Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-08
THIRTY HOURS ALIVE
IN TOMB OF DEBRIS
Fireman Seufert Discusses His
FrightfuI Experience.
FELL FROM THIRD FLOOR
Came Down Between Two Immense
Paper Bales and Was Unhurt.
SMALL HOPE FOR HIS COMRADE
Remarkable Escape From Death Of a
Gotham Fire Laddie-Cheered
His Rescuers.
FELL FROM THIRD FLOOR
SMALL HOPE FOR HIS CoMRADE
Special Dispatch to The Star.

NEW YORK, January S.-John c. Seu-
fert, fireman cf engine company No. 81
who was entomi5ed alive for about thirty
one hours beneath tons of paper and de-
bris in the ruins of George F. Hills paper
warehouse at "a Roosevelt street, was
taken out at 40 o'clock this morning
after being imprisoned since Saturday
night He was in the Hudson Street
House of Relief doing well today. Like
Hicks, the Bakersfield miner, Seufert was
in a very good humor. The strangest
part of 1t is that despite the weight which
held the man down, including a heavy
beam across his legs, he was not only
able to walk when he was rescued, but
the surgeons at the House of Relief said
that he would be discharged today If 1t
were not for the danger of pneumonia
No bones were broken so far as they could
find
Speaking of his remarkable experience,
Seufert said:
while l was working on the third floor
OF the building I heard three crashes like
lnunOGT. Iel CdIIie WHdl SetHicu HhC
a streak of lightning, and two immense
paper bales came tumbling down. They
caught me between them, and though We
fell the three stories together the bales did
not press me uncomfortably.
Yelled and Pounded.
when l struck the bottom began to yell
When I was so hoarse 1 couldn't speak
I began pounding on the scantling. 1t
seemed like a year before l got any reply.
l could hear voices for a long time before
I got any answer to my rappings.
AT one time 1 thought that 1 would
be burned to death by pile of blazing
paper that fell beside me. 1 waited anx-
iously AS the pile burned higher I be-
came alarmed, and was sure my end was
near. After long wait-t seemed days
the pile burned itself out, and 1 began to
feel that there was still some hope of my
being rescued alive
With Seufert released, the work of search
ing for Daniel Campbell the only one of the
three firemen who were buried as yet I'M
accounted for, was pushed with much
speed as was safe. Little doubt was en-
teftained this morning that Campbell was
dead Seufert's escape was a mracle-such
an accident happens very rarely. That
the same miracle should happen in Camp
bells case was regarded just unlikely
as that lightning should strike twice in the
same place. The workers did not know
how far away they were, or, for that mat
ter, how near they were to Campbell this
morning. There still lay beneath them a
wilderness of debris which was piled up in
such masses that the task of removing it
would have appalled, any ordinary body of
men. But the firemen were working for a
comrade with whom they had bunked and
run to scores of fires. The rescue of Seu-
fert had furnished them with renewed in
centiye to tackle the mountains of beams
and baled paper.
Systematic Work.
Narrow Roosevelt street was today SIM
ply choked with the water-soaked charred
heaps of paper which had already been re-
moved, and more was being carried out
every moment. The greatest care was be-
ing exercised to see that each bit of debris
was removed with system, SO that none of
it tumbled down the fremen or on
Campbell, who might possibly be sheltered
in a pocket just as Seufert was. 1t was
like moving a house of blocks.
None of the firemen would rest, although
some of them needed 1t sadly. They were
rather too eager to look for their comrade.
In fact they had to be restrained at times
for fear they would labor too eagerly, and
Acting Chief Binns was constantly eau
tioning them and carefully directing every
movement after a well-ordered plan.
Seufert's Message.
Twenty hours had gone by since the floors
and roof of the paper warehouse collapsed
with Campbell, Seufert and Lennon, who
was taken out yesterday, and the firemen
believed they might soon come upon Seu-
fert dead, when they received the first mes
sage from Seufert alive. 1t was $50 o'clock
last night, and the water-soaked pile was
In darkness except for the moving CLEAN
of the firemen's lanterns as the helmeted
figures moved here and there clawing at
the paper bales, when sound SO faint
arose from the inky darkness beneath that
the two or three men who heard 1t could
hardly believe their ears. 1t was William
Decker, driver for Deputy Chief Guerins
wagon, who first called out:
zone of them is alive.
The thirty begrimed men who had been
taking out the damp paper looked at each
other for an instant as If they had seen
a ghost. Then Binns, the veteran deputy
ment, and. scrambling to the summit of
the mountainous debris like cat, called
out:
rs that you, Jack?'
faintest kind of muffled tapping rose UP
from the tons of rubbish below. Then the
chief called out in stentorian tones to know
If it was Dan. The same sort of tap
sounded in response.
1t was hard to hold the f1remen back
after that. They all fought for the chance
at rescue, and only Binns kept system in
the work The members of the relay force.
which was supposed to be resting in the
street. sprang to their feet and hurried into
the building to help.
Firemen Flock to Rescue.
Inside half an hour the force at work
had been trebled. and the word had gone
to the firemen all over the city that two
of the men had escaped death. but were
imprisoned In the ruins, and every fireman