Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1910-12-30
"a F|REMEN AND 2
SPECTATORS DIE
IN CHICAGO FIRE
EXPLOSION INSIDE. OF BURNING
BUILDING CAUSES WALL TO
FALL AND TONS OF BRICK
TUMBLE ON VICTIMS.
PROPERTY LOSS IS s75O,0OO
Position of Bodies Taken Out the
Ruins Indicates Unfortunate Men
Had No Warning, Were Complete
ly Trapped and Had No
Chance for Their Lives.

Chicago, Ill.-Twenty-four firemen,
among whom were Fire Chief
James Hogan, Assistant Chief William
Burroughs, Captains Dennis Doyle and
Patrick !. Collins, and two spectators,
were killed, 81 f1remen were injured
and property loss of S750,000 was
the result of a fire that broke out
early in the morning in the packing
plant of Norris & Co., at the Union
stock yards.
The "a dead bodies have been
recovered including that of Chief
Horan which was found late in the
evening. The fire started at 4;0S in
the huge beef warehouse-known as
No. 7-on the edge of the packing dis
trict. The sweep of the flames was
directly towards the vast storehouses
containing millions of dollars worth
of finished packing house products.
A general alarm was sent in by the
first company arriving on the scene
and this was followed at intervals Of
only a minute by successive alarms
which brought 40 engines, 20 hose
trucks and finally a reserve force of
200 firemen to take the place of ex-
hausted fire fighters.
When Fire Chief "Big Jim" Horan
arrived in his automobile fate brought
him nearest the east or Loomis street
side of the burning warehouse. In
a jiffy he had donned his rubber coat
and helmet and was among the fire
fighters who, under Assistant Chief
William Burroughs, had attacked the
eastern wall: run your lines over
these refrigerator cars cried the
chief as he took in the situation at
glance. We'll fight her from under
the canopy" He led the way clam
bering up the icy ladder of one of
the cars that stood on the siding and
down the other side to a wide load
ing platform protected by a heavy
wooden canopy, perhaps % feet high.
1t seemed position of comparative
safety. The cars and the canopy
shut out most of the sitting, yellow
smoke which was billowing about the
warehouse. The canopy promised pro-
lection from the heat and from stray
falling bricks. Captain Patrick j.
Collins of Engine So, Captain Dennis
Doyle of Engine 80, Lieutenants Mike
Fitzgerald and William Sturn were
on the heels of their chief. They
were backed up by an assortment of
firemen, pipemen from SO, so. 40 and
80 and truck men from Is, all eager
to follow Horan anywhere.
They tackled one of the wide doors
| of fl,a
made an opening through which sew
eral streams of water were played
They went to work on another dool
at the middle of the warehouse.
See how she looks above" was
Horan's last order to any one thai
lives. A couple of pipemen and Lieu
tenant Joseph Mackey, chauffeur fol
the chief, climbed to the canopy. They
saw the need of hose on the canopy
roof and Mackey started back to tn,
chief to report the fact. Then came
the roar of an explosion from some
r where inside the furnace. The cas-
: wall puffed out like a swollen cheek
: tottered as if shaken by an earth
t quake and crumpled up like hous,
1 of cards. Tons of redhot bricks
t mighty beams and girders tumblet
:, down on the canopy that a momen
Q before had promised protection. Th
\ place that seemed so comparativel,
: safe a moment before had turned
+ into trap of death.
! In much less time than it takes T.
s tell it the canopy above and tn
+ floor of the leading platform becam
l. splintered temporary collins of officer
g Horan, Burroughs, Collins, Doyle, Fit
: gerald, Sturn and no one yet know
n just how many helmeted member
: of the rank and file. Never were fire
: men more completely trapped. The
had not chance for their lives.
is doubtful If they heard the roar G
the explosion in the blanketed pos
s tion they held. The canopy might a
l. well have been an egg shell for a
a the protection it afforded. 1t onl
r served to complete the trap by pr'
o venting them from seeing the tren
II bling wall above them. The positio
d of the bodies taken out during the tr.
a ing day that followed indicated the
T. they had no warning. They wer
% fattened out as they stood at the
e hose or swinging at the heavy door
with their axes.