Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1902 — FORTY ARE HURT VIEWING BIG FIRE [ARTICLE]

FORTY ARE HURT VIEWING BIG FIRE

Falling Runway Precipitates 2,000 Persons on the Crowd Below, PATROL DRIVER HAS STAMINA Sticks to His Seat and Controls Horses Though Suffering from Two Broken Legs—Loss to Plant Placed at Half a Million. While fire was destroying half of the $1,000,000 lard refinery belonging to Armour & Co. in the Union Stock Yards at Chicago, a runaway crowded with two tiers of spectators broke under the strain. From the mass of crushed timbers and struggling men and boys more than thirty injured persons were taken out. A boy, two women and one man were dangerously hurt. In addition to these a fireman sustained injuries while making the run to the fire which are expected to result in his death. Several other firemen were hurt, the list approximating forty. There was a second’s warning as the roof of the runway sank under the weight of the crowd. Then the sound of splintering wood was mixed with the cries of the injured as the roof fell in on the floor of the “run,” which, in turn, collapsed on the heads of the people standing on the ground, throwing 2,000 persons in a confused mass.

This happened while the fire was at its height. The fire itself was the most alarming and disastrous one the Stock Yards has had for many days, and only for the prompt work of employes and firemen in draining oil from the tanks in the burning plant, and but for a firewall which prevented the blaze from spreading, it is believed the principal buildings at the yards would have been doomed. The lard refinery was in the center of the yards. Two thousand men and women were employed in it, and 700 —a night shift —were at work when the fire drove them out. J. Ogden Armour placed the value of the building, which was constructed Tast year, at $1,000,000 and the damage at $500,000. while the burning oil was presenting a brilliant spectacle and before the police lines had become strong enough to handle the crowd, the spectators took possession of the “hog run” of the Boyd-Lunham Company. The “run” stood just to the east and south of the building and furnished the best opportunity for viewing the fiery spectacle. As many men and boys as could crowd on the "run” had climbed either to the root or to the run itself.

Two thousand persons were standing on the “run” when the crash came. The roof gave way first. Then, with cracking timbers and shouting people the load came down on the floor of the runway—itself crowded. The whole mass was precipitated to the ground, a fall of thirty feet in all, and on the heads of the persons below. When the runway came down it caught the patrol wagon of the Stock Yards Station and cut it in two. This helped to save the persons on the run, as it held the timbers for a second. The timbers broke both legs of Israel Morris, the driver. In spite of the pain, Morris stuck to his seat and held his plunging horses.