CLEVELAND, OH: MAY, 1, 1912 – Five men were killed when Standard Oil Barge 88 exploded while docked at Jefferson Avenue. Barge 88 was being filled with gasoline from a 10,000-gallon tank on the bank while the men were working on a barge moored alongside. Leaking oil on the water’s surface ignited, setting Barge 88 on fire. Moments later, it exploded, enveloping the workmen in a huge fireball. Four other boats, a tug and two docks were set ablaze.
WESTPHALIA, GERMANY: MAY 2, 1912 – The historic castle of Anholt, home to Prince Salm-Salm, was badly damaged by a fire, but valuable art treasures were saved due to the heroism of the 15-year-old daughter of a porter. When the fire was discovered near the picture gallery, the girl rushed into the apartment and began removing the pictures, including works by Rembrandt, Murillo, Durer and Reynolds. The fire extended so quickly that the door to the apartment was cut off by flames. The girl continued her work by throwing the remaining paintings out a window. She escaped unhurt.
GILBERTSVILLE, MA: MAY 4, 1912 – Three girls lost their lives as fire raged through a four-story wooden tenement house. Two other girls were injured jumping from a window. The fire began on the second floor where a tenant was making breakfast. An excited crowd of spectators estimated at 1,500 people impeded the work of the firemen as they pressed in close to the burning building.
KANSAS CITY, MO: MAY 15, 1912 – An early-morning fire swept over five acres of cattle pens at the Kansas City Stock Yards. More than 2,000 head of cattle were confined in the yards at the time of the fire and most were killed. A government testing laboratory within the yards was destroyed.
SEA CLIFF, NY: MAY 17, 1912 – The Lloyd Building, in the heart of the business section of this village, was gutted by fire during the afternoon. The three-story frame structure occupied most of the triangular block bounded by Summit, Sea Cliff and Central avenues. In it were the public library, the Village Board’s rooms, the jail, the rooms of the Sea Cliff Club and a dry goods store. There were no prisoners in the jail at the time of the fire.
CARLISLE, PA: MAY 18, 1912 – A fire broke out in a building at the famed Carlisle Indian School. The student fire department was called on to fight its first blaze. The burning building contained the recital hall and a spacious auditorium. The student firefighters went to work and saved the structure. The famous Olympian Jim Thorpe was a student there at the time.
HOUSTON, TX: MAY 19, 1912 – A fire started just before 4 A.M. in the six-story building occupied by the Stowers Furniture Co. at Main and Capital streets. When firemen arrived, the building was already fully involved with flames pouring from every window. Within minutes, the rear wall collapsed and the fire began to spread. Radiant heat was so intense firemen had great difficulty even approaching the fire building. Flames leaped to the four-story Mason Building and the three-story Latham Building, then jumped across Capital Avenue and ignited the Masonic Temple. Firemen held the fire to those four buildings. Captain Herman Wagner of Station 8 was struck in the head by a falling beam and died six days later.
LEBANON JUNCTION, KY: MAY 24, 1912 – A fire that originated in the third floor of the A. Davis store spread rapidly. Thirteen buildings in the business section were soon aflame, including three drug stores, clothes cleaning store, a poolroom and the Knights of Pythias Hall. Two private homes were also destroyed and two firemen were injured by falling timbers.
BALTIMORE, MD: MAY 25, 1912 – An early-morning fire badly damaged the Eutaw House, at Baltimore and Eutaw streets, the oldest hotel in the city. All occupants and guests inside the five-story escaped the flames that started after an explosion in the basement. After two hours of heavy firefighting and the response of almost the entire fire department, the fire was out. Amazingly, the building, earlier thought doomed, was still standing.
CHICAGO, IL: MAY 26, 1912 – A gang trying extort money from a businessman bombed his grocery and bakery store at 906 Milton Ave. during the night. The explosion blew out the front wall and shocked the family from their beds. The explosion started a fire in the basement, killing six horses. The explosion and fires also damaged adjoining buildings.
VILLA REAL, SPAIN: MAY 27, 1912 – A theater was filled with excited patrons watching “moving pictures” when the cinematograph machine (projector) exploded and set the theater ablaze, killing 84 people. The theater’s proprietor was arrested and charged with giving a performance without a license and for not submitting his apparatus for examination by authorities.
MIDDLETOWN, CT: MAY 28, 1912 – Twenty-five Wesleyan students found themselves homeless when flames gutted their fraternity house. Students and professors aided the fire department in battling the fire that looked as if it would spread from the Chi Psi fraternity house to neighboring Alpha Delta Phi. The fire was knocked down before it could spread from the original building.
PAUL HASHAGEN, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is a retired FDNY firefighter who was assigned to Rescue 1 in Manhattan. He is also an ex-chief of the Freeport, NY, Fire Department. Hashagen is the author of FDNY: The Bravest, An Illustrated History 1865-2002, the official history of the New York City Fire Department, and other fire service books. His latest novel, Fire of God, is available at dmcfirebooks.com.
