, 1908-02-05

Az liz DCSoCu SuA lIlCg Aul1S
roof is burning beneath our feet, they
shouted.
Don't Jump, on your lives, called backGar-
gin "WeI! get you X ep up your courage"
A minute later the life line shot up over
the roof and The four men grabbed it fran
t~ically. They made it fast to Il chimney and
then started to slide down.
"Wait," commanded Garqln, and with
CurIey no took a hitch around a chimney
on the hotel roof with The end of the line.
Made taut, this formed q slender line from
the Parker B ilding roof across the fifteen
foot alley between the buildings to the Ho-
tel Florence roof.
Down this line the four men slid. Their
hands were burned by the friction and their
clothes were singed as they passed windows
from which came bursts of flame, but ell
reached the roof safely, They were John
Graham, Frank Wyant, George Marshall,
and Joseph Brooks, all employees of tie
Suffolk Engraving Company on the top floor.
Once in the street the men explained
that when they discovered the fire it
was too late to reach the street by tie stair
way. No ladder would reach them and they
almost despaired when the roof to which
they climbed as a last hope began to burn
beneath them. Thea it was that the rope
shot over their heads.
Gargin and the men he had saved had
hardly reached the street when there came
a te rife crash in the building. Tn intense
heat had caused the steel floor girders to
buckle and every floor from the eighth down
crashed into the cellar.
In the building were fifty or more frem en-,
and their comrades III the street. ~despair4d
for the moment of ever seeing any OF them
alive. Il seemed impossible that they could
have escaped i'll the fearful crash Of the floors.
On the second floor were the men OF Fire
Patrols l and 3. In the basement was the
crew Of Fire Patrol 4, while on the fifth floor
were Engine Companies II, IS, Is and u,
Over them crashed the broken steel Orders,
beams, and debris from above. Nearly all
were buried in It.
Firemen in the street ran to the Nine
tpenth Street side of the building, where
several OF The companies on the fifth floor
had entered. At these windows IN a mo-
ment appeared many tiremen. Some held
unconscious comrades in their arms.
RESCUE OF FIREMEN.
To them the men in the street FASTENED.
They ran up extension ladders and mount
ed them despite the flames which were pour
ing from every window, for by this time the
flames had eaten downward to the ground
floor. Thc ladders became hot and the rungs
scorched the hands of the men, but they
mounted and then carried down the crews of
Engine Companies II, l6, and Is.
On the fitch floor also, but across the
building on the side nearest the Florence
Hotel, had been Deputy Chief Tom Lang
ford. Capt. DAWN of Engine Company No. u
and the men of several other companies.
When the rash came these men were trap
ped. They fought their way to the windows
however, looking out on the Florence Hotel,
and their comrades, mounting up through
the hotel from the street, threw a ladder
bridge across the a~lleyway from the fifth
floor of the hotel.
Over this came LangFord, DAWN, and their
men, but when all had reached the street it
was found that Firemen O'Counor and
Phillips of Engine ~ were not among them.
Both DAWN and Langford were exhausted
and nearly unconscious, but when DAWN
heard that two Of his men were missing he
aroused himself, crying pathetically
Il had my hand on O'Connor. I was
touching him when I was crushed down and
forced away from him."
Davin's right hand was crushed, and the
Captain explained that he had been drag
ging O'Connor toward the window with this
hand when some heavy mass fell upon him.
The hand was rendered useless, and DAWN