Omaha daily bee., 1916-10-04
| FIREMAN MEETS
DEATH IN SOUTH
SIDE ACCIDENT

return until about 6 o'clock.
BE extra careful" cautioned Mrs.
Adams You know we have only been
married since May 3"
Said He'd Be Careful.
ooh, III be careful enough"
laughed the husband" and l will be
more careful if you will promise to
pay the grocer's boy our little bill to-
day"
The wife promised and they bade
each other goodbye"
1t was the last time Mrs. Adams
was to see her husband alive. Al
though the fire department auto hur-
ried with her to the South Side hos
pital in record time, Adams was dead
before she reached him.
Mrs. Adams home is in St. Louis,
Mo. They were married in Omaha
the fatality.
Seven Firemen Burned.
While fighting the flames in the
plant, five firemen on a wall OF the
beef killing room, we're severely
burned by sheet Of flame shooting
upward. They are Edward Kocha-
mowski, James Kennedy, JOHN Pol
lock, William Holly, Captain Joe Gal
ligan, all of No. Is hose company,
Pierce street station. Kennedy and
Pollock were the most severely
burned.
Assistant Chiefs Martin Dineen and
George Crager were severely burned
about the hands. t..
Departments Saved.
The fertilizing plant, which at pres
ent is being rebuilt; the box factory,
the oleomargarine department, the
cooper shops, the hen house, the lard
refinery, the engine room, and the
beef kill are few Of the departments
that were saved from the flames. A
six-foot brick wall separated the pork
house from the beef kill, thus insuring
practical safety to the latter. The hog
kill house is separated from the main
pork house by railroad tracks and at
a late hour last night was reported in
no danger. Sparks ignited a portion
OF this division, but gained no head
way before being put out by detail
OF firemen.
Pork meats and products valued at
half million dollars were stored
Throughout the place, and the burn
ing Of considerable portion OF this
cold storage supply Is taken up in the
estimated loss. The plant proper is
valued at something more than mil
lion dollars.
Departments Burned.
The departments that were totally
demolished are: Pork trimming, saus-
age, dry sausage, pigs feet, hog cool
ers and sausage coolers, sweet picket
coolers, sweet picket and salt porl:
The latter department escaped com
plcte loss, part Of the supply being on
lower floor. The dressing rooms
near the east elevator shafts were also
Quilted. Thirty heavy electric motors
Lung in different parts of the three top
floors fell to the third and fourth
floors with dangerous crashes.
The fire burned with force until
long after II o'clock last evening and
probably will be smouldering for sew
eral days. Sparks from the blaze blew
several hundred feet in the air and
lit in great showers on the north wing
of The cattle pens in the stock yards.
Killing in the cattle section will not
be intcrfered with. The company had
over LIS cattle on hand and these
we're killed this morning. 1t is ex-
pected that hog killing will be resur,-
ed in about two weeks.
Fight in Stock Yards.
Superintendent Jack Walters as
sumed charge of the situation and d.
rected the play Of several streams Of
water on the scorched parts. Several
hundred tons Of hay piled along the
concrete loading dock we're also pro-
tected in this manner. The situation at
first looked serious, but later changed
as the wind blew less. Sparks fell in
abundance on the new concrete and
steel hog sheds, but had no effect
whatever
Three fire engines and five motor
trucks OF the new design pumped
water for three solid hours, furnish
ing pressure for twenty-five lines OF
hose. The biggest fight in the early
evening was on the south side OF the
plant next the street viaduct. The
flames later shifted to the southwest
corner, driving toward the fertilizer
plant, but battalion with twelve hose
lines fought the fire to the opposite
direction, where II conferred in Its last
stand on the fourth and fifth floors Of
the sausage division. From here all
through the center of the pork house,
estimated at half block square, il
swept downward. Chief Salter or.
dered the fight to be transferred to
| the third floor at an early hour and
this probably saved good deal Of the
property loss.
One thousand freight cars side.
tracked on tracks Nos. l, 2, 8 and 4
were removed soon after the blaze
showed up as dangerous. The cars
were filled with produce ready for
shipment. Many other empty cars that
filled the big railroad yards after the
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