The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-11
New York Office Building Gutted Last Night by Disastrous
 and Spectacular Blaze.
IN DRY GOODS DISTRICT
Workers Rescued, But Bremen Car ried Down as Floor After Floor Gives Way and Drops to
 the Basement.

went to their deaths when they re. sponded to a fire that ruined the Par. ker building, a twelve story business structure occupying the block between East 18th and 18th streets on Fourtf avenue. tonight. Fought by half the firemen of Manhattan and apparatu. that blocked streets for blocks tho flames were never controlled and onl, with difficulty confined to the building in which they originated.
 Floor after floor gave way ant dropped to the basement and beneatl these and crumbling walls no less than thirty firemen were caught and either killed outright or seriously injured.
 When the fire had burned itself ou and the firemen's roll was called thre, men of engine company No. 72 ant one from fire patrol No. failed to re- spond They were:
 Thomas Phillips. Thomas OConner John Lynch, John Fallon of the pa trol.
 Tim Hutchinson of Patrol No. was removed dying to a hospital Capt Wilson and Captain Garvin of Engine Co. Nos, 24 and 72, who were injured internally, were among those danger. ously hurt.
 When the casualties began the Flor ence Hotel which adjoins the burned building on Sixteenth street was made q temporary hospital where fire depart ment physicians gave immediate aid tc the injured. The monetary loss was estimated tonight at sl,5Oo,OOo
 The building was occupied chiefly b publishing houses though score O other businesses had work rooms 0, offices there. The loss to the tenant, Is total. The fire started on the flftl floor in the offices Of Roper & Jack son, publishers, and before stream 0 water had fallen upon 1t, 1t had sho up through the elevator shafts ant was setting all of the npper floor ablaze
 On the fifth floor where the watch man discovered the fire. five girls em 1 ployed by t,ie Dltmore Woplen com 1 pany were at work. As the flames ros above them the girls hurried dow stairs to the street. On the top foo in the Suffolk Engraving company engraving establishment six men wer working. Their escape was cut off an they fled to the roof Flames had sur 1 rounded them on three sides and the were in imminent danger of deat 1 when rescued by means of life lin shot from mortar gun, manned by hook and ladder company. on the roo of the Florence hotel adjoining. Dow l this rope hand over hand for five stor les the men dropped to safety Mean time the Florence hotel had been emr tied of its 200 guests and nearby house had been vacated.
 Seven flremen of Engine 72, whicl first arrived, ran up to the fifth foo after eighty-ive foot extension ladder had been raised to the windows of tha story to make possible their retreat After a fruitless effort to stay tn flames where they originated. thes firemen were driven to the windows on ly to find that the tops of the ladder had been burned, cutting off their onl retreat. Three of the seven men mad a desperate effort to reach the roof They were not seen again and are sup 1 posed to be dead in the ruins. Tn other four were rescued by Hook an Ladder Go. No !, who at the risk O their own lives ran Up sealing lader and dragged the more or less hurne mon from the windows.
 These men had barely reached tn ground when the great masses of ce ment which forced pillar of tn steel framework collapsed to tn ground, carrying with it everythin below the seventh floor John Fallor Tim Hutchinson and Sergeant Kell went down in the wreckage. Fallo was not seen again Hutchinson an Kelly, fighting desperately against th plaster and cement which threatene to bury them alive. managed to reac the street though frightfully injured Hutchinson was only able to gasp tha his partner. Fallon. was in the debri: and then he fell dying and was hur ried away.
 More than twenty f1remen wer working within the walls or nea enough to he struck by them whe they went down.
 Battalion Chief Shea of the Sixt battalion was knocked senseless an his cheek was gashed.
 Deputy Chief Lansford and Captail Weldon and Darvan were also remove to the temporary hospital
 The tenants of the building inclui ed the Brunswick Bal -Collend
 company. Scherer company, Encycl pedia Britannica company, Fairchild Co, D. C. Heath X Co. P. F. Colli,
 & Son, and Judge s Co.