| Show FIRE chicago march 16 the worst fire are that has occurred in chicago since the cold storage warehouse holocaust at the worlds pair fair in 1893 broke out in the building at the corner of wabash avenue and jackson boulevard today the death list will probably reach 15 16 and may exceed that figure te injured number about thirty tho the fart M lowing is the list of dead so far as aa known miles A smith salesman lived at 1236 1286 wrightwood Wright wood avenue i samuel simmuel A dark clark jumped from the fourth floor employed by the W A olmstead scientific company unidentified man taken from anwa wabash avenue burned beyond rewel tion W A olmstead president of the Ol Olm steal mateal scientific company miss kate carney forewoman of the national music company believed to have perished in the flames after help ing to safety the last one of forty girts girls in her charge when the explosion occurred he ran to the rear of the seventh floor of the building and has not been seen since kinoe it to is thought he was burled buried in the ruins charles anderson employed by sweet wallach company has not been seen since the first explosion philip parley farley 84 94 elburn avenue employed as a piano mover by the conover conove piano company was in the building at the time of the explosion cannot be found an office boy employed by sweet wallach company jumped from the sixth floor and to is thought to be buried in the debris caused by the falling walls the boy was 18 years old but none of the employed emp loyes is able to give his name A piano company occupied the first second and third stories of if the buildings among other tenants were the presbyterian board of publications and the sweet wallach company dealers in photographic supplies the latter on the sixth floor it was here that the fire broke out the floor was stored with chemicals and materials used in the manufacture of photographic supplies and according to some who escaped the entire floor was swept with flames in five minutes after the fire broke out three hundred girls were employed by this firm and when the lire broke out a panic ensued many of the unfortunate women being trampled under ander the feet of their comrades in their frantic efforts to escape cut off from escape by the elevators and the stairways people penned in the burning building began jumping from the windows arid and though the firemen and others held nets and canvas many were crushed on the stone sidewalks Ao according Cording to eyewitnesses eye witnesses as many as text jumped at once from the top floor and others were seen shortly after to fall back into the flames the flames spread to the floors bene beneath atIL the floors occupied by the presbyterian board of publication and sunday a dho 01 sup supplies les company also so contained av material artal which readily burned on tower lower floors the and held in stock by the em erka piano company were soon trans fo teed ed into tinder the firemen were ba hy y handicapped by the heat which vo s terrific within a radius of a blot ck the hiat heat broke panes of glass and dislodged signs and streams of water directed on the buildings on both I 1 of the street that were far away tin in order to prevent them from catching fitte firk several minor blazes did occur the fiercest fire was in the rear of the anerson company where were located bag dry goods tores stores thirty five minutes after the fire broke out the floors had all fallen and in a moment or two the wall fell shortly after the front wall bulged outward and fell the tracks of the union elevated loop being covered with debris and blocking the whole elevated system low ml kate carney forewoman of the national music company on the fourth AW of the emerson building Is to have been burned to death ik heroically helping to save many many lives of her fellow employed emp loyes when it W was first learned the building was a 0 fire the forty or more girls employed by the national music company rushed to the W elevators and miss mine carney camay tried to stop the rush but was unable to cope with the panic stricken girls and while some rushed down the stairways a lara lafe number beat at the elevator cage and se screamed reamed for help the elevator v was ascending and the ahe conductor stopped at the fourth floor in an in toot it w ws filled with the frightened girls au miss carney camey remained on the floor to see that all the girls escaped AW aid as the last one entered the car miss carney started to follow there was vow such a crowd in the elevator that miss carney could not get in and the elevator descended without her it to is aught she was too late to escape and overcome by the smoke which was pouring into the place fell to the floor an and was burned to death josile baza baxa and annie baxa sisters listak at west went street and era plad by the national music earn com vow leaped from the second floor to the street bosies right ankle was broken and her sister was severely bodwel ulas MW carney was a true heroine although at the outset she had eunity to escape with the other women she seemed to feel it her duty to stay and help the escape of the girls over whom she had charge her voice could be heard above the shrieks of the panic stricken girls urging them to preserve order and reassuring them again and again she stood near the stairway and attempted to aleze the foremost women as they dashed down to the next floor but she was thrown aside when she saw there was no hope of stopping the panic she darted to the elevator cage to calm the others As the elevator ascended miss carney or 1 dered the conductor to stop she then turned