Norwich bulletin., 1922-07-19
Two Bremen Killed
 at Fire in New York
500 Families Driven From Their Homes in the Bohe- milan Quarter of Green wich Village.

milan Quarter of Green
 wich Village.
 : New York, July 1s-(By the A iP.)- A stubborn warehouse fire in the Green wich Village section of the city broke out about 8 o'clock this morning, burned through the day, and was still blazing tonight after nearly 4,000,000 gallons of water had been played on the flames by 40 hose lines.
 "The toughest fire I've ever encounter ed''' was the comment of Acting Fire Chief Smoky Joe Martin, made to Mayor Hylan when he returned to direct his men after having been blown out of a doorway by one of series of ex- plosions which rocked the lower West Side.
 With the flames checked, but not un- der control, investigation showed that two firemen had been killed, three more were missing, about Is persons had been talk en to hospitals seriously injured, and more than 175 had received first aid treatment at three emergency stations opene dby the Red Cross. In addition, about 500 families were driven from their homes in the Bohemian quarter, and to- night were barred by the police from returning, lest the warehouse walls col lapsed.
 The outstanding feature of the fire was the pungent black smoke that rolled out of the building soon after the first of the blasts.
 ] Though a mid summer sun blazed down until in the afternoon, when a thunder squall broke, the firemen found 1t black as midnight and rigged great searchlights in their efforts to pierce the darkness,
 Fire Commissioner brennan, who de- clared that no permit had been issued to store explosives or chemicals in the ware house, worked feverishly to ascertain what was stored in the building.
 Although the property damage could not be accurately estimated without a check of the contents, said to include newsprint, rubber, rice and epson salts !. it was evident that it would run into hundreds of thousands.
 Late this afternoon Commissioner
 brennan declared there was something l to be called to the attention of the dis i trict attorney" and announced that his i department would confer with the prose cutor.
 The known dead are:
 l. T killed by falling debris.
 l Fireman James Carroll, attached to q
 Brooklyn company, killed when his en-
 zine struck curb while responding tc
 an alarm.
 j. The names of firemen and policemen appeared most frequently on the list oi ] injured. About a score were struck bs building material blasted from the ware 1 house by the explosions or by falling bricks or timbers, but most, of thos:
 treated at the emergency stations hat l been overcome by the thick smoke. +, Dr. Harry M. Archer, an honorary
 deputy fire chief, fell a victim to th' l fumes while treating the injured. H. 1 also suffered numerous gashes. l Tine whole quarter was thrown into {
 panic by the first blast. Bremen an I swering the first alarm, found aamel l shooting up an elevator shaft at th' I Jane street entrance to the building ] which extends through the block to 12tl ! street.
 ] When Smoky Joe reached the scene l he ordered three more alarms sounded i bringing to the spot the greatest mobili zation of apparatus in New York sine i the Equitable building fire. J Then came the explosion that slightl. injured Martin and hurled other fremel and policemen across the street. I A little later Schoppemeyer led his mel Il into the builclng, to be met by anothe J blast which lifted the roof. Driven back ! he reached the street just in time to b felled by debris. He died on the pave ! ment, with priest administering tn I last rites of the church. II By this time, policemen were driving t the streets occupants of the apartmen houses which surround the warehouse l Many of these-painters, sculptors an writers-hed from their cellars and attic l carrying their works of art. ) The crowds were held four blocks fror } the fire. Many mounted roofs and watch ed the fire The heat became so intens : and the smoke so blinding that the fire
 men had to set their nozzles on tripod
 and withdraw nearly 100 feet.
 First aid was given hundreds of fire men who were driven out of the smck
 time and again. Smoky Joe" Marti- : the 72-year-oid acting chief, who say l he makes regular diet of smoke. tVic ) was forced to go to relief stations {, be revived.
 sE Hospitals stripped their staffs Of r l ternes and sent them to the fire Tn , services of the doctors were cCnstantl in demand. Particularly was that tru | on the Jane street side. where 6reme from three engine companies sought l : check the blaze from roofs of aoart F ments across the street. They were tl 3 rectly in the path of the smoke, and 6 was only by working in fve-minute rs
 lays that. they were able to hold thei $ own. Many of them were overcome. nl Shortly after the fire started polic ordered about 500 families from the q homes in the vicinity of tt1 burnin: : warehouse.
 fl Many children became separated frol e their mothers, and there was a nea : panic among the thousands of specti tors as police tried to reunfte them. vl District Attorney Banton, 1ollowin < conference with fire department oft . lcials. said late this afternoon that a ' explosion of case of magnesium pow d der camused the fire: He said that ,
 cases of magnesium had been taken 1T
 to the building since March 5, and th:
 some of them were being taken out, h , way of the elevator, wheid one va dropped and exploded. The other cases were ignited and the l followed the great explosion as flara, ] reached the powder.
 l HAMILTON HOLT TAKES
 ISSUE WITH sEC,Y AUGHI