Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-03-30
FOUR FIREMEh ARE
PLUNGED To DEATH
CATASTROPHE ATTENDS BLAZE
IN BUSINESS DISTRICT OF
MILWAUKEE.
GO DOWN WHEN ROOF FALLS
Fifteen Others Who Were Fighting
Flames from Top of Five-Story
Structure Have Miraculous, Escape
All Are Severely Injured.

Milwaukee -Fire which broke out
Friend building, 354 Broadway, oc-
cupied by the Middleton Manufactur--
ing company, resulted in the deaths
of four firemen and injury to fifteen
more, and a loss to the Middleton
company of $150,000.
The dead are:
Capt. Jacob Hentz, engine company
No, %.
Richard ]. Burke, driver, engine
company No. 9.
Lieut.. John Houlahan, engine COM
pany No. 8.
Fred L. Eichhorn, truckman, en-
CINE company No. IA
Louis Hammond, driver of truck
company No. 5, sustained a fracture
at the base of his skull and will
probably die.
Nineteen f1remen, who had been de-
tailed to chop holes in the roof, were
carried down to the basement of the
building when the roof caved in.
Four were probably instantly killed
and only the barest luck saved fifteen
from terrible death, when roof and
timbers from the floors fell in such
a manner as to shield them from the
tons of falling debris The fifteen
f1remen were all severely injured.
The members of the two fire COM
panies stationed on the roof could be
seen by the thousands of persons
gathered in the rear of the building
just before the roof fell While the
firemen were unaware of their dan
ger, just before the roof caved in,
the crowd realized the peril, but its
shouts of warning were changed to
cries OF horror as the calamity oc-
Cured. The struggling firemen could
be seen for an instant only, and then
they disappeared.
Led by Assistant Chief Young the
f1remen entered the burning ruins,
and tore away savagely at what they
then realized must be the funeral
pyre of their comrades. One after
another, they were overcome by the
heat and smoke, but as soon as one
other was there to take his place
The blaze was discovered in the
basement of the building by w. G.
Middleton, president of the company.
Thirty men and thirty women en-
ployes were driven through rear win
doWs to fire escapes and fire escape
landings by the smoke, and many of
these were taken down on ladders
thrown up as soon as the trucks ar
rived.
The employees were crowded on the
platforms and they had scarcely left
through the windows before they
were completely enveloped in clouds
of dense black smoke. Two girls, in
their rush to escape, fell from the
second story to the ground. Their
injuries were not serious.
For a time it appeared that the
flames would soon be gotten under
control, but the blaze appeared to
reach more inf1ammable material in
some part of the building and with a
rush, little short of an explosion, be-
gan to destroy the large structure
with almost indescribable rapidity.
The firemen worked like demons,
but their efforts appeared to be of
little avail. 1t was when the heavy
roof gave way and crashed down
through the five stories that the hor-
ror which resulted in the deaths and
injuries came. Almost without warn
ing about thirty f1remen were pinned
under mass of brick and debris.
This city has suffered an unprece-
denied number of disastrous fires
within the past ten days, among
which are:
Benjamin Young company, horse
collar factory; loss, 100000.
J. P. Lindeman, tinware factory;
building burned; loss, $4,000.
Hilty Lumber company; yards
burned; loss, 100000; one fireman
lost life; property worth 100000
in valley menaced.
Adolph Landauer & Son; three
stores suffered loss of $500; prop
erty worth $4,000 saved by quick
action of department.
Mimi Billiard factory; factory de-
stroyed: property loss, 100000; four
lives lost; sixty people forced to jump
from burning building.
Greve Show Print company; prop
erty loss, 100000; eighteen families
driven from beds in early morning;
several narrow escapes.
Arthur Manager livery stable; prop
erty loss, 100000; forty horses suf-
located; six employees forced to jump
from building to save lives.