Chicago, IL Glucose Sugar Refining Co. Plant Fire, Oct 1902

FIRE IN CHICAGO.

Several Men Lose Their Lives and Large Damage Done.

Chicago, Oct. 21. --- Five men lost their lives in a fire which to-night partially destroyed the plant of the Chicago branch of the Glucose Sugar Refining Company, situated at Taylor street and the Chicago river. The list of dead will certainly be much greater than five and may reach as high as thirty. The estimates run all the way from that number down to ten. Only one of the five men whose bodies have been recovered has been identified. The list is as follows:

Dead:
FRANK ROTHENBERG, foreman, skull crushed in leaping from fifth story.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN, six feet tall: skull crushed in leaping from fifth story.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN, both legs broken, killed by jumping from building.
FRANK LAWRENCE, electrician, supposed to be dead; known to have been in building and not seen since.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN, crushed in jumping from window.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN, head crushed.

Injured:
FRANK MOORE, hands burned while sliding down a water pipe.
JOHN TUCKER, spectator; fell through hole in Taylor street viaduct; hip fractured.
PAUL BUTKOS, badly burned; severe internal injuries sustained in jumping from building.
PAUL KAURIS, face and hands burned; badly bruised in jumping from building.
GREGOR GRETALSKI, badly bruised; slight burns.
PAUL KRUKEYE, bruised and lungs scorched by inhaling flames.

The fire broke out with an explosion in the drying house, which is seven stories in height and stands close to the main building of the plant, which is fourteen stories high. A third structure is four stories high. The two smaller buildings were destroyed and the larger building was badly damaged.

The fire spread after the explosion with such rapidity that it was impossible for the men in the upper stories of the drying house to make their escape and it is the number of men believed to have been at work on the seventh floor that causes the uncertainty in the list of dead. Some of the employes [sic] who made their escape say that there were twenty or thirty and others say there were not more than ten at work when the fire broke out. Whatever the number, all are dead. Four men leaped from the upper floors and all met death.

The fifth in the list of dead is an electrician, who is known to have entered the building and was there at the time of the fire. He is supposed to be dead for the reason that all the firemen and laborers about the burned building say that no man made his escape from the upper floors.

Secretary GLASS of the refining company said at 2 o'clock this morning that he estimated the loss at $500,000.

Alamosa Journal Colorado 1902-10-23
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!