The Washington times., 1912-01-10
millions IN SAFES
IN EQUITABLE RUINS
|MPER|LED BY ICE
Grave Danger That Build
ing's Massive Walls
Will Fall.
FREMEN WORKTO
GET CHIEFS BODY
Flames Still Raging in Basement
Of Wrecked New York
Structure.

NEW YORK, Jan. TO-; ;Firemen today
continued pouring great streams of
water or the smouldering ruins Of the
tce-encased Equitable building, en-
deavoring to effect an entrance to
search for the body of Battalion Fire
Chief William X. Walsh and others,
who are believed to be dead in the
structure. "&
Out on the Icy streets. Drawing the
bitter wind. financiors Qnd brokers stood
tEnpatiently waiting for chance t.
pcnetrate to the big, vaults of the Equi-
ssnle Life, the Equitable Trust. and the
value Of 5000, O0O.6oo are imperiled. m
Business in Wall Street was still ham,
pered today as never before by In
ability to secure the great volume Of
securities necessary for the routine
transaction OF business.
80 far as It is possible to determine,
the death roll in Yesterdays fire was
three or four other missing employees
df the building perished.
An accurate estimate Of the loss in
the fire is impossible. The loss to the
100000 Until the vaults can be opened
Innate OF the loss cannot be computed
Money In Danger.
There is grave danger today that the
massive walls Of the wrecked buildiag
will fall into the streets Although the
billion or more dollars worth OF Ase-
curtties In the Mencantile vaults are
belieS ed TO be perfectly safe, Deputy
Fire Chief John Binns today expressed
grave fears that the old-fashioned brick
vaults Of the Equitable, containing se-
cur1tes and money to the certified
value Of stIh0o1O0o. may fall from the
nS hA h,,tIA Asx,n~ l..A<~
basement. crumbling to pieces in the
tau and permitting a total destruction
Of their rich deposit
snf ae5se af tbs ss stu Is raging in the base
the vaults Of the Mercantile Safe De-
po6t Company. over which q huge ice
roof has formed, SO that the firemen
any do more wafse on It. Fire
win in1ure the contents of the vaults.
1ven u the vaults of the Equitable
are saved intact. 1t will probably be
vaults Of the Mercantile can be opened.
bustion.
Buried In Ice.
The body Of Conrad Siebert, a night
Waterman. killed in the basement of the
Mercantile. 10 buried today In a solid
sheet of ice thirty feet deep. Up to last
night Siebert's hands might be seen
through the ice stretched appealingly
forward to the bars through which Pres
dent William Giblin. OF the Mercantile,
had been dragged to safety.
4 The building today is an almost solid
mass OF ice. which the firemen say holds
sne walls together like cement. The
weakened floors into the basement and
streets. The force of the ice Already
has bIlged the walls facing Broadway
walls viii slip back into place ia enaw settins ins
up q vibration, wreckers say, that NAV
throw them down. In that event, It is
!eared the weight will crush through
tne thin shell of Broadway and be pre-
cipitated into the subway beneath.
All night long, under a dozen search
ngnts, nremen dug on the main stair
way on the second floor for the body
their lives In their hands, the men re-
200 tons of ice and debris over the
spot where Walsh is thought to be
the body can be recovered.
shortly before 10 o'clock the floors
that remained fell under the weight of
the ice. burying Chief Walsh's body
under q mass of debris that cannot be
removed for weeks, wreckers declare.
Old Style Vaults.
The vaults Of the Equitable Life,
erecteo many years ago, are known as
the old style chimney vaults" They
consist Of brick vault within a brick
vault, with an intervening air space.
The interior vault has a steel lining.
While they are fireproof, firemen say
that II the floors give way beneath the
weight and precipitate the vaults into
the basement, they will fall to pieces.
In that event the destruction of securi-
ties Is feared. -
It Is pointed out that. of course the
vast part of this great fortune is In
registered stocks and bonds, which could
be replaced, SO that the loss to the
Equitable and its thousands of policy
holders would not be great; certainly
nothing like the $500, 900 coo the securities
represent. There would be the incon.
convenience Of replacing them, but the
actual loss would not be heavy. OF
COLDS CAUSE HEADACHE
LAXATIVE BROMO Qulnne, the world wide
Cold and grip remedy removes cause, Cali for
fun name. Look for signature e. W. GROVE. go.