The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1910-12-30
CHIEF KORAN, TWO ASSISTANT
CHIEFS AND THIRTY FIREMEN
ARE CAUGHT UNDER A
FALLING CANOPY.
IN CHIC'Co SToClYAE DS
Explosion Of an Ammonia Pipe In Beef
House Of Nelson, Morris & Co.
Causes Spontaneous Com.
bustion.-coroner's Jury
Watches the Fire.

men and two other men were killed
and forty others were injured in a
fire which caused an estimated
$1,5O0,O00 damage and which still
threatens the whole of Chicago's great
stockyards.
A wooden canopy fell from the beef
house of Morris & Co., where the fire
started, carrying with it tons of red
hot bricks and debris upon two COM
panies Of firemen and the chief, crush
ing them to death. 1t held their
which their comrades were unable to
dig, so that practically all those who
were not killed outright when the
walls fell were burned to death.
Assistant Chief William Burroughs
end Lieut.. Fitzgerald were with Chief
Koran under the frail canopy when it
fell and went down to their death with
their leader.
Claw FierceIy at Hot Bricks.
Other 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-
bris to save at least the body of their
chief and his Inflated comrades. Find
ing this vain effort they obeyed
again the direction of Assistant Mar
shall Seyferlich and redoubled their
efforts to shut in the spreading area
Of destruction.
Tho h1o1o 1iconunrn1 nv q
Waterman in the Morris & Co. beef
house, Forty-third and Loomis streets.
An ammonia pipe, bursting, started
spontaneous combustion that spread
so 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
destroyer of score of lives seemed
to offer a shelter from the sweltering
waves of heat that radiated from the
fire with blistering effect Under this
the ill fated crews fled 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 q
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
friends of those firemen known to be
on duty went in throngs to the fire.
Out at her Ashland boulevard home
Mrs. Koran, wife of the marshal,
learned she was widow, and disbe.
lieving until assured by the newspaper
reporters, she swooned in the midst of
her four little children. She was pros
trated and has required medical ateen.
ton.
A wrecking engine on the Chicago
derrick, topping obstructing box.
cars into the ditch as it came. A road
scraper, attached to one of the cables,
scooped up great masses of brick and
scorching firemen savagely pushed the
great scoop into the brick heap in
hope of reaching the sufferers, whose
groans 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,
sturdily holding their own. They had
been overcome and their companions
had been unable to aid them. Some,
recovering, started in anew to stay
the progress Of the flames, but their
efforts were too feeble to be of use.
OF the Is men killed, the bodies of
10, including that of Chief Koran, have
been taken from the ruins. The list
Of the dead includes the chief, assis-