD NO. i.
-Four tremcn were badly Injured, and had
20 be be taken to the Emergency hospital.
one Of the Knox stable employees was burned
and may die. Fully a dozen ilrcnen and
policemen were overcome by the heat and
had to he carried 10 places Of safety.
The injured are:
J. q. Wilson, 525 Eleventh street, South
east. broken leg.
James Kelhal. iG2 Virginia avenue. South
west. sprained back; seriously injured.
Lee Bell. 1902 | street. Northwest, burned
about hands aud face.
james A. Hooper. truck ~" 521 + street,
Northwest: lacerated forehead.
Edward Cahill. citizen, shoulder broken.
Unknown cmpoye OF Knox company.
probably fatally burned about head and
che-t.
The fire was discovered NJ g 90 o'clock A
number Of men who were sleeping In the
Knox building were awakened by smoke.
They found the entire rear o: the second floor
Of the building in flames. and had hardly
time TO escape with their lives. Before they
had left the building the blaze had communi.
Gated TO the threc-story rear part Of the
Adams stables. and was darting out OF the
windows OF the second and first floors OF both
buildings In the rear. A general alarm was
turned in and the entire fire department
OF the city was on hand in short order.
Every company aud every fireman was
I'fufu. n ubllfE INV IhE'u. IldlHt-
poured in great sheets from the doors and
windows OF the grea, stables. All this was in
very few moments.
A hundred men ran into the Adams stables
and cut loose the $50 horses they contained.
The animals were cut loose and turned into
the street The horses of the Knox company
could not be reached. They were on the
second story OF the building, which was a
seething mass of flames from the very start.
The most Of them must have perished from
;Ne terrific heat and from the dense smoke
before the flames reached them,.
The Knox building was fol- story struc.
ture OF brick. On thy FIRST jsipr were the
heavy wN'Aps @fin for vie anS snsS .e%"1S .o~,,S
Stroul has "a uew merchandise
\ red with the
building orathe Knox
cotfr-yAJ -sv,sa..xsa Second street and con-
Meeting with "a. stables, separated only by q
thin brick wall, was used entirely for storage
purposes. II was was packed from basement
TO roof with furniture and merchandise
Families had stored their entire household
belongings here; merchants had left carloads
of supplies here. and there was load after
load of incoming and outgoing freight II il
In this building that the greatest loss occurr.
ed. The insurance cannot begin to cover
IL.
Just before o'clock the most terrible Incl e.
dent of the fire occurred. The flremen had
carried their hose into the burning warehouse
through one Of the large rear doors. This
door was held up by weighted ropes, and the
men had Just entered the building when the
ropes burned through and the heavy wooden
door fell. pennin2 them in. The work Of
cutting through the door was Immediately
began. aud was all but finished when the
floors above fell with crash. The immense
weight burst out the door and crushed two Of
the ilremen 10 death. The others were with
difficulty dragged out OF the debris alive. In
about five minutes the portion Of the outside
wall Immediately over the door gave wav,
filling the wide alley but injurng no one.
Massive iron girders over the door held
leaving the doorway almost clear. In this
clearing, lying on his face his head and right
arm exposed, lay Assistant Foreman Mastin
A l2-inch beam lying across his shoulder had
crushed out his life aud now held him pinned
TO the ground. II was not until all the top
pling walls around had fallen an hour later
that his body could be eNtricated. The great
beam had 10 be chopped away from over the
body Seiorcit could be removed