The Detroit times., 1909-01-20

CHICAGO, Jan. 20.-A survivor says
shat SO men were burned TO death OF
drowned today when fire destroyed the
'''intermediate" city water crib on
.Seventy-third-st. In the most terrlhc
flake disaster In recent years. Other
estimates place the number OF dead
between 25 and 35. Those wounded
tmany OF whom are In a horrible con
Ndition from burns and exposure In
,the icy waters. where they leaped To
save themselves, will number so. Sew
eral of them will die.
The lifesavers and rescuers who
went 10 the scene feared that the en-
beers would drop below on 10 tons or
|, dynamite stored there. A number OF
men were in the tunnel at the time
and are believed to have been lost.
Awful scenes were pictured by the
survivors, who were rescued by the
tug Morford, Of the Durham Towing
| Co and the fire boat Michael Conway,
OF South Chicago.
Twenty.s six OF the survivors were
/ taken to the Franklin-st pier twenty
Ave others to the Sixty-eighth-st crib
and others TO the South Chicago hos
pital.
D The intermediate crib burned like a
i spark In the few brief minutes be-
] fore the entire wooden superstructure
was ablaze, rs men had to determine
1 between positive death by fire or
n probable death In the recovered wa
tiers. Many OF the men resisted the
h flames until the last minute, dropped
into the water chung TO the edge OF
: the pier until their fingers were nearly
burned of and then dropped TO death.
The city fire alarm Office was noti-
4 Ned OF the disaster by Supt Geo. Cur
! tbs. OF the Sixty-eighth-st. crib.
THE new crib Is burning" he shout
ed through the telephone. The men
are leaping into the water. | can See
more than 20 OF them now. l know
there are others in the tunnel and
don't see how they can be saved. II
! Is terrible; terrible. Send boats, send
doctors. DO something 10 aid those
poor men. A number OF them have
already gone down. | can see that
while am telephoning."
The crew OF the steamer Morford
signalled in the river that IL had &c
men aboard. most Of them injured,
and would land at Franklin-st A few
minutes later the boat was at the pier.
"Twenty-six here" the captain said
"There were rs at the crib This is
all can account for"
The first survivors to reach shore
were unable TO tell coherent story
of what happened or how they were
saved. They present pictures OF ter
ror and despair. Several OF them
were declared TO be temporarily In
sane as the result OF terror and expo
sure
The fire tug Conway not only res
cned a number OF the injured. but
| fought with the fire in an effort to put
out the flames and save the men In
the shaft Firemen were rushed to
tie lake front In the hope that they
could DC transported on the over
water trolley. They found the cable
had been destroyed.
The fire was not only one OF the
worst OF recent lake calamities. but
was the most spectacular blaze since
the cold storage fire during the
Worlds Fair. The flames could be
seen through the fog and haze and
the dampness was then lifted SO that
persons crowding the shore could see
the dark forms OF the men struggling
In tho water fighting for their lives.
Among the known dead In the crib
is Frank Mcdonald, timekeeper for
the shaft that was on duty today. He
jumped through window In the bunk
house when the fire broke out aud
sank beneath the surface and never
came up.