Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23
FIRE IN SKYSCRAPER
Blaze in Masonic Temple in
Chicago.
THE TENANTS EXCITED
TWO THOUSAND TENANTS IN THE
BUILDING.
One Man Overcome by Gas and Num-
Der of Others In
jured.
THE TENANTS EXCITED

CHICAGO. January 23.-Fire broke out
this afternoon in the Masonic Temple,
twenty-story skyseraper, one square east
of the Iroquois Theater. Owing to the fact
that upward Of two thousand people oc-
cupy the offices and stores in the giant
structure the fire caused much excitement
The series of elevators surrounding the
rotunda in the center of the building con-
tinued to run while the smoke and flames
issued from the windows In the fourth
story where the fire originated. The people
were removed from the upper floors as
rapidly as possible
Great crowds of spectators quickly sur
rounded the temple, being drawn from the
fashionable shopping district Of State street
and adjoining thoroughfares. The sight of
the majestic structure through the clouds
of smoke and fame was one long to be re-
membered.
Shortly after the arrival of the engines
a ladder was raised at the southwest cor
ner of the building, and fireman assembled
to the fifth floor, where the fire was burn
ing. AS he broke the window a. cheer went
up from the crowd in the street, which
was repeated when the fireman entered the
window and dragged a lead of hose after
him.
crowds in the street saw man clad
in a heavy overcoat step out on the fire
escape of the fourteenth floor and begin
to descend
Panic Averted.
Within the building the elevator men, by
running their machines without ceasing
sought to still the panic of hundreds who
were seeking to escape.
From the top floor down the carriers were
jammed with passengers and number or
women tainted in the cars. The men for
the most part retained their senses me
elevator men stuck to their work like he
roes and continued to run their lifts until
it was said that every person was out OF
the building.
The flames appeared first in the suite Of
R. Friedlander & Co, manufacturers OF
X-ray apparatus, on the fifth floor
The explosion which was the cause OF the
fire occurred in $4,000 worth of vacuum
tubes which were stored in the suite. Smoke
poured out of the rooms. which occupied the
entire southwest corner of the skyscraper
facing Randolph street, directly across the
street from Marshall Field & Co.'S huge re-
tail store.
With almost incredible SwftneSs every
floor of the Temple above the fifth was filled
with dense smoke. while the floors below
were deluged with water
Armed with axes and picks the fremen
broke doors and windows. In the rotunda,
at the bottom of the elevator well, persons
leaving the elevators after descending in
hair-breadth time from the upper stories,
were obliged to dodge heavy beams and
fragments of stone and plaster falling in
the rotunda from the fifth floor, and break
ing jagged holes in the costly mosaic pave
ment.
Thousands of people on the streets watch
ing the fire were thrown into panic by an
explosion which threw a quantity of the
acid through the windows, sending smart
ing fluid raining on the crowds below In
the rush for safety an old man was thrown
down an areaway, being picked up uncon-
Scious~
The fire was out within an hour A num-
Der of persons were injured as result of
the fire. r. Friedlander, in whose suite
the fire originated, " as found unconscious
on the floor. He was overcome by smoke
and chemical fumes. Twelve girls in his
employ made their escape at the first alarm.
List Of Injured.
The injured were as follows:
Julius Ernst, Stock clerk for Friedlander,
hands and face burned.
Jack Stack stock boy for Friedlander,
slightly burned.
Henry Buell., stock boy for Friedlander
slightly burned.
Walter Davney, 1aborer, injured by
broken glass and burned about the face.
Walter S. Parker. advertising solicitor,
face burned.
W. c. Preston.
John Sullivan.
j. B. Sullivan.
John Long.
T. Leonard.
George Mullet.
Fred Lynch.
John Stearns.
Louis Tremaine.