Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-03-17
Fire Quickly Destroys a Large
Chicago Building.
Three Persons Known to Have Been
Kied-others Missing Brave Acts
IN Face of Danger.

NftlNASOB AheblNAl 1O'7-lL 1GQu4ICO Juol
20 minutes this afternoon for one of the
most savage fires Chicago has seen
since tae famous cold storage ware
house FIRE ont the worlds faic grounds
in 1893, tostsleff 5.to 1O.1ives MAIN
80 personssand reduce "a six-story brick
building to a pile. Of bfdzfng timber, red
hot bricks and twiste8 iron.
The number of deadSis still in doubt,
and probably viii n9ESbe known until
the debris of the building is sufficiently
cooled to admit of search being made
for the bodies of those in the ruins. This
will be two days hence, at least.
Those reported missing and WHO had
not returned home. or communicated
with their friends, and whose bodies are
believed therefore to be in the ruins,
are the following: W. A. Olmstead, pres
ident of the E. A. Olmstead Scientific
Company. who rushed through the sixth
floor notifying his employees Of their
peril, and was seen to go toward the
rear of the building; G. H. Arms, sec
retary of w. A. Olmstead ScientificCo,,
was in the building when the fire start
ed, and has not been seen since; Mrs.
NJ. L. IldIItS, MluONs 6Il4plOyGQ do DOOh-
keeper for w. A, Olmstead Scientific
Company, was not seen by other EN-
ployees as they rushed to safety; un-
known woman seen at window on sixth
floor; G. F. Anderson, employed by
Sweet Wallach & Co.; Tony, last name
unknown office boy OF Sweet, Wallach
& Co., jumped from siXth-story in the
rear, and fell into the ruins, it is
Thought; Fred Hamill, vaudeville sing
or, employed by National Music Com
pany; c. A. Price, cashier for w. A.
Olmstead; S. Grillman, Jr., western agt.
for Henry Hoffman of Columbus, o.,
had rooms with Sweet, Wallach & Co.;
Solomon Grillman, ST.; Anna Guest,
cashier for National Music Company; H.
r. Nelson. worked for w. A. Olmstead
Scientific Company, seen with Samuel A.
Clark, who was killed; William Marvin,
shipping clerk for Presbyterian board of
publication; William Boss, errand boy
for Presbyterian board of publication;
w. J. Wilcox, partner of w. A. Ohm
stead was in building on sixth floor
when fire started.
Among the serevely injured are: Paul
C. Snyderm, employed by Sweet Wal
ZACH & CO., severely burned about head
and body, may die; Emil Bresserman,
dropped from third floor to street, hip
broken and spine injured may die; A.
Mccullough, salesman for Alfred Peats,
jumped from third floor, right hip and
shoulder broken, and internal injuries,
may die; Mary LaPere, burned about
face and head while climbing down fire
escape, may die; Hugh Elliott, manager
Presbyterian board of publications,
hands and face burned, not serious.
Three men are known to be dead.
They are: Samuel A. Clark, bookkeeper,
for the Olmstead Scientific Company;
Miles A. Smith, salesman for the Ohm
stead Scientific Company; Edward Binz,
cashier for Sweet, Wallach Il Company
The building was six stories high, and
had a frontage of SO feet on Wabash
avenue and extended back 100 feet to
an alley. 1t was Of what is known as
mill construction, had two elevator
shafts, one in front, and one in the rear
and reaching from the third story to the
roof, was a light shaft, which gave the
flames every chance, and it was because
of this shaft that the fire spread with
such awful rapidly The building was
occupied by several concerns, some Of
them having many employees. 1t is es-
timated that 400 persons were at work
in the building when the fire was dis
covered.
The origin Of the fire is unknown BY
some it is said to have been caused by
an explosion in the wall paper ware
rooms of Alfred 7Peate, on the third
floor, and by Others to have been the
result of an explosion among some pho
tograpnic chemicalssfn the photographic
supply house of Sweet, Wallach & CO.
on the sixth door. Employees of both
concerns deny that there was any ex-
plosions in their vicinity
The weight of evidence seems to be-
however, that the explosion was in the
lower part Of the building, for the flames
shot up the light shaft at once. The
sound, Off ! he explosion threw the in
mates of the building into a panic, and
on several floors wild stampede for the
stairWays and elevators began. To add
to9the panic the men in charge of the
elevators ran their cars up to the top of
the building, shouting Fire. at every
foot When they reached the top both
- elevators took on a load of frightened
y, women and started for the bottom The
"a front elevator was in charge of Harry
F6ileason, a boy, and that in the rear was
handled by William ST. John a young
man. Both of these kept their heads,
showed much GOODNESS and bravery. and
We're instrumental in saving many lives.
The elevator in the front Of the build
ing was in good order, but not calculat-
ed to produce much speed in such an
emergency as confronted it today. Glea-
4. son made one trip to the sixth floor
carried down a load of women, and al
though the smoke was rolling through
the building in dense clouds he started
up again. At the fourth floor he stopped
TO take on a crowd of girls from the
rooms of the National Music Company.
A man attempted to force his way into
the elevator, but Gleason showed him
back into the hall that the women might
have the first chance. The man never
came out.
After reaching the bottom with his
load of girls, Gleason was about to start
up again when the supports of the ele-
vator machinery at the top of the shaft