CHAPTER III

FIRES AND ACCIDENTS

=Type of story.= Many newspaper reports of fires and accidents may be considered as typical examples of narrative and descriptive news stories of the purely informative type. The essential facts of the news are presented in a simple, direct, concise manner without any attempt to give the story any greater interest for the reader than the facts themselves possess. Such a fire story is that of the “Large Tannery Fire” (p. 16) and such an accident story is that entitled “Automobile and Car Collide” (p. 24).

When human life is involved in these events, some newspaper writers take advantage of the opportunity to add to the interest by developing the personal, or human interest, elements of the news in the informative type of story, while at the same time presenting the facts fully and accurately. Accident stories of this type are those headed “Entombed Miners” (p. 38) and “Baby Drowns” (p. 42).

Less important fires and accidents that might otherwise go unnoticed, or be dismissed with a few lines, may have in them some element that lends itself to the feature, or human interest, treatment. A small fire story of this type is found on p. 19; a humorous feature story of an accident is that of the “Child in a Runaway” (p. 25); and a pathetic human interest story is that of the “Boy Killed by Car” (p. 25).

=Purpose.= Stories of fires and accidents, particularly when such occurrences result in fatalities, may be written so as to be either constructive or destructive in their influence upon readers. The constructive effect lies in emphasis upon those elements that tend (1) to turn the reader’s attention to preventive measures, (2) to create sympathy for the victims, or (3) to inspire admiration for heroism or other virtues. Stories that give prominence to immediate or underlying causes and responsibility in cases of fires and accidents, as well as to possible preventive measures, have a helpful effect. Stories that create sympathy for victims deserving of aid generally result in prompt offers of relief. Examples of constructive stories are those entitled “Fire in Stables” (p. 18), “Lodging House Fire” (p. 21), and “Runaway” (p. 22). The story that aims to satisfy readers’ interest in ghastly and sensational phases of fatal fires and accidents panders to a morbid curiosity and inevitably has an unwholesome influence, even though the facts that it presents are true.

=Treatment of material.= All types of fire and accident stories give opportunity for spirited narrative and vivid description. Possible means for lending life and interest to the narrative include accounts of the disaster, either in direct or indirect quotation form, as secured by interviews with survivors and eye-witnesses, and conversation between persons involved.

=Contents of story.= Among the important details to be considered in analyzing stories of unexpected occurrences, such as fires and accidents, are: (1) number of lives lost; (2) number of lives endangered; (3) names of dead and injured; (4) prominent persons and places involved; (5) character and extent of damage; (6) property threatened with damage or destruction; (7) cause and responsibility; (8) investigations; (9) preventive measures against recurrence of event; (10) probable or actual effects; (11) peculiar and unusual circumstances; (12) humorous and pathetic incidents. Almost any one of these details may be the feature of the story, and as such may be played up in the lead. The space and prominence given to each of these details are determined by its relative news value.

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LARGE TANNERY FIRE

_Boston Transcript_

Following an explosion of fuel oil, fire spread like a flash through the plant of the George C. Vaughn Sole Leather Tannery on Upper Bridge street, Salem, shortly before noon today and destroyed three large buildings and a power house, with a loss estimated from $325,000 to $350,000, covered by insurance. Many times the flames leaped to the neighboring wooden structures that surround the plant, but by the efforts of the entire Salem fire department, assisted by men and apparatus from Beverly, Peabody and Marblehead, a conflagration was narrowly averted.

More than a quarter million dollars’ worth of sole leather was stored on the premises. A. J. Vaughn, president of the company, said after the fire that $200,000 worth of new stock had recently been received and that the old stock, machinery and buildings were worth $150,000 in addition, bringing the total loss to $350,000.

The fire, which broke out at 11.15 A. M. in the basement of the main tannery building, spread so quickly that the employees at work on the upper floors had difficulty in escaping to the street. Even before the first alarm had been sent in, the advancing flames reached a large tank of oil, used for fuel in the power house. A heavy explosion followed and the fire gained irresistible headway, since the power house stood in the centre of the plant and was flanked on three sides by the tanning houses.

Unable to check the flames in the plant, the firemen bent their energy to keep the fire from spreading. Calls for assistance sent to the surrounding towns met quick response, and by 12.30 the blaze was under control.

The buildings of the plant comprised a two-story stone tannery, 200 feet long; a single-story drying and rolling house, built of wood, with a frontage of 150 feet; and a beam house, also of wood, with a frontage of 125 feet. They were grouped on three sides of a square surrounding the power house. The plant was formerly known as the F. A. Lord tannery, but was enlarged and remodelled after its purchase by the George C. Vaughn Company.

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UNIVERSITY BUILDING BURNS

_New York Times_

Three important collections of books and documents, two of which were held by their owners to be priceless, since they represented the lifework of the collectors, were destroyed in the fire which swept through the superstructure of the uncompleted University Hall on the Columbia University campus early yesterday morning.

While the fire was burning, between 1 and 2 o’clock, the interest of the student body was centred principally in the gymnasium, where there was a grand piano and much apparatus to be saved, and in the rooms of the Columbia University crew, where there were many trophies, oars, and banners.

In the rush to save athletic trophies, the documents in rooms near by were overlooked. They were finally pitched out of the windows by firemen cleaning up after the fire, and they were made up into three great rubbish heaps on the lawns about the burned building.

Before these rubbish heaps a Professor of Mathematics and a Professor of Germanic History stood yesterday with tears in their eyes, their shirtsleeves rolled up for work. They toiled through the débris looking for personal papers and for notes and documents which they said regretfully they feared they could never replace.

