Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-10-22
A DISASTROUS FIRE.
The Worst that Has Visited Nom
treal in Many Years.
Th1ae Firemen Instantly killed and Sew
eraI Others Seriously Injured-Forty
Stream of Water Have No Apparent
Eject Upon the Fierce tlAmes.


MONTREAL, Can, Oct. 1.-THE most
disastrous fire in this city for long
time occurred yesterday afternoon.
having its beginning In the building
at Thirty-frst and Peter streets, occu-
pied by Gilmore 81 Co., importers of
chemicals. As a result three fremeE
are dead and dozen more or less seri-
ously injured. The dead are:
Firman Charpentier, of station No. /.
Fireman King, station No. 6.
Fireman Laporte, of station No Z.
The injured are: Capt. Guthrie. of
station No. 1; Capt. NORM, OF No. 3;
Firemen Benoit and Reynolds, of No.
3; Gordon, of No. 5, and Mirault and
Caerst, of No. IL
| 1t is not yet possible to verify the
report that 10 men were in the loft
that went down, and possibly another
| day will be reached before the all miss
| ing are definitely accounted for.
| The fire is attributed to the combus-
| tible nature of the stock handled in
| in the building, and, once under way,
| the blaze spread with amazing rapidi-
| ty. Before the first apparatus had
reached the scene and hose could be
| laid the flames from the fourth story
| of the building were reaching far out
/ into the center of the street.
| The building is a four-story stone
| structure, and was completely envel-
| oped in fire before the department. be-
! gan effective work. The chemicals on
/ the top floor burned with the fury of
furnace, and even after 10 streams
/ fo
to blaze with undated fierceness.
| Clouds of dense smoke followed the
flames as the streams began to take eff
feet, and the men on the extension
ladder were for large portion of the
time enveloped ia huge clouds of
smoke.
The flames spread to Goldstein's ci-
gar factory, and then smoke was seen
coming out of the windows of Kear
ney Bros tea warehouse and the
building occupied by Johnston's Fluid
Beef Extract Co.
The arrival of the water tower was
greeted with cheers by the enormous
crowd of onlookers, and no time was
lost in getting it to work.
A few moments later flames burst
| from a window immediately under a
| ladder on which half d dozen firemen
were standing, thrusting the hose
MOBILES here and there. They did not
finch, however, and another great
cheer went up as they dropped a step
on the ladder, placing themselves al
most in the flames with the hose still
IN hand. Meanwhile another detach-
Inent was busily engaged inside with
axes breaking out windows to let out
smoke. No sooner did the flames APP
pear to be under control in one place
than they would break out with re-
doubled fury in another.
The fire was gotten under control
by four o'clock, but was not entirely
su bdued.
at 2:3o o'clock the floor of the upper
loft in the Gilmore building gave way
without warning and fell with great
crash. Sixteen men in all are said to
have been in the place at the time, and
as the smoke cleared for a moment
shrieks could be heard.
AT first the firemen were unable to
get inside, but finally the rescuers
made Roadway, and the first victim
reached was Gordon, of No. station.
He was wedged down and apparently
dead, but when taken to the open air
he revived somewhat, and was quickly
placed in an ambulance and removed
to a hospital. Next came Fireman Be-
mott, of No. 3 station, who was not re-
suscitated before being taken away in
the patrol wagon. Charpentier was
the third rescued, and he was suffer
ing internally. Capt. Guthrie of No.
/ station was also found in an uncon-
scious condition. He was taken to q
hospital.
A fireman named Mirault, of engine
No. IL was rescued, but his face was
SO badly crushed that at first his iden-
tity could not be established. Edmund
Laporte was taken from the ruins
dead.
Another unidentified man was taken
to the general hospital unconscious.
He proved to be Beuoit, of No. 3.
Saul Carrest, of No. IL. was removed
to Notre Dame hospital. Capt. Nor
in was rescued badly hurt. George
: Mirault, of No. IL, was also taken &c
, Notre Dame hospital.
The bodies of Fireman King and
j Charpentier were recovered shortly
after ten o'clock last night. The men
were buried beneath many tons of de
bris and it took several hours to get a.
them. Both men had evidently been
killed instantly.
Tia most seriously hrrt was Fire
man David Benoit, OF No. 3, badly
injured internally.
At the general hospital last night
Bennett was reported resting easily
All the other men, who were only
slightly hurt. were released from the
hospital and sent to their homes.
All of the killed were married meT
; with families Laporte, who was re
garded as one of the best men on the
brigade. represented Montreal at th'
international tournament in Londor
,. last summer.
: The loss will reach $4,000. The
buildings are all owned by the Grey
Nuns, and are insured.
FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE.