Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-02-12
AWFUL HOLOCAUST.
Six Brave Firemen Killed in
Falling Ruins.
Dead Chief Most Famous Boston
Eireman.--A Life ofPeril.

INK ruined and the stock II total loss, the
entire property damage amounting to
S6OO00. This tells briefly the most
tragic story recorded in the annals
of the fire department since the great con-
i,usru ion Of lS7!. With single exception
there has been no loss of life approaching
this tragedy. numerically, for over Il quarter
of IA century. This was ut the Thanksgiving
day fire OF ,S0. when Ave ilremen We're buried
in falling walls and killed. The men killed
/ in the lire which has Just taken place were
/ District Chiri John Il. Egan, Capt. James IL.
Victory Lieut.. George j .GottwaId and Hose
ueI John j. Muhern. Patrick IL. Dis
/ ken and ". }. Wech Of Engine 1899. The
injured men are Lieutenant John J. Me-
/ turny Of Protective Capt. Joseph VI. Gar
rity and lloScmen Thomas J.. tUnroy, Ed
ward A. SHEA and Philip J. Doh"rty OF En-
gnc T.
The building in which the fire occurred was
built and USED first for church. 1t was UNI
officially ut least condemned Is years ago rs
unsafe, and has been rs known an unsafe
+ huilding ever since. Various industries nave
4 be n prosecuted in 1t, : first use after Its
abandonment us Il church being for II ma
chine shop Firrmrn are not backward in
saying now what they have always sai. that
it has not been property inspected. Alter
former fires, damaged limbers have been
sheathed over, not replaced, and other de-
tails of faulty construction nr, also cited
| condemned, but there was not sufficient lire at
this last time 10 weaken to the danger point
! Il builiin, which WAS in proper condition.
| The timbers impri~oning ana rrI> hing the
| dead and dying ircmnn wrr" not burned OF
I but had fallen H. a result of structural weak.
ness in the building.
The iir" broke out about four o'clock IN
the morning and owing to the terrible con-
diion OF the streets tn" result of the recent
| storm. apparatus was slow III responding
The t.e apparently started in tn" rear Of the
fourth iioOr. whirh is used for the mnnunc-
I turr of mature ses. cushions, ETC., and was
filled with Il most in!lAmmahlc stock OF
goods. II was tn, work Of an instant for
| the lanes to reucl, this noJr, and when
the department arrived. the entire nr
Of these two floors WAS Il seethinS mass OF
flames, but on the front only small. curling
columns of smoke from the windows were
visible Lines of hose were quickly carri II
up the front stairway, and while ladders
were being raised, without the slightest
warning tn" flames burst from the rear and
westerly end windows If the building, ilu-
mnatng the entire surroundings, ana II
second alarm was AZ one" rilnG IN.
This sounded ut Alb followed three
minutes later by IL third a'arm. For an hour
and Il quarter the fire ra,rl with undated
fury in the two upper stories, when ut D. 10
o'clock there came u drhieninS crash, loi-
Lowell by II sheet Of flame and smoke from
the lower stories of the building which drove
everybody from the front. The lifth
floor loaded down with its immense
stock of cD.ton. excelsior aud 81 III material
that had absorbed the water poured in,
was unable to stand the tremendous strain
and had given way. carrying everything
before it, clear to the $ rect below. with tn
exception of the extreme front Of the build-
ing This was the time when the lircmell
!, who were killed and injrlrd were carried
n
time Lieut. Meta thy of Protective |. whc
was On the on size of the building. was
|, struck bv IL mass Of falling brick, and so
severely njured that he had to be carried
away. From this time on the streams tina,
the ilremcn had been pouring into the build
, ing began to show their effect. with the eX.
| ceptiou Of the roof. which was burning with
undated fury. 1t was nearly q o'clock be
fore the ilrcmen, weakened by the heavy
, drafts which hal been made on their mum
, barS, To r"SrIe their inj urcd companions
! had the fire under control. and it was hour.
afterward before the last vcstiges OF thu
flames hal been eXtnguishod.
