The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-12-29
CHIEF KORAN, TWO ASSISTANT
CHIEFS AND THIRTY FlREMEN
ARE CAUGHT UNDER A
FALLING CANOPY.
IN CHICsGO S%TOCXYAFDS
Explosion Of an Ammonia Pipe in Beet
House of Nelson, Morris & Co.
Causes Spontaneous Com
bustlon.-coroner's Jury
Watches the Fire.

N1lNGSOs nav
James Koran and twenty-five fire.
men and two other men were killed
and forty others were injured in a
fire which caused an estimated
81, 500 900 damage and which still
threatens the whole of ChicaSo's great
s~tockyards.
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
bodies in a veritable furnace into
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
and 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 flremen, 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 a vain effort they obeyed
again the direction of Assistant Mar
shall Seyferlich and ]rCdoubled their
efforts 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.
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
to offer a shelter from the sweltering
waves of heat that radiated from the
IRE with blistering effect. Under this
the III fated crews fed for shelter, led
by Horan, Burroughs and Fitzgerald.
Coroner's Jury Watches Fire.
coroner Hoffman arrived early and
4mpanelled a coroner's jury. which sat
IN Mortified silence watching the de,
vouTtng flames. AS the recovered
bodies were brought out, mangled.
scorehed, 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
friends of those firemen known to be
on duty vent in throngs to the fire.
Gut at her Ashland boulevard home
sfgs. Koran, wife of the marshal
learned she was a widow, and disbe
Iieyfng until assured by the newspaper
reporters, she swooned in the midst oi
her four little children. She was pros
trated and has required medical atten
ton.
A wTecking engine IN the Chicago
and Eastern Illinois railroad brought
a derrick, topping ob~structing box
cars into the ditch as 1t came. A road
seraper, attached to one of the cables
scooped up great masses of brick anC
scorshing fremen s~avagely pushed the
great scoop into the brick heap II
hope Of reaching the sufferers, whose
Sreans could be heard.
Fell at Their Posts.
long before noon Assistant Marsha
Ssyferlich, on his round of the fire
area, began to find here and there
prone figures where before brave mer
had stood in the breath of the flames
sturdiiy holding their own. They hat
been overcome and their companion,
had beer unable to aid them. Some
recovering, started in anew to sta,
the progress of the flames, but theil
efforts were too feeble to be Of use.
OF the 20 men killed. the bodies o
IL, including that of Chief Koran, hav,
been taken from the ruins. The lis
OF the dead includes the chief. assis
tant chief, two captains, five lieuten
ants, Is city iremen, two private fire
men and q railroad employe.