Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-01-28
FIRE IN CHICAGO
MASONIC TEMPLE
A Scene of Wild Excitement In the
Big Skyscraper.
WAS PUT OUT WITHIN AN HOUR
Fifteen Persons More or Less Seri.
Ously Hurt by the Initial Ex-
pIosion or by Contact With
Falling Debris.

Chicago, Jan. 24.-Fire broke out,
Saturday afternoon in the Masonic
temple, a 2O-story skyscraper, n
square east of the I1oquois theater.
Owing to the fact that upwards OF q
900 people occupy the offices and stores
in the giant structure, the fire caused
much excitement.
Summoned by Automatic Alarm.
Firemen were summoned by IN
alarm automatically sent in from the
rooms in which the fire Logan. The
tiremen quickly made connections with
the stationary standpipe III the build
ing. Immediately, tons Of water aood-
ed the floors where the smoke and
blaze was thickest.
Occupants of the building warned by
the suffocating clouds of smoke that
rose through the many stored rotunda
and penetrated every corridor lost no
time in making efforts for safe exit.
Guards we're stationed at each Gleva-
tor landing on every floor and the
panic stricken people were hurried
from the building.
The origin Of the fire was in an
explosion of chemicals in a doctors
Office on the fifth floor. The explosion
was a sufficient notice of danger to the
occupants of the floors Immediately
above and below, but was unheard by
hundreds of other persons in the vast
structure who received their warning
when suddenly confronted with walls
of dense smoke.
Flames followed the explosion and
quickly spread to the floors above.
Men and women rushed wildly for the
stairs and elevators. So rapidly did
the immense skyscraper fill with
smoke that the firemen found it al
most impossible to work within the
walls.
Fire Ragged on Three Floors.
In a short time the fire was raging
on three floors containing many chem
ical establishments and doctors Of
fees. Further explosions were mo-
mentarily feared. AS at the Iroquois
catastrophe, Fire Marshal Musham
was soon personally ON hand, and he
quickly warned his men of the CAN
ger.
From the top floor down the carriers
were jammed with passengers and a
number Of women tainted in the cars.
The men for the most part retained
their senses The elevator men stuck
to their work like heroes and contin-
ued to run their lifts until it was said
that every person was out Of the build
ing.
wreck of X-Ray Apparatus.
The flames appeared first in the
suite of R. Friedlander & Co., manu-
facturers of X-ray apparatus, on the
fifth floor. The explosion which was
the cause of the fire occurred in $10,-
900 worth of vacuum tubes which were
stored in the suite. Smoke poured out
tire southwest corner of the skyscraper
facing Randolph street, directly
across the street from Marshall Field
& Co.'s huge retail store.
Dodging the Debris
Armed with axes and picks, the fire.
men broke doors and windows. In the
rotunda, at the bottom of the elevator
well, persons leaving the elevators
after descending in h~airbreadth time
from the upper stories, were obliged
to dodge heavy beams and fragments
of stone and plaster falling in the ro-
tunda from the fifth floor and break
ing jagged holes in the costly mosaic
pavement.
Out Within AN Hour.
The fire was out within an hour. A
number of persons were injured as a
result of the fire. R. Friedlander, in
whose suite the fire originated, wa
found unconscious on the floor. l1s
was overcome by smoke and chemical
fumes. Twelve girls in his employ
made their escape at the first alarm.
The injured were as follows:
julius Ernest, stock clerk for Fried
lander; hands and face burned.
John Stack, stock boy for Fried
lander; slightly burned.
Henry Buell., stock boy for Fried
lander; slightly burned.
Walter Davney, laborer; injured by
brokekn glass, and burned about face
Walter S. Parker, advertising solicit
or; face burned.
w. G. Preston.
John Sullivan.