The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-11
BURIED UNDER FALLING WALLS Four Frenen Meet
 Horrible Death. NEW YORK LOSS IS s5,ooo,OOo Many Heartrending Scenes and
 Sensational Escapes. Tse Fire Was One of the Most Spec tacuIar as Well as Disastrous in Recent Years--
 Heavy Loss.
NEW YORK LOSS IS s5,ooo,OOO

went to their deaths tonight when they responded to fire that ruined the Parker building, twelve story busi- ness structure, occupying the block be- tween East Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets on Fourth Avenue.
 Fought by half the firernen of Man haitian and apparatus that blocked the streets for blocks. the flames were new CT controlled and only with difficulty confined to the building in which they originated. Floor after floor gave way and dropped to the basement and be- meath these and crumbling walls. no less than thirty fremen were caught and either killed outright or seriously injured. 70
 When the fire had burned itself out and the firemen's roll was called, three men of engine company No. 72 and one from fire patrol No. failed to respond. They were:
 John Lynch, John Fallon, Tim Hutchin- son of patrol No. 3 was removed. dying in the hospital. Captain Wilson and Captain Garvin of engine companies 34 and 72, who were injured internally, were among those dangerously hurt.
 When the casualties began, the Flor ence Hotel, which adjoins the burned building on Eighteenth Street. was made temporary hospital where fire department physicians gave immediate aid to the injured. The monetary loss was estimated tonight at s5.O0O,000.
 The fire was one of the most spec tacular as well as disastrous in recent years. From start to finish. its course was marked by heartrending scenes sensational escapes and flashes of he- roism.
 Occupied by Publishers.
 The building was occupied chiefly by publishing houses, though a score of other businesses had work rooms or offices there. The loss to the tenants Is total The fire started on the fifth floor in the offices of Roper and Jackson, publishers. and before stream of wa ter had fallen upon it. had shot up through the elevator shafts and pres ently all of the upper floors were ablaze. On the fifth floor, where the watchman discovered the fire. five girls employed by the Ditmore Woolen Com pany, were at work. The flames rose above them, the girls hurried down stairs to the street.
 On the top floor in the Suffolk En- graving Company's establishment, six men were working. Their escape was cut off and they fled to the roof. Flames had surrounded them on three sides and they were in imminent dan- ger of death when rescued by means of life line shot from a mortar gun and manned by hook and ladder com pany on the roof of the Florence hotel adjoining. The hotel Is seven stories in height and from its roof a rope was fired across the top of the burning building. There 1t was seized by the imperiled men and the free end made fast about chimney. Down this rope had over hand, dropped the six men to safety. Meantime the Florence Hotel had been emptied of it's 200 guests and nearby houses were also vacated.
 Seven firemen of engine No. 72, which first arrived, ran up to the fifth floor of the burning building after eighty five foot extension ladders had been raised to the windows of that story, to, make possible the firemen's retreat. Af- ter fruitless effort to stay the flames at the place of origin. the flremen were driven to the windows only to find that the tops of the ladders had been burned, cutting off their only retreat Three of the seven made a desperate enort to reach the roof. They were not seen again and are supposed to be dead in the ruins.
 A Heroic Rescue.
 The other four were rescued by men of hook and ladder Company No. 2, who, at the risk of their own lives, ran up scaling ladders and dragged the more O. less burned men from the windows. These men had barely reachcd tle ground when the great masses of ce- ment, which formed a pillar of the steel framework, gave way and crashed through to the ground, carrying with 1t everything below the seventh floor. John Fallon, Tim Hutchinson and Ser geant Kelly went down in the wreck age. Fallon was not se9n again. Hutchinson and Kelly, fighting desper- ately against the plaster and cement, which threatened to buy them alive, reached the street though frightfully injured. Hutchinson was able only to say that his partner Fallon, was in the debris when he collapsed and was re- moved in a dying condition.
 More than a score Of fremen were working within the " alls or near enough to be struck when they col lapsed. Battalion Chief Shea was rem dered unconscious by a blow on the head and received gash in the cheek Deputy Chief Langford and Captain Weldon and Darvan were also removed to the temporary hospital. Meantime tie fire practically had It's own way and the efforts of the fire fighters were successfully directed toward adjacent property.
 The tenants CF the building include the Brunswick Bake -Collender Com pany; Encyclopedia Brittanica Com pany; Fairchild & Co.,; D. c. Heath S, Co.i F. P. Collier Son, and Judge X, Company.
 Very Heavy Losses. Further investigation proved the fire