The collections destroyed included all the personal library on the history of Germanic civilization brought to this country by Dr. Ernst Richard, Professor of Germanic History. With Dr. Richard’s documents went his personal notes, which he had gathered in a lifetime of study. While he stood over the rubbish pile in front of the window of what had been his office, Dr. F. N. Cole, Professor of Mathemetics, searched another big rubbish pile near by.

Dr. Cole also contemplated his loss with deep sorrow. In the pile before him were all the official documents and records of the American Mathematical Association, which had its headquarters in the building. Dr. Cole was its Secretary, and he had moved the documents from East Hall two years ago because he feared that East Hall might burn, while University Hall, except for the temporary superstructure, was fireproof.

The documents had been accumulating since the association was founded. The files of the first ten volumes of its publication, the American Mathematical Society’s Bulletin, were destroyed together with the stock collection of copies of all subsequent volumes. All of Dr. Cole’s personal papers were destroyed with the society’s papers.

The fire, which apparently originated in the kitchens behind the Commons eating quarters on the main floor, swept through wooden partitions separating various offices on that floor, and through a temporary wooden roof which had been put on against the time when seven more stories should be built.

As the lower floors, which were part of the permanent structure, were fireproof, the flames did not work down through them, but died out when they had consumed the temporary superstructure. The gymnasium on the lower floor was unharmed, except by water, and the swimming pool below it was ready for use yesterday.

The offices on the upper floor which were destroyed included the headquarters of The Columbia Spectator, The Jester, the Prison Reform Association, and the American Mathematical Association, the rooms of the Columbia Crew, the Commons Restaurant, and the offices of the departments of mathematics and Germanic history.

The athletic trophies in University Hall, it turned out, were of only minor value, having been won at training bouts on the Harlem River. The rich trophies of the university were kept in another building with fireproof walls and floors.

E. Stagg Whitin, Secretary of the Prison Reform Association, joined the downhearted group early in the afternoon. “What will Thomas Mott Osborne say when he hears of this,” he remarked, as he looked over the débris that had been notes and documents. “All our work was here,” he said, “all the fruits of our years of investigation. And there was even material we intended to use in a lawsuit against some Connecticut prison labor contractors.

“I don’t see how we can replace what we have lost. The reports of our investigators made up a good part of it. We spent our funds preparing this material, and the only way we can replace it is to raise another fund to do it all over again.”

The ruin of University Hall’s superstructure was not permitted to repose even an hour. Dean Frederick Goetze, the university Controller, who drove in by automobile from Orient, L. I., on hearing of the fire, had wagons loaded with lumber on the Campus before the firemen were through tearing out the embers. He had 150 men at work before noon rebuilding the roof, and had orders placed for all material to replace the offices. He notified the gymnasium instructors that they might hold classes as usual on Monday, and posted a notice to students that meals would be served as usual in the Commons Monday noon.

A special announcement which pleased university oarsmen was that their annual dinner, scheduled for Oct. 21, could be held in the gymnasium. Invitations to 1,000 former students had been accepted, and postponement would have robbed the oarsmen of the rowing season’s great event.

Coach Jim Rice ordered the rowing squads to report on Monday for barge work on the Hudson, remarking that real rowing was better than work on the machines in the gymnasium.

The loss on the building was officially placed at “less than $100,000,” which, it was said, was fully covered by insurance.

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FIRE IN STABLES

_Boston Transcript_

Fire that partly destroyed the Thornton Stables, a five-story brick building at 85 to 95 West Mifflin street this morning, has aroused Mayor Curley to the immediate necessity of legislation to enable the city to raze buildings, without the fear of resultant liability, when such buildings have been condemned by the building department. He will ask the incoming Legislature for such a law.

For sixteen years the West Mifflin street building had been regarded as one of the worst firetraps in the city, according to the mayor. In 1898 it was condemned and an order was issued by the fire commissioner forbidding firemen to enter the building in case of fire. During these years the building was constantly under inspection by both the fire and building departments, and why it was not ordered vacated has not been explained. The walls were shored up, or strengthened by iron rods, as the foundation had settled, and yet the firemen realized that, once a fire got under way, the walls would not last long, as their thickness was about eight inches.

Before the fire was extinguished today, Mayor Curley and Building Commissioner O’Hearn visited the scene and discussed with Fire Commissioner Grady and Chief McDonough the dangers that exist in other buildings throughout the city which have been condemned but which are still occupied and are regarded as a particular menace in case of fire. The party looked over the surrounding property, and the Building Commissioner pointed out three buildings on the same street and practically adjoining the stables that were being torn down on his orders. These were ramshackle buildings that had been fire menaces for years. It was the prevailing opinion that if the stable fire had got under greater headway when discovered, and if a heavy wind had prevailed, the best efforts of the firemen could not have prevented a serious spread of the flames. The buildings on the southerly side of the stables are all of wood, and the flames would have had little difficulty, had they got beyond the control of the firemen, in sweeping over the site of one removed building to those of most inflammable nature used as lodging-houses.

Mayor Curley directed Fire Commissioner Grady to prepare a list of buildings of sufficiently dangerous fire risks to warrant orders from headquarters forbidding the firemen entering them in case of fire. That there are many such buildings in various parts of the city of substantial proportions was admitted. The fire commissioner declared that he had received a legal opinion that the city is not justified in tearing down buildings which have been condemned, unless the owner or owners give their consent. The city has authority, however, to vacate buildings. Section four,