The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-08-06
FIREMEN MEET WITH DEATH.
AWFUL HAVOC CAUSED BY AN
EXPLOSION AT CHICAGO.
Four Persons Known to Have Been
Killed and Large Number
Seriously Injured.

CHICAGO, Aug. 5.-Four and pos
sibly more lives were lost in an ex-
plosion which took place this evening
during a fire in the northwestern grain
elevator at Cook and West Water
streets. Three of the dead are firemen
and the body of another fireman is
thought to be buried in the ruins of the
elevator. From the force with which
the explosion swept the spot on which
they We're standing, they certainly must
have been instantly killed. Either the
bursting of a boiler or the explosion OF
mill dust caused the awful havoc.
The three firemen who were killed by
the falling walls of the elevator are:
Jacob j. Schnur, John ]. Coogan, Jacob
S. Stramer, unidentified man, blown into
river, body not recovered.
The injured: Charles II. Conway,
fireman, body crushed, may die; Chief
Dennis Sweeney, foot crushed, Fire
Marshal Campion, Lieutenant Smith,
leg crushed; Assistant Engineer Benja-
min Blanchard, John F. Smith, William
Mcguire feet crushed; Thomas Engle,
pipeman; Ignatius Bond, Captain John
]. Evans, struck by debris, serious;
William Hanley, pipeman; William
Thompson.
Besides these dozens of fremen and
passers by were more or less cut and
bruised by glass and flying debris. In
all fifty-one firemen were injured.
The origin of the fire is believed to
have been in the vicinity Of the boiler
house. GRADUATED dust as dry and in
fiammable as gunpoWder that had been
piling up for years formed a ready
means for the fire. 1t spread with great
rapidity, and then came a terrific eX-
plosion, completing the work of scat
tering the fire throughout the entire
structure.
Just as the firemen were getting into
position for advantageous work, and
nearly all the members of Engine Com
pany No. 3 were mounting ladders and
bringing lines of hose to place on the
interior from the upper windows, there
came a roar that could be heard for half
a mile, the roof was raised high in the
air and the walls came down with a
crash.
The force of the explosion was SO
great that the eastern wall was hurled
into the river, the western wall was
IQIilb10u upOli tilC ilCe1po VI ttAO
unfortunate men below, and the room
was torn into many fragments and ds-
tributed for blocks around. Every win
dow in the vicinity of the elevator was
shattered by the conclusion, dozens of
persons were struck by flying debris,
and several small fires resulted in adj
dition to those which were already in
flames.
The explosion stunned, for moment,
the police and firemen, but they quickly
rallied to help those who had been hurt.
Dozens of men lay injured in the with
ering heat, some not seriously harmed,
and others in the thrOes of death 1t
was dangerous work to get them out,
but it was CALAMITY and quickly done,
and all of the slightly injured were re-
moved. The dead We're, for time, left
were they lay. No man could reach their
bodies and live.
The fire was difficult to control, as the
elevator was surrounded by a number
of small frame buildings, which We're
continually catching fire. The total loss
is estimated at S300,000 fully insured.
Late tonight the body of Fireman
Jacob Strikman was found under the
ruins This makes five deaths as re-
suit of the fire.