New-York tribune., 1908-01-19
BURIED ALIVE.
Experience Of a Fireman Under
meath Burning Rubbish.

YORK fs a .o r sssrs s deaf, t the
book about New York are laddies. which he called
I,re Fighters and Their Pets" and by permission OF
contained In the book is here reprintedI
For thrty-six hours a fireman was buried alive
under mass OF debris on the first floor OF a great
paper warehouse in Roosevelt street. New York,
which burned down in January. 1907. Here was a
man whom the public had given up dead. The
awful news had been gently broken to his wife by
friends, and the hremans recorded
among those lost in the fire whole day had
passed in clearing the ruins and searching for the
bodies, when suddenly twilight. the waiting
crowd thrilled with the cry:
There is alive in the ruins
From the depths OF the OF broken brick and
mortar and the piles Of wreckage in the burned
warehouse had been heard the feeble cry:
"Thlrty-two: Thirty-twor' The imprisoned
mans engine company number. He was calling
for his mates.
Then they listened again.
''Thirty-two Thirty-two! Up from the horrors
beneath came these words-and then a steady tap
ping, TO show that under all that tangled a
human being was struggling for his life.
Then you should have seen the of Thirty
two in action. The Fire Commissioner himself
worked hard any there. He never left
the place from the there was a chance OF
saving the freman's life until the rescue was COM
pleted.
Three men had been working the third floor
of that doomed warehouse Seeing the danger
at the same moment the roof caved in. and its
weight carried floors straight down with il. 1t
was complete collapse. Everything WAS PIE
cipitated to the ground floor. Two men wer. killed
il their effort TO escape after they mad made Il
desperate attempt to save their comrade who was
being hurled down down with the tons of
Water-soaked paper Their bodies found in
the forefront OF the fighting lines.
The rest Of the story is told as by tie man
who was saved He was too modest To talk much
and only bx- ii hat ,f,,.
story. Though mis- words few for such meas
ure!ess experience. they are the results not OF
talk with him, but OF many, and the writer
has put taen together.
Well said Ie. Il don't think | ever gave up
hope altogether, and l don't know that it seemed
TO many hours more than it really was.
''po you know what think served n we'll IN
those hours down in that hole? Well it was my
love for fishing. | so a-fsling every chance
get. and I've been going fishing for years And il
you want TO catch fish you have got have pa
tience. and it patience that helped me get to-
sether down in that place.
When the collapse came / jumped between two
bales OF paper. and down the three floors with
them; and there | sta! ed thirtysiX hours SO they
tell me. / landed wedsed in face forward. the
bales supporting to great extent. The wa
pouring down about every side
Back of me wcs some snoudering fire. and the
smoke from made the close air even more
sitting Ali around every kind OF rub
bish. Small holes here and there in the mass of
wreckage let in enough air keep alive. After
a lot of hard work. which took perhaps several
hours | succeeded in getting myself into cramped
sitting position. | don't believe that at any time
! lost consciousness completely. The fire helmet
did great service. and kept the flow of
out of my eyes. and the helmet itself helped hold
the wreckage above me somewhat. But the wa
ter trickled down into my ears and mouth. and to
relieve this trickling, which In a
blessing, l removed the helmet for a moment and
brim on SO 1 clapped what had OF the
hat left bnck my head. and 1t great rees
to know that the top OF IL still intact
Soon after / able to sit up-or, rather TO
sit partially down. got hard at work to make my
temporary tomb secure. The conditions did
allow much freedom, you may we'll know. for
movements or for careful building But L. kept
on bracing sticks and bits of boards against
the other, TO prevent far as l could. the wreck
age pressing further in upon me; and mean while
! kept rapping, rapping with stick to If I
could not attract the attention of the rescuers
above me, whom knew must be making every
effort to recover my body. I realized that they
must think dead.
"Ali this time the water poured down, and 1t
was rising around ike the tide coming in.
kent RAINING and ahoutnE my company number.