The Washington herald., 1914-03-08

Here was a fire in forty-story build.
ing that was getting away from the fire
laidies before it had reached within forty
feet of the surface OF the earth:
| A third, q fourth, and then the final
fifth alarm was sent in by the chief,
bringing fire apparatus and additional
fire fighters from far distant sections OF
the city. The bridges spanning the East
| River were cleared by the police. and
high above the leaden waters and under
leaden sky the great spans Of horses
dashed with titanic clatter as Brooklyn
and queens boroughs replied to the fifth
alarm.
To fight the flames in the deep pit un-
| der the Intercontinental. the chief of the
department sought an additional entrance
for the high-pressure streams. With an
order made more imperative because of
a cracking oath. he sent two companies
Of miners and sappers to the subway sta
tion beside the underground walls of the
skyscraper. On the floor of the station
was heavy framework of iron, check
cred with small patches of very tough
and thick glass. These bits of glass, ce-
mented into the iron frame, were glow
ing opalescently and with little streaks
of red. like the eyes of the insane pos
sessed OF fear and desperation. The fire
had crept from the engine room to the
restaurants extensive storerooms. packed
with barrels of liquors and crates Of food,
cases OF oil, and casks OF butter and lard
The men brought their axes high over
their shoulders and attacked the blink
ipe inf ha bal he, M ha
black and red pit below. In less than a
minute a ragged hole was made in the
barrier, and the water was shooting be-
low as there came upward a cloud of
acrid smoke and the sound Of the roaring
of a not too distant furnace.
The police reserves of a score of sta
tions had arrived and had roped of an
area of five blocks square. beating back
the fast-growing multitude.
Suddenly the men fighting the fire from
the subway station heard their chief give
a shrill cry Of warning. The roar OF the
furnace had become stiIled. The men
made the retreat from the ragged en-
trance to the pit in a rush. abandoning
the hose. They felt rather than heard
the explosion below as the first back
draught came. The air trembled and
the asphalt under their feet seemed to
lift soggily
n wide-spreading. funnel-shaped body
of flaming gas SHOT through the vent the
men had made with their axes. 1t came
with hundred times the force, heat. and
volume of the greatest blowpipe ever
fashioned, and 1t melt iron and glass
and caused the paint to run in ribbons
from the walls OF the station.
A subway train pulled in at half speed,
but the heat was so intense that the mo-
torman put on full speed and continued
his way toward Bowling Green and the
entrance to the East River tubes.
One high-pressure hose that had been
abandoned by the nozzlemen suddenly
twisted and sprang into action. like a
mighty snake of the age of animal mon
strosities. As IL possessed OF hate and
the fever of destruction, it made a vicious
swing through the air. The bright brass
nozzle rang against a steel pillar and
then few from its socket. The water
gushed with tremendous force from the
torn mouth of the hose, smashing to
splinters a ticket booth and sending the
firemen clattering up the iron stairs to
the surface.
The first explosion below ground had
put every one Of the twenty elevator
cars out Of business. Almost instantly
with this disaster-for the stoppage Of the
elevators was as IL an ocean liner had
been stripped of every life boat and life
preserver at the moment Of collision
there came series Of terrific explosions
from the steam pipes in the baths just
ha and tha rUanty
elevator shafts became twenty iues for
smoke, gas, and flame. The miles of SUBJ
way tubes gave to these forty-story
chimneys a forced draft that might have
been well imagined powerful enough to
fan the very flames Of hell
The fire following this great draft was |
now being fed by the fuel stored far be- |
low the surface. stores of lubricating oil |
for machinery, the bales of waste paper |
collected the night before from the forty |
floors of Offices. the fats and grease of |
the restaurant kitchen, the rich furnish |
ings of the restaurant itself, the rugs, |
bedding, furniture, and fittings of the !
baths.
In twenty seconds the people above the !
floor. VINO had tried to reach |
the surface by means of the narrow and |
hidden stairways which encircled the ele-
vator shafts, were cut of by gas and |
smoke as deadly as the flame itself.
The chief Of the fire department of the |
city dispatched an aid to instruct head
quarters to sound the 1.-TWO Mines" a
signal to the world that a catastophe was
is progress and that there was at hand |
one of those supreme moments of great
menace to test human ingenuity, human
courage. and the weapons of defense and
prevention fashioned by man against the
elements.
The heavy black cloud that had hung
over Manhattan all during the early aft
ernoon had spread SO that IL shut of the
setting sun. In all the skyscrapers there
flashed electric lights and downtown be-
came d fairy city fashioned in countless
jewels. From the dark windows of the
Intercontinental Building were darting
the blue flames of gas. igniting as It
struck the outer air and fed upon oxygen
sufficient to set it of.
The freproof Intercontinental Building
had become a huge gas retort. As the
heat became more intense from floor 10
floor. and as the oxygen inside was used
up. the furniture books. rugs. and other
equipment Of each Office underwent the
process Of destructive distIllation. Hum
hreds Of windows began to pop. sounding
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