Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31

IerrsndS OF mercy, rs fireman after IRE.
man collapsed from the suffocatins
fumes or was incapacitated by frac.
tured bones. decorations or other in.
iuries. Eight of the more seriously hur
remained in hospitals last night, while
Is others were given hospital treat.
ment or first aid at the scene
Chief Watson die not declare the firt
under control until AIS O'Clock. Smoke
continued to pour from the ruins fo
more than an hour after that. Eigh
companies were detailed to remain IL
the vicinity during the night
One of the four employees who haC
narrow escape was Mrs Mabel Will
son of 1874 Columbia road She wa
finishing up some work In the docke
division on the second floor when sh'
snelled smoke. She ran TO one exit, bu
found IL locked, and then saw her othel
ordinary avenues OF escape cut of b.
the flames. She appeared ct a first
floor window and was helped out b!
firemen.
william w. Bays of 223s Hiatt place
an attorney in the examining division
| was in his Office OH the third aisle o.
the second floor when he heard tn,
| fire alarm in the building sound.
Thought Alarm Accident.
| 81 thought the alarm had gone of
accidentally" Bays said later, land didn'
| pay any attention to it at first. Their
I heard the sirens of approaching FIRE
| engines and / got up and went to TIT
| hall door. / saw the smoke in the cor
1 ridor l closed the windows in my Office
| to prevent drafts and started to &c
through the corridor, but flames drove
| me back. I soon found my way to g
! south exit, however,
/ Klpin another aY1nnlOVa
assisted by a colored messenger named
| Harris, was working on some exhibits
/ when the fire broke out. The two eS-
4 capped through a side door
| Through the courtesy of Frederic j
HaSkin, journalist and information ex-
pert, an improvised press rooms was es-
| tablished in Haskin's spacious Offices
in the Potomac Park Apartments, just
across the street. Many of the files
taken from the building were carried
into Haskins Office for temporary safe
keeping. Firemen and newspaper men
were served ice water and hot coffee
by Haskins staff.
| Tarpaulins were thrown over the
hodge-poge of papers, volumes and fur
niture piled along the sidewalk on
| Twenty-f1rst street, and force OF
building guards and park policemen
was assigned to protect them overnight
Confidential Records.
] Among the documents on the street
were observed confidential records Of
/ the Federal Trade Commission in 8
number of notable Investigations Of
1 trade practices Some of the volumes
contained decords of the hearings in
/ the commissions inquiry into practices
of radio and wire corporations, such al
4 he 10
poration of America, the American
Telephone and Telegraph Co. and other
| concerns
Maj W. w. Shepherd, who conducted
| hearings in the Aluminium Trust case
1 said he believed the records of those
hearings were a total loss, but he said
| the loss was relatively unimportant, be-
cause the case was closed
| Records of the commission in it:
/ chain store inquiry were found "95 pei
| cent intact" according TO Nj. p. Nom
son. clerk in the economists section.
William T. Kelley, assistant chief
| counsel of the commission appeared
| jubilant over the extent of the salvage
| work He said the findings OF the COM
mission in the power hearings were ir
print at the Government Printing Of
fee. The annual report also is in thu
hands of the Government printers. He
expressed the opinion that the heart
| of the records had been saved. HI
thought the most serious loss probably
was in accounting charts and exhibits
| prepared in connection with various
cases under investigation.
Law Library Lost.
Miss Billie WellbuIn, an admins
trative clerk, assisted in supervising the
removal of files. She said most of the
! files of the disbursement and personne
sections had been preserved, as well as
the current docket of cases pending anc
records in the Office Of Otis b. johnson
secretary 0 the Trade. Commission.
| A valuable economic law library was
destroyed
Edgar A. McCulloch, member of the
commission, visited the wrecked build
| ing and conferred with officials. He
declared that most of the records de-
| stroyed already are in print and can he
! replaced, while accounts of various
hearings, If lost, probably can be dupli-
| Gated by a New York firm of stenog-
raphers which has the contract for re-
cording all testimony in the commits
sions Investigations. If reports from
/ field investigators in pending cases have
been burned he said, the field men viii
be asked to rewrite their reports.
Protect Other Structures.
The fire grew so menacing at times
4 that flremen turned their hose on an
1 other temporary war structure across c
street, and on storage tanks of Gov
/ eminent gasoline filling station, nearby
A quantity of Photographic film al
first was reported destroyed, but later
was found to be among the goods res
cued. knowledge of the presence oil
/ the highly inflammable material caused
fire officials to warn against possible
explosion.
Investigations by the commission
which were not complete and which
may be tmpeded by the fire include the
! following: Cotton seed prices the pea.
nut industry, power and gas utilities
interstate power distribution, chair
stores, resale price maintenance anc
price bases.
At one time a stir was caused by the
report that a score of firemen had beer
trapped in the central portion of the
building when a roof collapsed. Tn,
firemen. members of No 81 and No.
Engines Companies finally emerged
after having been trapped for shor
period by swirling blazes and stif1inl
| f,,p,ac addars Uere raised tn he'll