BURNING OF A NEWSPAPER OFFICE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2745, 15 February 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

BURNING OF A NEWSPAPER OFFICE.

HORRIBLE SCENES.—LOSS OF LIFE. The .Mmneapolis correspondent of '. the Daily' News trives some terrible details of u lire which took place in the office of tho Tribune newspaper iu that city. The tmildinsr consisted , of eight .storeys, .and tho firo Htiirted in the third storey and spread rapidly to all parts of the building. The composing-room of the Tribune was on the seventh floor, aud in this wera 75 toieo compositors. AN EXCITING SCKNK. Suddenly oue of the large plate glas* windows was smashed, and a dozen men in shirt sleeves appeared, and cried to the horror-stricken crowd below, " Send us up a ropa for God's sake ! We are burning up !" Their eseapq had been completely cut off. The main staircase ran side by side with tho lift shaft, and the latter was alroady a fierce funnel of flame. The fire esoapo was on the north side of the building, while the composing-room was on the south. Therefore the printers were at the mercy of the flames, which roared on every side of them, . The vast crowd which was witnesning the awful sight shouted back words of encouragement. The long ladder seemed, to move upat a pnail'e pace, bnt finally it was rested in position, »nd the terrified men began to descend, while tho flames were making , steady enoroaohnients upon the corner, into whioh they had been driven. Life nets were brought into use, and aomo we,re caved, by this means. Had the building been made of paper it could not have burned niore rapidry. The firemen, too, worked, at a,disadvantage, because of the great height of the building. The editorial, rooms were also on the seventh floor, but the fire escape was opposite the windows., ;■ .;■;-,..■.;.-{;■ , '■,-< ,'..,. : LEAPS FOE LIFE. , . On the sartje.jfloof) nearjthe-editorial rooms,' was a telegraph operating room containing four, operators;, one of whom met a fearful death. He was seen to come to the window, but, apparently unconscious of the proximity of the fireeecape, mounted the window-sill and made a jump. His body oame whirling downward, and fell on the telegraph wires below. Then it bounded off, and crashed upon the pavement. Life was extinct when the,body was picked up by the police. A second horrible death was that of Professor Edward Olsen, president of the University of South Dakota. He was in the building visiting a friend who was an editorial writer. He was seen to emerge from a window overlooking an alley T in the fifth storey, and stand on the sill.,a moment. Then he .jumped, and fell into the alley, and was instantly killed.,-, It is thought that he tried to escape downstairs, and, becoming confused, ran to the window, and blinded and ohoked by smoke, took his fatal leap before he knew what he was doing. . Professor Olsen ranked as one of the best Greek scholars in the United States. A .FEARFUL ALTERNATIVE. A merchant, who wasin the composingroom to see about an advertisement for the paper, was seen to appear at a window aud jump. Hiß body landed in the street a crushed and shapeless mass. Another man was seen to climb a window sill in the composing-room, and look alternately at the distance to the street and the flames behind. A certain and horrible death awaited him either way. "Suddenly lie drew a revolver from his pocket, put it to his head and fired, falling into the flames, behind him. These frightful scenes were enacted in the plain sight of thousands gathered in thu streets. The occupants of the house came rushing down tho stairway with burned faces and hands, among them the editor of the paper, who was in his private office on the sixth storey when the fire broke out. It was sheer luck that auyone escaped at all, for tho entire lower part of the building was ablaze before those on the sixth and aeventh etornys knew anything about it. A portion of tho outer walla fell in about half an hour after the fire broke out, and.it ie feared that several peraano were buried beneath the ruins. The loss of property is estimated at £50,000.