Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1893 — HORROR AT THE FAIR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HORROR AT THE FAIR

COLD-STORAGE BUILDING WAS A DEATH-TRAP. Seventeen Firemen Cremated in the Burning Uuilding They Leap from One Death to Another Below—A Sickening Sight. In Graves of Flame. The World’s Fair has received a baptism of fire and blood. Seventeen firemen were killed outright, others will die, and still others are seriously, injured including a number of spectators, while property inside tho grounds to the value of $250,000 has gone up in smoke. Shqrtly before two o’clock on Monday afternoon flames of fire were discovered darting out from the cupola of the cold storage building, 200 feet above the earth. The entire brigado of the World’s Fair fire department answered an alarm. The grounds were thronged with visitors, the heavens were blue above, a brisk north wind swept over the park, and the gaudy engines and carts seemed but to add to the holiday appearance of the scene. It was as if the fire department was out on dress

parade, and none of the thousands saw any menace in the little blaze away up at the crown of the big white building: Fire Marshal Murphy, who was among the first at the blaze, ordered his men to the row of long windows near the top of the tower and went up himself. But there was great difficulty in getting up hose or getting a stream to bear on the flames, which all the while were spreading swiftly down the tower. One big gust of wind after another awept down great sheets of flame, until the fire finally caught at the windows where the men were standing on a foothold not more than two feet wide. It was then that the most awful catastrophe met the eyes of the thousands of moaning, horrified spectators who, now aware of impending danger, stood in the avenues below watching the flames eating their way down to the men. The poor fellows on the window ledge were helpless. Their hands were full of hose and they had not noticed the flames so close. Suddenly there was an explosion—tho ammonia pipes had burst and flames belched everywhere from the windows of the tower between the unfortunate firemen and the ground. Chief Murphy himself had led his men on their perilous climb to the balcony, and when the fire broke out below he ordered them to save themselves. They could not go down as they had come up, for the interior of the tower was a roaring crater. They were completely surrounded and burning timbers began to fall from above. The poor fellows huddled together as close as possible at one corner

hoping that their comrades below could reach the flames with streams of water or afford some other relief. But it was no use. They were surrounded by fire, with the roof one hnndred feet or more below them and the tower ablaze nearly all the way down. Futile Efforts to Escape* Some of the men tried to slide down the hose which had been drawn up. The first man who tried descended half way to the roof, where the flames flew out and caught him, and he dropped, doubtless dead before he struck the roof. Another and another tried it. The dark bodies were seen whirling through the air. The arms were outstretched and the garments were blazing. A rope dangled down from the high ledge. Men with flames biting their very faces fought to reach the rope. Some had fallen over to the roof, eighty feet below. One had leaped away out, his body lurching forward as he shot downward A man was seen to start downward on the rope through the boiling red mass. The rope snapped. His body turned over and over as it fell. From thousands of watching sufferers went up a groan, thousands of groans joined into one, and then there came shrieks as women fainted. For the building which had started to burn stood at the south of the grounds, just west from the central court of honor, and the multitude saw it all. They saw the firemen leap out through the circling flames to sure death below. They saw the higfc tower, wrapped flames,

tremble with doomed men still clinging to that crumbling ledge under the dome. They saw the bodies tumble into the great vat of flame. The crowd sickened at the hor-< rid sight. Women screamed, wept and fainted, children cried and strong men turned away and cursed in a helpless rage. Sixteen men jumped from the burning balcony, and, as the last oneeprang out, the tower, completely enveloped in flames, tottered and fell with a crash. The burning mass smashed through the roof, carrying with it the dead and wounded who had not been dragged to a place of safety. | But the horror did not end here. Three minutes after the fall of the tower the entire roof was ablaze. One hundred men were on it. So quickly did the fire spread that the ladders on the east and south sides were cut off. The only way of escape for the gallant hundred was down a single ladder at the north end of the building. Deeds of Heroism. The deeds of heroism and courage performed in the few minutes that it took to clear the roof will never all be told. Half a dozen brave fellows with the burning roof sinking beneath their feet rushed to the aid and rescue of Captain Fitzpatrick, who lay moaning, mangled and dying right in the seething mass of flame. Many others rushed to save their helpless fellows, who lay about with cruelly broken bodies, the result of the leap from the tower. Ev-

eryone who was not buried in the burning debris was lowered to the ground by ropes or in strong arms. Then the blistered heroes sought the north ladder. About them surged the fire. Flames curled around their legs, stabbed at their faces and licked off their mus'tacher, and eyebrows. But. here, as in the tower, there was no outcry, no struggle for precedence, no cowardice. Down the ladder they swarmed, by twos and

threes and on both sides. The last man had scarcely left the roof then it fell with a roar. Ambulances came. Bodies, the smell of which made the nostrils sick, were hurried away. All the stretchers were smeared" with blood. The firemen, maddened by the fate of their comrades, fought in a reckless spirit of revenge. Soldiers and guards of a half-dozen nations held back the insane crowds. As the hospital filled up the building burned. It may never be known how many victims lay in it* fiery depths. With the aid of a detachment of infantry a fire line was formed and a passageway through the crowd was made for the ambulances. With this arrangement a large space east of the (i4th street gate became practically dear. On the north side stood the line of infantrymen resting on their rifles. On the east there were infantrymen and some French and Russian marines. On the south the fire engines chugged and pounded. Every few minutes an ambulance would dash across the space and there would be a flutter of excitement as guides in gray uniforms and guards in blue lifted something into it. At intervals down the front of the line of soldiers men in the hospital service stood grouped around the little red banners which showed their calling. The banners looked like the guidons and added to the strangeness of the scene, which* was half military in appearance. Back of the military line the great crowd massed itself and stared with stony faces over at the ghastly happenings across the way. Witnessed by Thousands.

Twenty thousand people saw the horror. When the tower fell on the unfortunates on the roof the groan that went up seemed to shake the skies. Army officers, whose faces never blanched in the face of death, covered their eyes, turned away and shuddered. Bearded men cried out and beat the air with impotent fists. Women swooned, and children stood transfixed with horror. When the terrible tragedy was at its height some one in the crowd shouted: “Run for your lives: the ammonia tanks are going to explode." A stampede ensued. Those nearest the building turned and dashed at the living walls behind them. Like a torrent the people swept back. Men, women, and children were thrown down and trampled on. For ten minutes the mass struggled to get away. Scores were hurt. Aside from the awful loss of life the fight with the flames was the most serious the World's Fair Department has had. The fire was an intensely hot one. Firemen, guards and workmen about the building were prostrated by the heat. If the wind had been from the west, instead of the northeast, the big Exposition buildings would have had the scare which struck along Stony Island avenue. Some of these buildings just across the street had a narrow escape. The oold-storage building was built up almost against the fence. More than 100 yards of fence were burned to the ground, and the hotel buildings opposite caught fire re.jfceatedly, but were saved by the earnest work of the firemen. Basil, Lockwood, the colored hero of the Ford Theater disaster at Washington, has been presented with a gold watch.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE FIRE IN THE DEADLY CUPOLA.

JUMPING TO DEATH.

CAPT. FITZPATRICK.

CHIEF MURPHY.