GREAT CHICAGO FIRE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17452, 12 May 1922, Page 4

GREAT CHICAGO FIRE.

DEVASTATION IN CITY.

INCENDIARISM SUSPECTED.

An important business district of Chicago was devastated on March 14 by a firo wliich at one time s^£L ed likely to rival the historic five of IS'l- - entiro block of buildings was es troyed, the damago being variously estimated between £2,000,000 and £ir 000,000. Mrs O'Loary's cow, by kiting over a ctuidlo while boii*g nii > is "generally supposed to havo tno blaze which ruined Chicago halt centurv ago, but the .latest aisater i believed to have been duo to lncencliar1S The flames started in a confectionery establishment in tno district to west of tlio narrow.south branch or tn Chicago River. Fortunately tho wind was blowing to tho west, ir m what is known as the Loop heart of the Chicago business f which is encircled by a ring oi elevate ''The rapidity with which flames leapt .from one building to another was amazing." said Mr Buckley, the cliiet of the hre brigade. '"l'liey secmod literally to run away fioin us. boon every structure in tho block van Buren Street, Canal Street CI niton Street, and West Jackson Boulevard was blazing fiercely. . . The fire leaped across the Boulevara and wrecked the skyscraper occupied by the of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railway. Ihis stiucture was supposed to bo fireproof, ana l'or a time is blocked the northward spread of the flames. Thon its 21sfc storey caught fire. With great heroism tho clerks manned the lifts and carried firemen to the roof. . Floor by floor the lifts fillod with firemen and their equipment descended as tho fire spread downwards. Finally the third floor was reached, and it was considered useless to continue the fight, the lifts at tho last moment .were lowered with a rush, and their occupants barely escaped with their lives through tho offices of the Mercantile Trust and Savings Bank on tho ground floor of -tho burning skyscraper. It was now 3 o'clock in the morning, and the fire had. already lasted two hours. In the adjacant streets and on the other side of the Chicago River somo 100,000 persons watched the progress of the flames, and tho glare in the sky could be seen for 20 miles. The steel framework of the skyscraper became whito hot, and soon the offices of the bank also took fire, and its vaults containing £1,500.000 worth of securities were buried beneath the debris. More than a dozen outbreaks of fire were by now being combated in the vicinity, and in somo streets the heat I ivas described as being so intense that tho innumerable streams of water I directed at the flames seemed to be changed into, steam before reaching the fire. j, . . When, at 6 o'clock in the morning, the fires wero got under control ono fireman had been killed and 10 injured, in addition to an unknown- number of. spectators who had been burned or hurt by sparks and falling bricks and timbers. The final victory of the fire brigade was ensured when tho firemen obtained access to. some smaller .buildings to the south of van Buren Street, from which they commanded the flames, and the. spread of .fire was checked by a large.' vacant building site, where the new "Union Station is to be constructed. Although the fire did not reach the branch post office near this site,.all letters and mail-bags were removed to a place of safety. The authorities arrested Frank Carsey, aged 80, a former employee of the Confectionery Speciality Company, the. owners of the premises where the firo started. This man was discharged two. month,s ago. Incensed because he was refused permission to ,buy sharos in the company, Carsey recently wrote threatening letters to the president of the cortpany.