New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-02-06
CIV BOSTON FIREMEN DIE.
cp,-s11rD UNDER FALLING ROOF
FLOORS AND COTTON.
ROOF.

,rr ALMOST UNDER CONTROL WHEN THE
WATER GAVE OUT AND THE cATAs
7RoPHE OCCURRED.
~ roh six fremcn including a dis
.-,c. chief captain and lieutenant, were
,ures this morning at a fire which burned out
~ ;r,erior Of a fve-story building in Merrimac-
:. occunied by c. W. Bent & Co. manufacture
ors Of beds and bedding. The dead are
rrsKEN Patrick H. hoeemsn.
EcAN John +. district chie'
cOTWAID. Ge( rye J.. Lieutenant. engine 80
vf-LHERN. John J., fireman
Victory James. captain. engines IS and 80
WALSH. W. j.. hosenan
Four other hremen were buried In the ruins,
hut they escaped with more or less serious in
iuries Their names are
CONWAY. Thomas Z. hoseman
DoHERTY. T J.. hoseman.
cARRITY Joseph NJ. captain engine :.
SHEA Edward. hoseman.
The fire is supposed to have started In the
rear Of the building and nearly under con-
troll when the water supply gave out. The men
n Engine No. were on the fourth floor. hay
ting entered by a window, while those of No. IS
and No So which is a double company, were
m the second floor. Suddenly a rear section
OF the roof collapsed, carrying down the floors
wrcckage
! hasty canvass OF the fremep showed that
ten were missing The crash Of falling floors
sent I'D O shower Of sparks and the flames broke
forth with renewed force. The entire efforts
81 the fremen were directed toward the wreck
age under which the men had been caught.
The progress Of the flames was checked there.
bat il was more than hour and a half after
the accident occurred before the work of re-
moving the debris could be begun.
The fret men reached were four belonging
10 Engine No. captain Clarity and Conway
Doheriy and Shea. hosemen. Conway had been
in sight of the rescuing party for some time
He was pinned under some timbers which held
his legs IN such way that the timbers had TO
be sawed before he could be released Doherty
was apparently the worst injured Of the lot
His left leg utterly useless.
L. was lust 1000 O'Clock. ore than six hours
after the fire started. when the cry came from
inside the building. we have got them Slowly
the bodies were brought ont AS Captain Vic
tory and Chief Egan were lifted there were
soue signs Of life. A shout Went up when it
was reported that both were breathing. Egan
was found beneath a mass Of bedding ana
feathers. Egan died on the way TO the hospital
and Victory about ten minutes after reaching
there The -four men remaining under the debris
were found q few minutes later. all dead.
The fire broke out just before 1 o'clock. For
an hour and a quarter the hremen kept up their
battle with it, and Just as they seemed about 10
succeed in controlling the flames there came
deafening crash. followed by a sheet Of flame
and smoke from the lower stories Of the build
ing A part of the roof had fallen in on the
fifth floor. which. loaded down with cotton. OK
celsi0r and such material that had absorbed the
water poured into il. save way. carrying every
thns with it except the front of the building.
This was the time when the fremen who were
killed and injured went down.
The contents Of the building. valued at $4,000
are a total loss. The damage 10 the building
itself will bring the loss UP to $1,000 The
Evangelical Baptist Beney olent and Missionary
Society and the fremont Temple Association
the structure.
Captain Victory leaves a widow and three
children. DSken. a widow and five children. and
Lieutenant Gotwald a widow and five children.
Chief Egan leaves a son and daughter. Walsh
was tventy-csht years old. and lived with his
mother Mulhern was a single man twenty
eight years Old.