} Firemen worked heroically for their miss
ing comrades till II. m, surprising tina
only thu fou, they had rescued alive were IL
the ruins Then came the news that sever
Others were missing and Il steyrdOre with al
t his force and paraphernalia was sent for
{ Huge tackles pulled out in minutes hug
I timberS which llremen would work hour
: with saws and axes to remove, and all thi
was carried on with timbers and debri
, still falling and with the totterin'
Il walls threatening at every moment t.
: crush the life from score, OF workers
. Willing hands dug through the mas
u of debris and ut 10 o'clock the body O
:, Captain Victory was discovered beneath
n mass of excelsior. 1t was but the work OF
% few minutes to wrap the body in blanket
i. and place it ON n stretcher. Father Finne
y gan Of st. Mary's church ut the North en-
saw that Captain Victory was still alive, an
he whi- pered few words to the dying fire
man. Captain Victory moved his hea
!. slightly, but he was too far gone to under
4 stand what WAS said to him. The body wa
placed in the police ambulance and wa
hurried away to the Massachusetts Gener'
g hospital, but the brave fellow die
Il before the institution was reache,
No sooner had the ambulance con
tanning Captain Victory departed than an
other body was taken out, and eVeryD0u
e recognized the familiar features OF Dl7trl"
Chief Egan. The face of the brave ant
. daring chief was covered with sears. but II
u was -tiil breathing. The brave fireman, who's
& hairbrcadth ESCAPES have been the fre,l'i
theme ofthe citizens Of Boston for many year,
was bleeding from several WOUNDS unou
: the head and was in limp and unconsclou
condition. His mouth was stuffed Will
feathers which had been strcwn around. ;
IS roof had not crushed HINT would have be
"A miraclr If he had escaped snttocatlon. l n
body was found in II sitting position. ii
hands were drawn up In front OF MS chrs
Z as if he had been lighting off the smothcrin
wet feathers until the las. moment y
he was lifted by three iiremrh ana
poIi.emun i, secme,, to them that the
~ saw Sims of consciousness in his ia"'
$, His eyes were partly open. From II
70 lips, which were cut small sir'a
~ OF blood was flowing His face WI
u, =, swollen and the jaws set. look OF intena
~ agony was on his features. showing me aW
4, full fight he had made for his life under u
increasing weight of the wet mass aro'ii
him. White the attempt was being made
reach him he could br heard cheering u
- searrhers ON. Chief Egans daughter an
. son were among the crowd OF special"
~ when their beloved fathers body was tak'
x ont Taken to the outer air 1t was seen ~
z his life wa, fast cbbiug away. AID Xix" II
! brave coadjutor he died before reaching I:
2 hospital Miss Egan cried hys.ericaiy
+ she witnessed the ilrcmen placing her la.h
x in the ambulance, and she was led iWi
: from the scene sy her brother. The boui
Q of John ]. Mulhern and Patrick DlsK'
2 were roth found Mt the same TIM
u and both men were dead. But u
= rescurrs did not take any chances, but
= quickly as possible their bodies were r
J moved to the hospital. There were ST
2 two men unarcountcd for, Lieut.. HoltWa
Z and w. J. WEIGH. The rescue WORK W
x continued without "A let-up OF any Kind ~
Z the flrcmen worked valiantly to secure Z
! bodies from beneath the ruins. l
- search was rewarded at ll3O, but both IN
- were dead. A.,
All the men were brave some OF th'
10 notably so, but none had the dainSrerki'
NJ ness OF Chief Egan. His life was u 10
. record of peril and accident and hospi
: experience. No building was so high or
Unsafe and no fire wis So hot or smoke
re dense as to appaIi him, Tine question
exit did not concern him. His business "
LIE to put ont the lire aud 80 many and 50 MARI
had been his escapes albeit burned II
~ bruispl and broken of limb-that he "