Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1908 — FOUR FIREMEN BURIED [ARTICLE]

FOUR FIREMEN BURIED

Wall Falls and Carries Them Through the Roof of a House. HAVE A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE None Hart Seriously and All Gallantly Rescued—“ Black Hand’’ Doings at Reed’s Station,

Indianapolis, Jan. 30.—Four firemen were carried down by a falling wall at the fire that was still raging yesterday in the mammoth building controlled by the Henry Coburn Storage and Warehouse company, at 213 to 233 West Georgia street. Other firemen made a heroic rescue, and the imprisoned men were dug out from a mass of debris in the basement of an adjoining building, under which they were buried. The men were more or less Injured, but none seriously. It is believed the fire will cause a loss of about a million dollars. Men Who Were Injured. The men carried down by the wall were: Harry Harwood, pipeman, hose company No. 12;Thomas Hannon, pipeman, hose company No. 18; Bert Kemper, hose company No. 12; Butch Judd, hose company No. 13. Other men injured during the fire were John Brandes, lieutenant In hose company No. 17, and Andrew Miller, member of truck company No. 2. Many other firemen suffered from exposure Incident to tiie freezing weather and several of them had to be assisted to places of shelter to recuperate. The exposure caused Chief Coots to become ill, and he left the management of the fire in charge of his assistants. When the Crash Came. The fire had burned ten hours, and a section of the east wall of the warehousefell out. Firemen Harwood, Hannon, Kemper and Judd were on the roof of a one-story building occupied by the Advance Thresher company, which adjoins the warehouse on the east. The men were handling two lines of hose and braving the flames which burst from the windows of the taller structure above them. Without warning the wall of the warehouse bulged outward and before the pipemen could turn and run, all were caught Recue Gallantly Made. The weight of the falling wall and section of the roof broke in the floor of the smaller building and the fireman went down In a mass of debris into the basement of the Advance building. Other firemen dashed to the rescue at the risk of their own lives, and In spite of the seeming impossibility, all the men were got out alive and as it proved not even severely injured.