Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-10-25
RUINS OF FIRE
GIVE BACK DEAD
Ben Hanes and Ross Shepard,
Firemen, Recovered After
Search Of Hours.
ESTIMATED LOSS S4OO,000
Lack of Fire-Fighting Tower
Hampered Men Who Fought
Against Big Odds.

Fourteen hours after tons of steel
barEod concrete had precipated
them to their death, mansling their
bodies almost beyond recognition, fel'
low firemen yesterday removed from
the ruins of the Mayo building, corner
OF Fifth and Main, the bodies OF Ben
Hanes and Ross Shepard, who lost
their lives early Wednesday morning
i'm an effort to string a line Of hose
to the tenth floor of that building.
After Fire Chief Alder had found
yesterday morning at 3 O'Clock that
his men had placed the flames under
control, ii roll call was ordered and II
was then that the discovery was made
that Shepard ard Hanes were missing
and that they had been carried to
Their death when the stairway. built
on cantileVer from the adjacent
floors had ripped loose al the eighth
floor and dropped in mass to the
top Of the elevators on the FIRST floor.
From the hour of the discovery of
the missing firemen until yesterday
afternoon at 5:15, other ftremen and
lahorers labored, removing battered
concrete, bricks and twisted masses Of
steel and grillwork until at last the
bodies were recovered and removed
10 tho Mowbray undertakers.
Hard to Rcco,cr Bodies.
Early yesterday morning, fircmen
discovered the spot where the men
had been crushed to death by the
tons Of concrete and materials, when
the leg of one OF the firemen was
protruding from the mass which had
fallen upon him, but so great was the
weight of the huge pieces OF material
and so DANGEROUS was the work OF re-
moving Il, that not until after .
o'clock were the workers rewarded
with the recovery of the bodies of the
men.
AS soon as the last piece of concrete
had been removed from the boay Of
Hanes and he was placed on n
stretcher to be placed in the ambu-
lance, the thousands who had lined
the f.reline during the day swarmed
forward. hut the police stationed there
drove them back, making lane down
which the ambulance drove TO the un-
dertalSers. where orders were issued
by the firechief that no one be per-
mittcd to see the bodies. Funeral ar
rangements have not been completed.
and will not be until the arrival here
of relatives of both men who have
been advised of their deaths.
~ Fought Against Odds.
Fire Chief Alder refused last night
TO make a statement as to the direct
cause Of the fire. The fact that high
~ inflammable oils paints and other
materials were stored in the Tulsa
Decorating company's place of busi-
ness, In which the fire was first dis
covered, added greatly to the destruc-
ton wrought; however none of
the firemen were willing to admit that
this. together with the paper stock
and other int;ammable materials
stored In the Palace Office Supply
store adjoining on the north. or the
Deshon Electrical company, maze the
fire. which resulted In an approximate
loss of 100000. any easier to handle,
Streams of water were poured on
the smouldering ruins Of the Ohio
building from the time the fire was
first gotten under control until late
this morning In an effort to flood the
fire, which at times broke into flames
and leaped upward. while other fire
men, not engaged in this work. were
kept busy by Chief Alder and Captain
Woods In watching adjacent property
that new fire might not start.
Even with the closest watch the
Methodist deaconess home, directly
across the alley west OF the Mayo
CONTINUED ON PAGE SIXTEEN