The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-04

wind was blowing toward the west and
carried with 1t great sparks from the
burning building: Chief Swing.ey saw tie
score Of % his men e out sp'tf to the A Vicinity in
| which they fell to prevent damage from
6ag them ;l HIS men reported to the mex, i 4
been eNtinguished by them in time to pre-
| vent serious damage.
OF the more recent disastrous fires. that
which started In the Penny &. Gentles
| ty-nine firms and destroyed buildings frurn
tn Id to Sixth streets and Franklin to
Morgan streets. is well remembered. 1t
| Is known as the Broadway fire.
1t was On Sunday morning at II o'clock
when the fire broke out. The sharp clang
OF The gongs on the fire engines. hose
eled with the tones of the church bells.
as the apparatus dashed down the streets
from all directions. Every fireman in the
city was put to work on the fire.
After the flames had started to lick up
everything in their path ow ng to a stiff
breeze blowing from the west. several
men were sent into the Derr Bros.'s Dol
lar store with line of hose Assistant
Chief August Thiery was in the lead. With
hin, We're Charles Menus. John Judge and
John karb of the Elevens and Joseph
Schieger of No. 1s engine company.
DANGERS FROM FALLING WALLS
The men had been in the building but
few minutes when crash came and they
Swingley led the relief corps. All were
rescued alive but Mebus. who was crushed
to death under huge iron column.
Up to his knees in water and with tot
tering walls all around him. the Reverend
Father Tracy of Holy Name Church
pushed his way to the side of the rescunrs
and adm ntstered extreme unction to Me-
BUS. who was gasping his last when the
frpmpn
the same last rites of the Cathnic Church.
lust Just two years later-on February
1902. Assistant Chief Thiery and six men.
some of them the same as those who fol-
lowed him into the Broadway fire, lost
their lives in the Tent and Awning Com
pany's fire at Nos. 3l2-314 Chestnut street
Thls fire started In the evening about
o'clock.
The flames were nearly extinguished
when ASSISTANT Chief Thiery. reported TO
Chief swingley- that two of their men
had been cut off from escape by a falling
wall In the rear of the building.
CHIEF THIERY'S DEATH
I'll go to their aid" he shouted loud
enough to be heard above the putting of
the engines. Six men followed him as he
dashed I'D the front stairway. Chief
Swingley remained In the street to direct
the placing of ladders and rescue work on
the outsi-e.
Thiery and his men were barely in the
building when came second crash. They
were buried under tons of br.ck. mortar
and iron. Their groans could be heard
beneath of piles of debris. Hundreds of
willing hands want to work Immediately
under the direction of Chief Swingley and
Mayor Wells. who was soon on the scene.
1t was o'clock in the morning when the
first body was taken out. The others were
not recovered until after noon that day.
None lived long under the crUs hing weight
Chief Swing.ey was hurt by falling
column, but remained steadily at work.
never leaving the ruins until all of his
men were removed.
The death list included these names: Au-
gust Thfery. first assistant chief: Dan ".
Steele and Charles Krenning. No. Il: Mi
chael kehoe. No. 13; Franklin Mcbride.
No. s; Charles Westenhof. No. IL. and WI
liam Dundon. No. g. Citizens of st. Louis
raised many thousands of dollars as trib-
ute to the bravery of these men.
Fire stories are not complete around the
engine-houses on a winters night when
the ''boys" get to talking about old times
unless the experience of John 0. Glanville.
now Chief of the Salvage Corps. and two
of his men Is related.
While working to save the stock in a
burning building one day. a floor caved In
under Granville and two of his men. They
fell into the basement and rescuers could
not reach them. The fire burned on and
the firemen kept throwing streams of wa
ter into the burning structure. having giv-
en- UP Glanville and his men as dead
After the flames were e1tinguished search
was made for Granville and his men Inn
agine the surprise Of the searching party
when they found Glanyille and his two he