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.

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

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,