Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1911-03-31
five F|REMEN ARE
PLUNGED To DEATH
CATASTROPHE ATTENDS BLAZE
IN BUSINESS DISTRICT OF
LWAUKEE.
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
IN the basement of the five-story
Friend building, 354 Broadway, oc-
cupied by the Middleton Manufacture
ing company, resulted in the deaths
Oh live firemen and injury to fifteen
more, and a loss to the Middleton
company of 100000.
The dead are:
Capt. Jacob Hentz, engine company
No. 28
Richard J. Burke, driver, engine
company No. 8.
Lieut.. John Houlahan, engine COM
pany No. 9.
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 died
after an operation.
Nineteen fremen, 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 a terrible death, when roof and
t1mbers from the floors fell in such
manner as to shield them from the
tons of falling debris. The fifteen
hremen 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
hremen were unaware Of their dan
ger, just before the roof caved in,
the crowd realized the peril, but it's
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.
The crash OF the walls threw bricks
wide upon the firemen working near
Several were injured by these frag-
1netns.
Led by Assistant Chief Young the
fremen entered the burning ruins,
and tore away savagely at what they
then realized must be the funeral
pyre of their comrades. One after
heat and smoke, but as soon as one
man was forced to seek fresh air an
other was there to take his place.
The blaze was discovered in the
basement of the building by w c.
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 inflammable 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 burned building adjoins the
Adolph Landauer & Son wholesale
dry goods concern, which suffered
loss of $4,000 a few days previous
also the electrical supply plant Of
Julius Andrae & Sons company, which
was destroyed in a former location
two months ago.
This city has suffered an unprece-
denied number of disastrous fires
within the past ten days, among
which are:
J. P. Lindeman, tinware factory;
building burned; loss, $4,000.
Hilty Lumber company; yards |
burned; loss, $4,000; one fireman
lost life; property worth $4,000 |
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, $4,000; forty horses suf-
located; six employees forced to jump
from building to save lives