Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-10-26

stone mason, burned in his room; the in
FAINT of Mr.. and Mrs. John A. Suarks;
John Lynch, driver Of a sand wagon.
lost his life trying to save the Sparks
baby; ID. r. Young, laborer.
Several persons were more or less Sc
v-rcIy burned. while some were injured
by jumping from the upper floors of the
building. Arthur Childcrs, a policeman,
was knocked from an ambulance by a
wire ana run over. His condition is seri-
out.
An unknown baby was fatally hurt by
being dropped from the second floor to
policeman who failed to catch it.
Tho Chamber OF Commerce building was
situated at Park ana Central streets in
the Rivrrvicw district Of Kansas city and
WAS rt,tCd II years ago 1T 4 cost Of
81 0'n. t. he used as q Board nf Trade.
I'll" citr grow away from il. however.
ana il wa; never used fer it, or"ginal
purpose but for many years had been
occupied MS an apartment house. The
structure WIS four stories in height, with
4 deep basement. 1t WAS built Of brick
and stone. 1t contained leo rooms, almost
all Of which were. as far as can be
learned. occupied by families of individ-
ual lnburing men or railway employees at
th- time the fire started. The ground
floor VAS occupied ~ several business
cnncr,uS. I'll" fire broke ont I'm thn
ground tiocr from som" unknown caus"
AZ 100 o'clock. IT WAS some time before
III" t!rcmon reached the S""n".
When TIN tircmen arrived til" entire
hu;lding WAS in flames. So quickly did
the flames spread that a few minutes af-
ter the fir" WAS discovered all means Of
's,.aD" by tn. StHirwaYs was shut off.
ON two sides of tn" building elevated
railway tracks Lcmmcd it in. Then an
/ other obstacle arose. The tremen did
I not hnvo 4 sufficient number Of ladders
| ana many IF these they had wcr" too
I short to rcrch the upper stories. \ sitting
smoke filled the building ana som" Of tn"
/ occupants probably wor" never abb" 70
/ l,..'v" tn II rooms.
I'll" tir"mcn found men hanging from
/ windo" slls on tn" NJ per floor ana
/ frantic women with babies in their arms
! ana children clinEing to them leandinE
/ fur ont from the windows. unable to
/ find any means IF cSCap" ana Yet TAX
| ing advantage Of tn" little fresh air
which IT," windows afforded. Til" fire
men quickly ran their ladders NJ. Int
| They did not reach above tn" third floor.
| Many person. yer" ~ the floor above.
| Til" fircnI"n first devoted themselves to
1 til" p"uIl" ou IL" second ana third floors
I and did not then heed tn" screams Of the
/ peOpl" above. Many Of tn" persons in
the interior If TIN. buildiu: w re already
overcome hv IA" d"us" .':n"l" and had
to he carried ont hr the iir"mcn.
MANY We're able to- .S''ap" down tho
ladders without assistance. After get
cling everyone they cuuld find out Of the
second ana third floors the flremen turn
ed their attention to the people above.
AS the ladders did not reach above the
third floor. the men on the fourth floor
literally pitched their wives ana chill
dren down to the firemen on the ladders
and then jumped down themselves
! Some of the more eXcitable ones Jumped
To the ground and We're either killed or
badly injured. Some whom the firemen
tried to catch fell the entire distance to
the ground.
John Lynch seized the baby Of John
Sparks and jumped with it and with
the child fell in the burning debris be-
low. Both were killed.
The fire interrupted street car traffic
on the elevated road and n mOtorman
whose car stood just opposite the burn
ing building said he saw five or six per-
sons i'll the upper floors struggling fran
tically to escape and he is certain all of
them succumbed to the smoke and top
pied over into the ruins.
The negro janitor of the building.
who was found this afternoon. said
there We're 80 families in the building.
numbering 100 persons. He admitted
that 4 number Of transients also oc-
cupied rooms in the building last night
The financial damage is estimated al
100000. OF this amount $4,000 was on
: the building. owned by w. a. Bunker
The building was insured for $40, 900.