The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-17
DEATH LIST is IN DOUBT
EXACT NUMBER OF VICTIMS AT
CHICAGO UNKNOWN
In Twenty Minutes Six-StOry
Structure Was Reduced to Ruins
Thirty People Injured and
The Victims Cut or From Escape
Jumped to Death From the Win
dOvs of the Blazing Building.

Jumped to Death From the Win
dOws of the Blazing Building.
CHICAGO. March 16-It required
just twenty minutes this afternoon for
one of the most savage fires Chicago
has seen since the famous cold storage
warehouse fire on the worlds fair
ground in 1898 to take anywhere from
five to fifteen lives, MAIN thirty peo-
pie and reduce a six-story brick builo-
Ing to a pile of blazing timber, red
hot bricks and twisted iron.
The number of dead is still in doubt
and probably will not be definitely
known until the debris of the building
is sufficiently cooled to admit of a
search being made for the bodies of
those who are undoubtedly in the
ruins. This will be two days hence at
least. 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 A. BINZ. cashier for Sweet.
Wallach & Co.
Many Missing.
Those reported missing and who had
not returned home or communicated
with their friends tonight and whose
bodies are believed to be in the ruins,
are the following:
w. A. Olmsted. president of the f. A.
Olmsted Scientific company rushed
through the sixth floor notifying his en-
employees of their peril; seen to go to-
wards the OF the building, and was
not seen to leave.
c. II. Arms, secretary of w. A. Olmsted
Scientific company, was in the building
when the fire started and has not been
seen since.
Mrs NJ E. Harris. widow, forty-two years,
employed as bookkeeper for W. A. Ohm
sted company, believed to have been
overcome by smoke and burned to death;
not seen by the other employees as they
rushed to safety.
Unknown woman. at a window IN
the sixth floor shortly after Miles Smith
leaped to his death; was not seen after
ward: thought to have been buried in the
ruins.
c. T. Anderson. employed by Sweet. Wal
ZACH q Co.; not seen to leave the build
ing after the fire started; thought to have
been suffocated.
W. r. Nelson. employee of Olmsted & Co..
reported missing by his wife to police
tonight.
William A. Marvin. last seen cropping his
way through smoke and flames on the
fifth floor.
Tony Qast name unknown). office boy for
Sweet Wallach & Co., jumped from sikh
floor in the rear fell into the ruins it Is
thought.
Fred Hamill. vaudeville singer. employed by
National Music company; not seen since
c. A. Prince. cashier for w. A. Olmsted
Scientific company thought to have been
suffocated.
Solomon Grollman Jr.. Western agent for
rooms with Sweet Wallach & Co.; thought
to have been overcome by smoke and
burned to death.
Solomon Grollman Sr.. with Solomon Groll-
thought
fate.
Anna Guest. cashier for the National Mu-
sic company: thought to have been over
come by smoke while trying to escape
from the burning building.
H. r. Nelson. worked for w. A. Olmsted
Scientific company; seen with Samuel A.
Clark. who was killed, and thought to
have burned to death.
William Marvin. shipping clerk for Presby-
terrain Board of Publication: not at home
and thought to have lost his life.
William Ross. errand boy for Presbyterian
Board of Publications: thought to have
persisted.
w. J. Wilcox partner of w. A. olmsted.
was in the building. on the sixth floor,
when the fire started; thought to have
gone down in the ruins.
The Injured
Paul c. Snyder, severely burned about
head and body. taken home; may die;
Emil Bresserman.. dropped from the third
jured, may die; A. E. Mccullough. right
hip and shoulder broken and internal in
juries, may die; Mary Lapere. burned about
hands and face burned. not serious Her
man B. Overman fell from fire escape.
badly b. bruised: H. B. cunningham head
waiter. right leg broken. Prof. Hansl!ne.
face and hands burned. E. A. Wise, legs
and hands severely burned. Philip Farley,
T Ttent Tnd broken N Jumping Mfn from
about face and shoulder. Josie Baxa. right
ankle broken in jumping from second
story window. Annie Baxa, jumped. with
her sister from second floor, severely burn
ed David Schaefer, arm broken. A ].
Nystrom, face. hands and legs burned.
Fred Smyth, face and neck cut and head
bruised. Jacob Kerchin, jumped from sec
ond story, back injured and ankle sprained.
John McDermott. jumped from second floor
and dislocated his left shoulder. James w.
Kate Carney. face and head burned in
descending from the fourth floor. Edward
neck.
Rapid Spread.
The building had a frontage Of So
feet on Wabash avenue and extended
back 160 feet to an alley. 1t was of
what Is known as mill construction.
had two elevator shafts, one in front
and one in rear, and reaching from the
third story to the roof was light shaft
which gave the flames every chance,
and it was because Of this shaft that
the fire spread with such awful rapid
ity.
The building was occupied by a num-
Der of concerns, some of them employ
ing large numbers Of people. 1t is esti-
mated that 400 persons were at work
in the building when the fire was dis
covered.
The origin of the fire is in dispute.
By some it is said to have been caus-
ed by an explosion of collodion in the
wall paper warerooms of Alfred PETIT,
on the third floor, and by others to
have been the result Of an explosion
among some Photographic chemicals In
the photographers supply house of
Sweet, Wallach e Co., on the sixth
floor. Employees Of both concerns deny
that there was any explosion 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. There was no eating down.
Stampede for Safety.
The sound of the explosion threw the
inmates Of the building into a panic
and on several floors a wild stamnede