Show 30 LOST IN 1 I GRAIN FIRE ARE Explosion Hurls One Man to Death Three Others Seriously Burned FIGHT PROVES FUTILE Police Hunt for Bodies Amid Ruins us m Br Associated Press CHICAGO Dec 23 23 One One man was fatally burned today and arid and firemen made strenuous efforts to find 30 others others oth oth- ers missing as flames raged in a six- six story grain elevator levator at Twenty eighth street and the Chicago river The wooden elevator and its ils bushels of wheat corn oats and barey barley bar bar- ley ey became a torch its flames reaching reach reach- in lug ing feet leet above the tower Their battle to subdue the blaze hopeless firemen spent their efforts to o prevent its spread to a larger concrete concrete concrete con con- crete elevator nearby w where ere bushels of ol grain were stored Walter Waller Brazel was the only man known to be dead A dust explosion near the top of oC the structure apparently apparently apparently started the conflagration and in ina a series of ot minor explosions as the theire ire fire spread downward Brazel's body was vas blown Into the open Three others were vere burned badly and rushed to hospitals When the fire broke out 34 persons were known to have lave been working in the structure owned by the Santa Fe railroad and situated in its ts yards on the south s side de V t I Whether Whether all ill of f t- t these escaped the flames James or were caught within could not be learned LOSS lO Loss of the elevator r Us machinery ry and grain was estimated by elevator company officials at The grain itself was worth property property prop prop- erty of the Stratton Grain company whose secretary H. H F. F said it was protected by Insurance Shortly after aUer noon the thc west wall which had been tottering and md menacing mena ing the file fhe tugs alongside in the river collapsed into the stream and sent up clouds of steam A red river of at burning burn burn- in ing ng grain flowed down the banks A moment later the north wall also fell feU felland felland and buried the small story one brick building housing the elevator company's company's com corn pany's office ottice Thousands of oC spectators were drawn to the fire and traffic was snarled with the 40 fire trucks and hundreds of automobiles jamming nearby thoroughfares Brazel working in the elevator building was near a door leading to safety when the fatal explosion n oc oc- oc- oc It hurled him through the thedoor thedoor door and his body fell upon a dock His skull was fractured He was 28 years old father of three children PUMP UP lIP WATER Fire department motor pumps backed up to the river when it was found that the nearest water hydrants hydrants hy hy- hy were two blocks away and water was sucked up from the river and poured Into the burning build build- in tag ing p. p Fire ire doors within the elevator were shut off oft at th the first alarm and pro some of the One of them Patrick Garrity was stranded atop a storage tank 80 feet high and was vas rescued by a fire ladder that barely reached the top |