The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1910-12-30
chief ~HoRAN, TWO ASSISTANT
CHIEFS AND THIRTY FIREMEN
ARE CAUGHT UNDER A
FALLING CANOPY.
IN CHICAGO S@TOCKYARDS
Expieslon of an Ammonia Pipe In Beef
House of Nelson, Morris q Co.
Causes Spontaneous Com.
bustion.-coroner's jury
Watches the Fire.

~UAGk6us Aill1OlS. INV Nui sho
James Koran and twenty-five fire
nsa and two other men were killed
md forty others were injured in a
Are which caused an estimated
&t.S0o, 900 damage and which still
tkreatens the whole Of Chicago's great
stoekyards.
A wooden canopy fell from the beef
hswse of Morris &c Co.. where the fire
started. carrying with IL tons of red.
hst bricks and debris upon two com
pennies Of fremen and the chief. crush
Ing them to death. 1t held their
soaies in a veritable furnace into
wk&sh their comrades were unable to
DIG. SO that practically all those who
ware not killed outright when the
waIlS fell were burned TO death.
Assistant Chief William Burroughs
aAA Lieut.. Fitzgerald were with Chief
Hosan under the frail canopy when 1t
fen and went down to their death with
tARvir leader.
Claw FierceIy at Hot Bricks.
ether firemen, witnesses OF the dis
aster, deserted the other parts of the
blazing structure and, rushing to the
pyre. sought with their bare hands to
drag apart the glowing bricks and de-
bcis to save at least the body Of their
chief and his Inflated comrades. Find
Ing this a vain effort they obeyed
again the direction of Assistant Mar
shall Seyferlich and redoubled their
esforts to shut in the spreading area
Of destruction.
The blaze was discovered by a
Waterman in the Morris & Co. beef
house, Forty-third and LOOMS streets.
Al ammonia pipe, bursting, started
spontaneous combustion that spread
90 quickly the Waterman barely had
turned in the fire alarm before the
flames burst from the building.
Seek Shelter Under Awning.
The awning which later became the
to offer a shelter from the sweltering
waves of heat that radiated from the
fire with b~listering effect. Under this
the I'll fated rev fed for shelter, led
BY Koran. Burroughs and Fitzgerald.
coroner's Jury Watches Fire.
Coroner Hoffman arrived early and
impanelled a coroner's Jury, which sat
in Mortified silence watching the de-
vouring flames. AS the recovered
bodies were brought out, mangled,
~scorched, shapeless masses, the jury
itself forgot its duty Of inquiry and
joined with feverish efforts the hun
dreds Of civilians who were lending a
hand to the firemen.
Soon the newspaper extras on the
streets in all parts Of the city carried
the news of danger or death that had
visited the firemen, and relatives and
fg1ends of those firemen known to be
On duty went in throngs to the fire.
Ovt al her Ashland boulevard home
Mira. Koran, wife of the marshal,
learned she was a widow, and disbe-
Msving until assured by the newspaper
reporters, she swooned in the midst of
her four little children. She was pros
trassd and has required medical atten-
tisa.
A wrecking engine on the Chicago
auA Eastern Illinois railroad brought
q derrick, topping obstructing box
ears into the ditch as it came. A road
seraper attached to enc of the cables,
seooped up great masses of brick and
searching iremen savagely pushed the
great scoop into the brick heap in
hope of reaching the sufferers, whose
sxoans could be heard.
Fell at Their Posts.
Long before noon Assistant Marshal
Seyferlich, on his round of the fire
area, began to find here and there
prone figures where before brave men
had stood in the breath of the flames,
stmrdily holding their own. They had
been overcome and their companions
had been unable to aid them. Some,
recovering, started in anew to stay
she progress of the flames, but their
efforts were too feeble to be of use.
or the 25 men killed, the bodies OF
10, including that of Chief Koran. have
been taken from the ruins. The list
Il the dead includes the chief, assis-
tant chief, two captains, FIVE ~lieuten-
ants. IL city fremen, two private fire.
mem and a railroad emplDye.
t-- 49,