Fire in a Skyscraper.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 57, 11 March 1904, Page 4

Fire in a Skyscraper.

EXCITING SCKXES IX CHICAGO. Tin' .Masonic Temple, a huge skyscraper building 20 storeys high, hi Wat wl within a few yards of the Iroquois Theatre at Chicago. was the scene oi an exciting lire on J an. '2'.\. Over 12000 people occupied ollices and stoles in the gigantic structure, and when the Humes, which were due to a chemical explosion, liroke out, hundreds fled precipitately, but. fortunately, no loss of life occurred, though a score of persons were injured. The explosion was followed by llames on three floors, and intense .excitement prevailed throiighoiil the building. I'Voni every ollice lite occupants poured into the hnllwavs. The explosion had been heard by nearly all, and when Ihey saw the smoke they were thrown into a slste of panic. Kveryone thought at once of the .Iroquois disaster, ami this made them still more nervous, and men and women rushed wildlv for the stairways and elevators. As the flames spread, the great ro-tunda-shaft, with ils II e!.'\al.,rs, made an ideal chimney for the escaping smoke. The lift :iU,.,;,lanls were forced to breathe the smokeladen air, bul they behaved like heroes, running their cars ceaseless ly, and seeking to allay the panic among the hundreds who were trying to escape from the top floor. The down cars were jammed with passengers, and numbers of women fainted. The men generally retained their senses. The gallant life attendants stuck to their work throughout, the smoke and flames until every person was out of the building. Outside the Temple thousands of persons who were watching the lire were panicstricken by another explosion, which threw a quantity of scalding fluid in their facess, and in the rush for safei ty it is feared that one old man sus- ■ tnined mortal injury. Before the lire was subdued damage estimated a t i 20,000d01. had been done