The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-01-24
Mammoth Twenty Story Stuc-
ture in Chicago Damaged
to Extent Of $4,000
4OOO OCCUPANTS HAVE
VERY NARROW ESCAPES
Blaze Caused BY Terrific Explosion of
Chemicals in the Laboratories of
the Fifth Floor of the
Building.

Chicago, January 23.-Fire in the Ma
sonic Temple today caused panic among
the 1000 occupants of the building and
damaged the stock and fixtures of tenants
to the extent of $4,000.
All occupants of the building escaped
without serious injury through the brav-
cry of the elevator men, who remained at
their posts, operating their cars while
dense clouds OF smoke filed the building.
The fire broke out in the suite of rooms
on the fifth floor occupied by Robert
Friedlander g. Co., manufacturers of X
ray apparatus.
A lighted match, carelessly thrown by
an employe into pile of rubbish lying in
a corner of the packing room, Is believed
| to have started the fire. There was a
large number of x-ray vacuum tubes
stored in the companys rooms and these
exploded the moment the heat reached
| them.
Robert Friedlander, senior member of
the firm. anticipated the danger from
these tubes and worked until overcome
by the smoke, dropping them out of the
window. The fire spread rapidly from the
packing room to the other rooms and in
a few minutes the entire suite was in
flames and the light shaft of the building
was filled with flames.
| Remembered the Iroquois Disaster.
| The thousands of occupants of the build
ing, with the memory of the 1riquois the
atre disaster which occurred but one-half
a square away fresh in their minds, were
alarmed when clouds of smoke filled every
floor. and rushed to the elevators.
\. MANY women tainted in the scramble to
| get into the elevators, but none were Sc
siously injured.
The large building was emptied within
half an hour after the fire was discovered.
Hundreds Of men and women CROPPED their
| way through the smoke and came down
| the stairs.
The series of elevators surrounding the
rotunda in the center of the building
continued to run while the smoke and
flames issued from the windows of the
fifth story where the fire originated The
people were removed from the upper koors
| 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.
Alarm Sent In Automatically.
| Firemen were summoned by an alarm
automatically sent in from the rooms in
| which the fire began. The firemen quick
ly made connections with the stationary
stand pipe in the building. Immediately
| tons of water flowed over the floors
| where the smoke and blaze was thickest.
| danger nf he frer cd hxr
the suspected presence of a quantity of
chemicals which occupants declared were
| stored near the place where the flames
| originated.
Occupants of the building, warned by
the suffocating clouds of smoke that rose
through the many storied rotunda and
| penetrated every corridor. lost no time in
making efforts for a safe exit Guards
were stationed at each elevator landing
on every floor and the panic-stricken peo-
| pie were hurried from the building.
The explosion of the chemicals was
sufficient notice to the occupants of the
| floor Immediately above and below but
was unheard by hundreds of other pers-
ons in the vast structure who received
their warning when suddenly confronted
with walls of dense smoke.
Flames Followed Explosion.
Flames followed the explosion and
| quickly spread 10 the floors above. Men
ana women rushed wildly for the stairs
and elevators. So rapidly did the immense
skyscraper fill with smoke that the fire.
men found it almost impossible to work
| within the walls In a short time the
fre was raging on three floors containing
| chemical establishments and doctors Of
fees. Further explosions were momen-
tarily feared. AS at the Iroquois catastro-
| phe Fire Marshall Munsham was soon
lx m, ara1 op1 ~ t1lr1
| ed the men of the danger
Shortly after the arrival of the engines
| ladder was raised at the southwest cor
| ner of the building and a fireman assembled
| to The fifth floor where the fire burned
| 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 lead of hose after
him. In the height of the excitement the
| crowd in the street saw a man clad In a
heavy overcoat step out in the fire escape
| on the fourteenth floor and begin to de-
scend
Elevator Men Showed Bravery.
Within the building the elevator men by
| running their machines without cessation
| sought to still the panic of hundreds who
| were seeking to escape,
From the top floor down the carriages
| were jammed with passengers A number
/
for the most part retained their senses
| The elevator men stuck to their work like
heroes until 1t was said that every per-
| son was out of the building. The flames
! appeared first in the suites of Charles r.
Friedlander & Co., manufacturers Of Ray
1 apparatus. on the fifth floor
The explosion, which was the cause of
the fire, destroyed $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 sky-scraper facing Randolph street,
| directly across the street from Marshall
Field & Co.'S huge retail store With al
most Incredible swiftness every floor OF
/ the temple above the fifth was filled with
dense smoke while the floors below were
deluged with water
Detachments of police were quickly or
hand aiding the firemen in the effort to
|
Continued on secoEd Pane)