Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-04-07
SPECTACULAR FIRE
IN PORTLAND, OR.
Was in Chamber Of Commerce
Building Causing Panic Among
Fifteen Hundred People.
THERE WAS BUT ONE FATALITY
One Man in Spite OF Efforts to Pre-
vent Him, Jumped Down Light
Well to His Death.

Portland, Or, April 6.-The most
spectacular fire that ever occurred In
portland. destroyed the eighth. the top,
,,orv Of the Chamber Of Commerce
building this afternoon and was the In
direct cause Of the death of Hamer
II Hallock, right OF way agent OF the
willamette Traction company, for
q wears an employe of the oregon
Railroad & Navigation company at
psndeton. Baker City and Umatilla.
Mr.. Hallock who was one Of the best
known railroad men In the northwest,
was in the Commercial club when the
are broke out He seemed to have be-
come suddenly mad and, despite the eff
forts OF several men who strove to re-
strain him, Jumped down the light well
on to the roof OF the central court. eight
stories below, and was instantly killed.
D. L. Cappa head cook of the Com
,nercial club, was seriously injured by
the breaking Of life net into which
he Jumped from the eighth story to the
street below.
The property loss Is estimated at
100000, partly covered by insurance.
The Commercial club, which occupied
the top floor, was completely Quilted.
Its loss is estimated at about S35, 900.
OF the balance Of the loss the damage
10 the building viii be about $4,000,
and the loss by water to the tenants
on the sixth and seventh floors will
approximate $4,000 The building was
recently purchased by the United Rail
ways company for s750,000.
The fire broke out In the parlor of
the Commercial club from an unknown
cause, though it is said that the care
less throwing of lighted match into
some tapestries was responsible for
the contiagration. There Is some ground
for the belief that defective electrical
construction may have been the cause
The fire spread with Z onderful ra-
pldit,. causing a panic among the 500
employees Of the 300 offices which are I'm
the building. A rush was made for the
elevators and for the narrow and made
quate stairways and fire escapes with
which the building is equipped. The
upper works OF the elevators were
burned out almost before the fire
bells stopped sounding and panic
stricken people congested the stairs and
FIRE escapes.
On the upper floors a serious sItua-
ton prevailed. Unable to escape by
the usual means Of egress, men and
women crept out through the windows
onto the wide cornices where they
avsited rescue. About so people, en-
p0yes and guests were gathered in
tina rnfitnarf.taI <t,,h ,,sla ~ A..
broke out. Many Of these escaped
down the stairs or fire escapes, but
perhaps 10 sought refuge on the cornice
Of the northwestern part OF the build.
lns.
sufocatng smoke swept over them.
hiding the little party from view, and
i was momentarily expected by the
bTeathless thousands Of people below
that some would be overcome BY smoke
and heat and loose their hold before
The hremen could reach them. 1t was
by the most strenuous work that the
fire department, extension ladders were
got into place, only to find that they
we're Of Inadequate length, which neces-
Stated the splicing OF additional Sec
tons and the consequent loss of val
liable time. One by one the victims
were finally removed from their perilous
position several almost unconscious
from excitement and the suffocatng
heat and smoke.
When all had apparently been rescued
aman's head pesring far over the edge
OF me cornice of the roof WAS discov-
cred through the smoke and the firemen
once more assembled TO the perilous
height It was again found that the
laddtrs We're too short to reach this vic
I'm and yet another ladder had to be
srllced on before the firemen could
reach him. When they finally did so he
was In a state OF collapse and in per-
maps another minute he would have
plunged head foremost into the street
below When the femen reached him
tremendous cheer rose from the thou
sands OF anxious spectators of the
thrilling rescue. As the fremen came
down the ladder cheer after cheer arose
ending In one tremendous outburst as
uAe hremen placed their fainting bur
zen on terra firma, The subject of this
SPECTACULAR rescue was Tom Richard
son manager OF the Commercial club
VINO had his private Office In the tower
~ The building and who was cut off
rom escape by the flames. Mr.. Rich
arson was given medical attention
ana was son restored and taken to his
home,