Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-03-17

suit Of an explosion among some photo
ply house OF Sweet. Wallach & Co., on the
sixth floor. Employees of both concerns
vicinity. The weight of evidence seems to
be- however that the explosion was in the
lower part of the building. for the itames
shot up the light shaft at once. There
was no eating down.
The sound of the explosion threw the
inmates of the building into Il panic. and
on several floors wild stampede began
for the stairways and elevators. To add
to the panic, the men in charge of the
elevators ran the cars up to the top of
the building. shouting fire at every
floor: When they reached the top both
and G
front elevator was in charge of Harry
Gleason. S5 a boy; and the rear one was
man. Both of these kept their heads;
showed much GOODNESS and bravery, and
were instrumental in saving many lives.
was deliberate affair,,in good order. but
not calculated to make much speed in
such an emergency as confronted it to-
enth floor. carried down q load of women
and. and although the smoke was rolling
shrpnsh the building in hs CLOUDS he
stopped to take on a crowd of girls from
tho rooms of the National Music Com
pany. being assisted in his work by, Miss
attempted to force his way into the ele-
Vator, but Gleason showed him back into
,;n tne haii. that the the women might have the
nrst chance. The man never came out.
After reaching the bottom of the shaft
with his load of girls Gleason was about
elevator machinery at the top of the shaft
give way before his slow elevator could
make another trip, Gleason gave it up.
AT the rear, St. John did equally good
work, but was not not able to make more
.nan one trip. as the fire swept through
no hIIfl n Nfyty haf
the front
In less than ten minutes after the explo-
inmates by the stairs and elevators was
cut OIL There remained only the windows
ana the single fire escape. a narrow iron
This was quickly covered with a string
OF people, some on one side, some on the
otner AS they scrambled down in frantic
haste they trpd upon one anOther's fingers
bumped into one another, and progress was
slow and difficult for them all.
fire escan El 'nose sd Who be could not reach the
windows, and it was out of these that
Clark. Smith and Binz hurled themselves
Clark was bookkeeper for the Olmstead
SCIENTIFIC Company, on the sixth floor. and
| remained to put the books in the safe. He
first alarm. He was first seen at one of
! the seventh story windows, and a few min
utes after showed himself in a window on
| hlm, the floors and walls behind him We're
crashing down. and it was certain death
nosrihi,si TO remaln where ere he was There was nc, no
chance. Three minutes later he was dead
on the Pavement below. ~
stead Scientific Company, also leaped from
a window in the sixth floor. He hesitated
sometime before taking the leap, but, like
Clark, understood that it was his only
being horribly mangled;;
| Edward Binz. the cashier Of Sweet. Wal
l. n a r..
| tim to his desire to save others. and to
| protect his books from harm. He, upon
| store store to warn the employees to run for their
lives He then rushed back to his desk.
gathered d re-, uD his books and jammed them
into the vault. Then he started for the
stairway, but the flames Were ahead of
him and he turned back: There was moth
He clambered upon the sill and stood there
| in view of the crowd below. lCark and
| smith had already bedaubed the pavement
there was no more chance for BinZ than
for them. They watched him in silent hor
ror @ as ne ne, stood s, deliberating The building
face and hands were badly burned before
he jumped. He pondered the matter but
few seconds: then his form shot down.
ward through cloud of flames and smoke,
and. in the drawing of breath; he was as
n1eieSs as the stones over which his blood
and brains were Spattered.
One fireman distinguished himself by
daring rescue. He was up on a ladder close
| to the building when he heard a cry ring
| ing out above the roar of the flames. He
steadied himself upon the ladder and peer
ed into the dense smoke. Just then a gust
OF wind cleared the scene. The fireman
saw man in window of the fifth story
| carrying an. inanimate FORM That the res
| cuer was about to throw the unconscious
human being into the street in the vain
hope of saving the man from a death by
roasting was evident The fire was roar
| ing 50 that no voice could be heard. Put
| ting up his hands as signal to wait until
he got ready. the fireman braced himself
upon the ladder and then waved his Srms
for the rescuer to drop the unconscious
man to him. With shock that nearly
Knocked the heroic fireman from his po-
man struck the fire fighter. But it did not
get away from him. He held the uncon-
scious man through all the swaying and
swinging of the ladder Hastily descend
ing, the fireman turned his unconscious
burden over to the police, and returned to
his post The man who had saved the un-
had a chance to escape had he been brave
enough to dash through the smoke and
flames. but if he did not Immediately fol-
low low the the fireman % who bore away the man
cnarred remains will be found In the ruins
when the search for the dead is made.
NstidheT Nhadherine n Carney, the forewoman of the
thought to have been burned to DEATH left
the , building by means of the fire escape.
e,rI. III DID ia. all could she said. ito get the
girls INTO the elevator, and then when
l started to get in myself there was no
room for me. 1 did not think there was
] such great danger at the time but in a
| few minutes after the elevator had gone
| down, l saw the flames were spreading so
| rapidly that l must run for my life I
| Just hurried to a window which was near
| the fire escape. climbed through it and
came down to the ground. man at
the tn bottom OF the escape was holding a
| others to get out. 1 had not a minute to
| spare as the flames burned my face and
hair when 1 left the building, and it was
SO hot that the rungs on the fire escape
| scorched my hands. All my girls GOT
| away alive, although one or two are
| bruised up a little
The scene upon the downtown streets
| r1Valed anything seen at fire in Chicago
| for years The great flames which shot
| from the center OF the burning structure
| rose to such height in the air that they
could be observed three blocks in either
| direction down Wabash avenue. Black vol
umes of smoke rolled upward and spread
| over the surrounding streets. alarming the
| crowds. Business and shopping affairs of
| every description were abandoned immedi-
ately and the vast throngs made a rush
| for the scene.
| George Fenters. property man at the
Great Northern theater. and H. D. Cullen
| saved several lives. Fenters was passing
| through the alley in the rear of the build
| Ing when he saw flames bursting from the
roof. He rushed to the fire alarm box at
| Jackson street and Wabash avenue and
| turned in an alarm. He met Cullen run
| ming down the street with a blanket and
| followed him. The men stood in front of
| the burning building and held the blanket
| extended. shouting to several girls on the