St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-06-28

first seen the entire interior of the
were aided in their work by the iron
shutters which served to make the
building veritable chimney. The
heat from the fire was intense, and it
soon became evident that the Barge
block at the corner of First avenue
south and Washington avenue, and i'm
mediately abutting the Mcdonald
building, was in great danger.
The explosion in the North Star
Clothing company's store seemed the
signal for general disaster and was the
death knell of five brave firemen. The
explosion was followed by a general
crashing and breaking of the glass in
the Mcdonald building, the falling
iron shutters and the loud crashing in
of two of the upper floors. With a
mighty roar the flames shot up, and
had burned but a few moments in the
deluge of water poured upon it, when
the rear portion of the side wall facing
the alley fell with crash. Joseph
Hoy, pipeman of No. 2, had just come
down eff the fire escape in the rear of
the building, and Lieut.. Frank Euline
was halfway up ladder
WHEN THE CRASH CAME,
tearing off some thirty feet of the wall.
AT the foot of the wall and in the little
blind alley between the Mcdonald block
and the adjoining building stood five
more firemen, and in the side alley
running through from Nicollet to First
avenue stood several more. The deaf
ening sound of the falling wall could
he n oy-1 20. nd ha hx,cf 10 nd
and firemen themselves for a few mo-
ments were too horror-stricken to real
iZe the awful scene which ensued.
Euline fell from the ladder into the
alley, the brick falEng on him and
crushing his head to an unrecognizable
mass. Hoy, Horner, Richardson and
Sanders were crushed to an instant
death, and but few feet away lay the
injured ones moaning.
A ladder was raised to the roof of
this building and water poured onto
the burning building from the top
of the Barge block, but seemed to have
no material effect upon the burning
building beyond. No hose could be
stretched from the Nicollet avenue
side of the building, owing to the con-
dition of that hvenue, which rem
dered it almost impossible to haul a
fire engine over it, Then again the
.firemen could get no hose on the
flames from. the Third street side
owing to the tearing up of portion Of
the block for the putting in Of a
new foundation.
The brother firemen at work by the
side of the dead and injured stopped
as if in terror. Then with a first
thought of their brave comrades and
not of other impending danger from
falling walls, dragged out of the de-
bris the five dead bodies md the in,
jured and laid them all in a vacant
spot in the rear of the Creamery res
taurant building. Side by side the five
were laid. their heads in every in
stance ss
" UNRECoGNIzABLE MASSES
with the exception of Hoy, almost be-
fore the immense crowd of sight seers
had the least idea of what had hap
pened. From mouth to mouth flew
the rumor that number of firemen
had been killed, and a great crowd
focked towards the place, requiring,
frantic exertions on the part of the
police to keep them back. For the
dead nothing could be done, and the
first thought was for the wounded
Capt. Caldwell was carried to the Sc
curity drug store. With the exception
of Ed Theilen, the injured were all un-
conscious, and one by one were car
ried to Dr.. S. S. Kilvington's office
over the drug store where medical aid
could be given them. Police calls were
sent in, and in a. few moments the
North and South side patrol wagons,
each with a load of officers, were on
the scene. Theilen, cool and heroic,
despite his broken leg and bruises, as
sured his companions that he was not
hurt. He was hurried to the city hos
pital in the central wagon. AS fast as
stretchers could be obtained the. men
were carried to the hospital.