The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-10
Six LiOes Are Lost Tn the N eW
 York Fire $6, 100000 IS THE PROPERTY LOSS Battalion Chief Is Missing. No Trace of the Body
 Found 
 OF HARTMAN LOST Some Estimates of Loss Run as High as s15 100000, But This Is Dis credited-Business in Wall
 Street Suspended

New York. January 9.--The immense nnarbie and granite home of the Equitable ' kAfe Assurance society. covering whole 31 51ock in lower Broadway, an historic |9&<ndmark of New Yorw's early period of 2 yocraper buildings. and one of the city's flt11nortant financial centers, was totally < troved by fire today with a loss of six <st1xAa and probably $6,0o0oO0 in property 3 3xon persons were injured. Eolvaluable records. including the auto- Fjelography of E. H. Hartman, two price- 4s libraries, which cannot be replaced, nesAnt up in flames, and the fate or nun kred aof millions of dollars worth of se- tfEnriffes stored in safety deposit vaults N lyvxs fopight in question, although 1t was &&,&>v&d fireproof construction had saved hem
 ' < Fought in the heart of the hnanciai I yistrfct. the fire upset the financial ma zln<rv of Wall street and business prac- W 1lx was suspended throughout the sv s1 xreat structure which, besides con " 6fns the main offices of the Equitable slHk 34xturance society, was the home of fhe Wercantile Trust company, the Equit- able Trust company, .the banking house of Koentz Brothers. August Belmont X Co., the Hartman railroad lnes' the Mercantile Safe Deposit company, the Lawyers club and many of the city s most prominent law firms stands tonight a shell of ice coated granite Fire Spectacular Besidee ssrolvtss heavy financial loss . a4 se,Sous disturbance to big business fnt,nests the fire was spectacular fl Ne intense cold acted almost nstantane- o,sly upon the water poured on the flames and a thick ice coating speediiy ,or,ed on the towering skyscrapers ad- 1acent and upon pavements for blocks around.
 The hulwark of modern freproof struc- .,,res nearby. according to Fire Commis- | sioner Johnson tonight, was ihVaiuapie as a protection to the entire hnanelai | district As it was. the damage, except | bv water. was confined entirely to the Equitable structure.
 Of those who lost their lives three men were killed by jumping from coping or the roof of the structure to which they were driven by the flames. They were employees in the building.
 Ratta,ion Chief William J. Walsh dis enneared when a cave in occurred on the third floor. No trace of his body had been found tonight
 Two other men, William Camploh' cap tain of the watehmen in the Mercantile safe Deposit companys vaults, and Ftank J. Neider, a special officer, whose Xbodies have not been recovered, com plete the list of dead so far as IS known
 The death total, however, may not be deflr itely fixed until the flames. which were still burning, have been extihsuisheo.
 President in Vault
 Among the injured is President William J Giblen of the Mercantile Saie De- posit company, whose rescue from the basement vaults, where he was impris- oned, after two hours work by fireinen, was a sensational feature of the fire. He had gone into a vault to save securities and accidentally locked himself in with an employe. Their cries were heard by the fremen, who had to saw through the steel bars of door leading to the street |hefore they could rescue the imprisoned snen MT Giblen was removed 10 hos ptal suffering from exhaustion and smoke
 One man in another vault of the Mer- rautile Safe Deposit company, believed to I,e f-amnion. could be seen from the street with his legs pinned down by mass of 1ehris hut could not be rescued because ,f heavy steel doors which barred the way Inf the flremen- Through the smashed win 1ovs of the door he was given the last .ites by Chaplain Mclean of the fire de- partment. just as he was swallowed rom JieN by the dense smoke.
 Spectators told of seeing others disap- hear when the roof caved in, but the au- borities believe the list of casualties already reported is hardly likely to be heightened
 .f,o ac fo1 as sl5,Oo0,000, but more conservative au- ihorities thought tonight that the damage would not be more than s6,000000. The broperty was assessed by the city at $l2,- bO0OO, a larger sum, with one exception, han on any building in the financial dis rict, but by far the greatest part Is based on the value of the ground upon which the Equitable building stood.
 An officer of the Equitable said the societys own loss probably would not mount to more than $3)0,00o, covered by ts own contingent insurance fund, and hat duplicates tof every record were .rored in subsidiary offices.
 The company had planned to erect a CIV building on the site aNi. as figured sy the officers, the expense of tearing down will balance well against the ctuai value of the structure
 Stored away in freproof vault over he main entrance of the building on broadway were between s250,000 600 and 3o0 00O,o0o of the securities of the com any. While the vault was subjected to ieroe heat, Gage E. Ta1ber, a trustee of he company. said tonight he believed it's cntents were safe. Three streams of later were played upon the vault all day
 nc the freezing weather quickly coated
 with ice
 Harriman's Autobiography
 4AIthougli the loss of the autobiography
 F. H. Hartman, which was about to E printed seems irretrievable, records
 the Hartman lines may be saved it
 leir vaults on the third and fourth floors
 found intact. The Hartman manage
 ent transferred part of its records only
 
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