New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-07

General Otis had established In announcer
part of the city to provide against exactly
such disaster as occurred. No one co"io
tell much more than he did about the eA-
plosion itself. It came. blasting, terrihc
! force. and then the fire was everywhere
The explosive, whatever II may have been
was placed I'm the little alley, close to the
pressroom, where tons Of ink and paper
were stored The ink. three-fourths nm
seed oil. was flung in spray over walls
and floor, and roaring gust or ha'he
belched up through the upper floors
The horror was soon over. Few OF the
men in the composing room got out an'e'
Two were staggering down the stars To-
gether and found the fire coming 10 mee'
them. One dragged himself up to WIN
dow in the stairway and jumped t"o
! stories, landing with a broken leg. lie
other a cripple was caught on the STAR
His body was among those OF the "uniden-
tilted dead"
one woman. Mrs. J. 3. Ulrich, teleg-
rapher. was In the building. Like Cray
bill she fell down the elevator SHAFT her
leg was driven through the top or the
cage, tearing away the flesh. She huhs
there, head down, shriek'ng with PAIN tiiI
rescuers broke in the outer door anu
dragged her 10 the floor.
Only two men were left In the editorial
rooms-Charles Lovelace. editor or coast
news. and Churchill Harvey Elder. the as
sistant city editor The explosion knocked
them out Of their chairs. AS they ran
toward the door Of the composing room
rush Of fame met them, which cut on the
10
their eyes.
When the fremen arrived four minutes
after the explosion. the two were clng'ng
In the windows, with the room behind
them full Of fire. They were on the third
| story. at the height Of four stories In an
ordinary building.
The flremen held net. Harvey Elder
Jumped and missed. He struck with fright
tul force on the stone sidewalk Lovelace,
I'm agony from his burns. held back In
terror while the flames licked I'd the wiz
dow casing under his hand. At last the
fire forced him off. lie jumped fairly and
! landed I'm the net He was frightfully
burned but was pulled through after weeks
! in the hospital. Harvey Elder died within
an hour.
So the horror grew-grew for five min
| utes-while the trapped men shirvelled up
like moths in a gas flame. Then it was
| over and there was only a burning build
| ing rolling up pillar OF fame and smoke
and sowing sparks broadcast over the city.
| Many had escaped In the first 100 seconds
a few faces had been seen at the windows
and had disappeared. dozen men had
jumped into the firemen's nets; the rest
were dead beside their machines and went
down with them into the cellar.
But before the walls fell the scattered
staff of "The Times" had been rallied and
was preparing a new four-page edition TO
| take the place OF the one that was then
melting down In the composing room. A
rival newspaper extended the customary
courtesy of loaning it's Office, and the paper
was written by reporters who had just
been summoned from bed and set up by
men whose eyebrows were gone, who wore
bandages and could hardly walk FOR pain.
The presses We're these which the general
had stored in his emergency plant.
Harry Chandler, the general manager,
heard the explosion as he was walking up
the path TO his home. two miles away
across the city. He thought as he heard it.
that The Times" had been dynamited.
There was no need for him TO telephone.
| Before he could reach a streetcar line he
could see the red light spreading up the
sky. He hurried back 10 the scene,
brought the paper out, and across the
front page he printed the anti-unton motto
that the general had carried for so long
For Liberty and Law and Equal Rights
and Industrial Freedom Underneath was
a declaration charging that the unions had
dynamited THE Times
All day the search for bodies kept up
Only two or three were ever recognized
General Otis was on his way home from his
plantations Ia Mexico, and was TO arrive