and helped her charges into I 1 the cage during all the excitement she remained calm and issued orders as though directing the women at work As the elevator started to descend without miss carney one of I 1 i the girls cried to the conductor to stop but the brave woman though staring death in the face shouted to them not to mind her that she would take care of herself the girls she sent down the elevator escaped unharmed two of those who bolted headlong down the narrow stairway joste josie and annie baxa made their way to the second floor but were cut off by the flames and were forced to jump from a window they were both badly injured but at the hospital their grea greatest teat anxiety ayd and sorrow was waa regarding forewoman kate carney the fire seemed to spring from three floors at one time the occupants of the fourth floor of the emerson building swept to the rear of the building on the fifth floor and tha sixth floor those in the front of the building heard the alarm and saw the smoke and flames at the same time there was no time for inquiry the dense smoke rushed through the rooms and drove the employed emp loyes of the various establishments down the stairway thre was waa but one winding stairway leading from the top floor to the bottom and but one elevator in the employ of sweet wallach company were twenty eight men and women there were a dozen or more in the employ of the presbyterian board of publication on the fifth floor there was a frightened rush of people to the elevator at the first call of fire the elevator boy was on the fourth floor when the alarm was given from the national music company and the office of alfred Bl bierley erley on the fourth floor half a dozen employed emp loyes were taken down to the first floor the boy returned once to the upper floors and his elevator was loaded again he did not dare to makes make a third trip for the smoke was pouring down the shaft men and women without hats or 1 coats ran down the stairway and into the street the fl first re t intimation that people on the street was the appearance of several of the fleeing employee emp loyes at the same time a dense mass of smoke poured out of the front windows of the fourth and fifth floors in another moment the upper floors were wreathed in flames and smoke several people made an attempt to run up the narrow stairway but were turned back at the sec second and floor by the downward rush of the smoke there were appi bently no nc over thirty people who made their escape by the elevator and stairway the building blazed so fiercely that the escaping employed emp loyes began looking for each other lather in the crowd that gathered quickly at the scene A number of tho people on the upper floors made their escape from the rear lay the fire are escape but that egress was cut off in a few moments by the fi flames alnes then the spectators were horrified to see nee the body of a man whirling downward frown from the cloud of smoke and name flame at the upper floor the body struck the pave ment and life was extinct when ready hands ran to pickup pick up the unfortunate who was recognized at once as caballer Ca cashier aLler binns of sweet wallach comp company nar A moment later two other forms ax seen at the window of the north MS of the wabash end front and they sprang within a second of each other several women standing in a group on the opposite side of the strew street watching the leaping forms of the cwb men with blanched faces sald Wd they as the face of a woman at the window during an instant that the wind bat swept away the smoke in the instant and with a rush and roar that could be heard for a block the enaw entla top of the building from the th ehte story up burst out in a sheet of blaino graph wires almost caused a pan among the dense crowds of spectator the wires falling across the rails or of tk taft elevated loop were instantly charf ft with electricity and a wild rush to m S out of the way took place when wa was turned on to the burning ta ela bated loop structure a beautiful occurred As soon as the streams the feed rail they were apparently cot averted into showers of electric and an aurora was formed sam 1 aspre spreading abing ading then shoot taa tal ahlm h into the air as aa the spray drifted ift i A gher wind this was kept up until the rent was waa shut oft off in less than half an hour after fire broke out the emerson but built i which was seven stories high go 80 front feet deep was level 1 the ground it was waa of what to is k as mill construction with a f plate glass and iron columns occupants were the emerson P company conover plano piano co comp chicago cottage organ ca comp 21 decorators wall paper company Y music company H holt company piano stools fremb board of publication alfred boyl ll 11 music publisher sweet walla waliam corn company Vany proto photographic graphic lc supplies w olmstead school supplies the elevated railway tracks i pass the building were badly d daina and there will be a loss loses of 10 from the breaking of plate plaid in the stores on the a opposite at all wabash avenue the six story building adjoin tn the north nos 13 18 was b d aged and its contents so soaker water and partially burned th capants of this building are tho rational cat ional publication company tl charles company kindergan Kin derga pee tar plies ideal music company 9 sheet eit sic new haven clock co comtiz waterbury watch comp company JOL company bubli publishers Welch brodt turkish rugg rug ward company photograph ers era and N G musical tn ment repairer 1 I the loss on this building and ete aft tents to is estimated at but rimor be more |
