The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-01-09

4 4 !
August Belmont, the g nous Cafe
Alexander !. Green, and
Pierce and Greer NJ law firms. the
Equitable Trust co siy the Mercan-'
tile Trust compahs VILLAIN A. Reed
and company, the Western Maryland
railway and Mercantile Safe Deposit /
company
When the Broadway side walls fell |
in. one of the three firemen, who was
imprisoned in the basement vaults,
was looking out through a grating,
talking with his companions who were
trying like mad to saw him out. He
declared his two companions We're al
ready dead. He, himself, unqestion-
ably was killed by the falling walls.
Another section of the walls on
Broadway fell at 1886. The flames
were then sweeping over the entire
block bounded by Cedar, Pine, Mas
sua and Broadway.
President In the Vault.
At $50 the firemen learned that
the three men entrapped in the base
ment vaults were not firemen, but
were President William Giblin, of the
Mercantile Safe Deposit company. and
I two companions, who had been driven
from the building twice by firemen,
but who returned the third time in an
effort to rescue papers. Giblin has
were dead and himself injured SER
iously. The floor supporting the
i Broadway walls fell at $50, and it
was feared the walls would follow.
Despite this fact, hundreds of fire
men worked desperately to get into
blocks of marble and granite falling
about them.
First Time in History.
" At S'56 Fire Chief Kenlon sounded
borough" alarm, bringing to the
fire for the first time in the history
of New York every piece of fire ap
paratus in every borough of New
, York. II was then feared the flames
would spread and that a frightful con
flagration would ensue.
The fire was the hardest the Ney
York fire department ever had to bal
2 tie. It started at $40 this morning
g In storeroom in the basement, an
= spread with such a rapidity that b
J the time the first firemen arrived O
Q the scene the great structure was
5 seething volcano Oh flames.
With increasing ianidity the flamc
. ate their way ulI t,le various air s.ia;'
! of the great structure, sc bees OF fire
u starting on each .,oor stimuli aneously
SO tia, the .'lemen could not :,nte
s their work On sny particular spot.
Full of riues.
Tie ilnmerse building. er te
9 years ago before space was so walt
= able was a mass of labyrinths an
= winding passageways, with a doze
J. entrances from the various fou
p streets on which it faced. Throug
:, these labyrinths the flames made the
- way, sweeping all before them.
- Broadway at this point Is not mor
y than sixty feet wide, while Nassau
y Cedar and Pine streets are mere allie
ways, through which two Wagon
cannot pass each other. 1t was thes
= mammoth skyscrapers, that the fir
y men had to fight the fearful blas
that blistered their faces. In IL
narrow confines in which they had
So work, fire towers could hardly
raised and the firemen were cor
sa PEELED to approach within few fe
10 of the flames if they entered any Oh
soSof the three streets around the bull
- ing.
sh Instances of individual herois
paled into insignificance in compa
nc son with the general conduct of II
0nIlTe uOuEu
V blocks of granite and marble fell CO
ass stantly about them. firemen plung,
~ into the maelstrome OF flames witho
-. flinching. AS the water left the hos
VI 1t froze, and firemen soon were G
ne cased in ice. Their suffering W
~ -. frightful.
ne Beyond Control.
Se Beginning at $50, the fire was
yond control, and at six o'clock Chi
nc Kenlon called out all available app,
20 atus from downtown Manhattan.
py s o'clock fire apparatus was hast
aa summoned from Brooklyn, While at nj
'a' o'clock Kenlon, for the first time
the history of New York, sounded
five borough" alarm, calling to t
me scene every piece Of fire apparat
I've in the five boroughs comprising N,