The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1902-10-25
TRAPPED :! BY FIRE
THIRTY LIVES PROBABLY LOST
In CHICAGO.
Burning of Sugar Factory-Vic.
TINS Were at Work on Seventh
Floor-Some Jumped and
- Net Death-One Man
Rushing Through
Flames Escapes.

l. 4oLAOo IoSapSSe
i Chicago, Oct. 21.-Five men ar
known to have lost their lives in
! fire which tonight partly destroyed
the plant of the Chicago branch O
1.-The Glucose Sugar Refining Com
pany, situated at Taylor street ano
the Chicago River. and the list O
dead will certainly be much greater
than five, and may reach as higI
as 80. The estimates run all the
way from that number down to To-
/ Only one of the five men whose
bodies have been recovered has beer
identified.
The fire broke out with an ex.
! plosion in the drying house, which
is seven stories in height, and stands
close to the main building of the
/ plant, which is IA stories high. A
third structure is four stories high.
The two smaller buildings were de-
stroyed and the larger building was
badly damaged. The fire spread
after the explosion with such rapid
ity that it was impossible for the
men in the upper stories of the
drying house to make their escape,
and it is the number of men believ-
ed to have been at work on the sev.
enth floor that causes the uncer
|tainty in the list of dead. Some of
the employees who made their es-
cape say that there were 20 or 30,
and others say that there were not
any more that 10 at work when the
fire broke out. Whatever the num-
Der, all are dead. Fourmen leaped
from the upper floors, and all met
death. One person, an electrician,
who is known to have entered the
building, and was there at the time
of the fire is in the list of the dead
He is supposed to be dead for the
reason that all the fremen and la
borers about the burned building
say that no man made his escape
from the upper floors.
The flames spread with almost
incredible rapidity, and by the time
the first of the fire department had
arrived, the building was ablaze
from foundation to roof. It was
impossible for the fremen to make
any effective fight against the
flames, and in a short time all the
walls were down aud the building,
within half an hour from the time
of the explosion, was mass of de-
bris. The@fre was SO hot that at
one time it was feared the Taylor
street viaduct, across which access
is had to the south sede of the city,
would be destroyed, but the fire.
men managed to save this after a
hard struggle.
The men employed in the three
lower floors of the drying house ran
fer the doors and windows as soon
as they had knowledge of the fire,
and all Of them succeeded in reach
/ ing the open air. On the third floor
one man was at work. He was cut
off from the fire escape by dense
smoke, that poured through the
building. and was compelled to
make run for his life down the
stairs. He burst through mass
of flames when he reached the low
er doorway, and was badly scorch-
ed. Two minutes later it would have
been utterly impossible for him to
make his escape.
The men on the seventh floor had
no chance whatever for their lives.
Several of them left the window and
crawled along the sills in an effort
to reach place of safety, but with
the exception Of two men all those
who attempted to reach safety in
this way made up their minds that
it was certain death, and went back
into the burning building. The
two men, however, remained to take
their chance of leap, and, climb
ing upon the window ledge, they
sprang out into the air. One of
them came straight down the great
er part of the way, but just as he
was within a short distance of the
pavement his body swung around,
and he struck the stone wall at full
length. The other man turned ov-
er and over as he came whirling
down. The bodies were horribly
mangled, and it was impossible for
any Of the men who saw them di-
rectly after their jump to identify
them in any way.
-Four other men jumped from the
windows on the fourth floor. These
men were terribly injured, and we're
taken in police ambulances to the