INFORMATION NEEDED FOR KIOSK
THANK YOU for your interest in the KIOSK at the WSFM Visitor Center. I am currently in charge of gathering the information that will be entered into the kiosk. The following is what we are looking for right now.
Below is an example of line of duty deaths from Wisconsin. We are hoping to have information similar to this for each name on the Memorial Wall.
Milwaukee, WI Johns Manville Mfg Co Fire, Feb 1909
SIX KILLED AT A FIRE.
Milwaukee Firemen Caught Under a Falling Wall.
MILWAUKEE, Wis., Feb. 13.---Five firemen were killed and about a dozen injured, two fatally, by the toppling over of a brick wall while they were fighting fire in the big plant of the H. W. Johns Manville Manufacturing Company at 225 Clybourne Street this afternoon. An employee of the concern received burns in his attempt to escape from the burning building which resulted in his death at a hospital.
The pecuniary loss is estimated at $25,000, covered by insurance.
The dead are:
Assistant Chief James G. Gunning, Lieut. N. J. Whaley, Joseph Bilinski, Pipeman James Burke, John Kraft.
The dead employee was Thomas Pitchs.
Two companies of firemen were stationed on a wall and roof of the Waltham Piano building south of the H. W. Johns Manville plant when, without warning, the rear wall of the burning building bulged outward and crashed down. The firemen were caught under the mass of brick and timber, which smashed through the roof of the piano warehouse, carrying the firemen to the floor below.
The fire followed an explosion of oil on the second floor of the plant of the Manville Company.
The New York Times, New York, NY 14 Feb 1909
Milwaukee, WI West Water Street Fatal Fire, March 1888
A BIG FIRE IN MILWAUKEE.
TWO FIREMEN KILLED AND FOUR BADLY INJURED.
MILWAUKEE, Wis., March 15.--- One of the most destructive fires to life and property Milwaukee has ever known broke out at 1:45 o'clock this morning, and before it was under control gutted a large four-story brick block on West Water-street, opposite the Plankinton Hotel, and buried a smaller building and a squad of firemen under falling walls.
Two firms occupied the block, Atkins, Ogden & Co., shoe manufacturers, and the Thomas and Wentworth Manufacturing Company, makers of brass goods and engine trimmings. Next to it on the north was a wooden structure used as a part of the dry goods store of Gimbel Brothers. Both buildings were owned by John Plankinton.
The flames were heralded by a loud explosion, and from the start it was a fierce-spreading and furious fire, and the whole fire department was called out to fight it. The firemen worked desperately to save the rest of the square from destruction, the block in which the flames first appeared being practically doomed from the beginning.
Half an hour after the alarm was given, the north wall of the big building swayed and then fell outward, crushing the frame building next door and falling right upon a body of firemen. The ruins buried the men, and it was hard work for the rescuers to reach them. Herman Lecher was the first man taken out. He was unconscious and he died within an hour from his injuries. He was first pipeman on Engine No. 5. Then four other men were rescued. One is still left in the ruins.
The list of causalities was as follows:
HERMAN LECHER, Engine No. 5. skull fractured; dead.
RICHARD LANGTON, driver of Engine No. 9; body not yet recovered.
THOMAS CLEARY, hose cart driver, bruised and badly cut about the head.
JACOB DELL, Truck No. 3, hurt on arms and legs and badly cut about the head.
JOHN COUGHLIN, Chemical Engine No. 2, leg crushed.
PETER VAUGHN, Chemical Engine No. 1. crushed and arms and legs injured.
The injuries of Cleary and Doll are pronounced probably fatal. Assistant Chief Reiner and Firemen John Hammel and Charles Heider were also struck by the wall, but escaped serious injury. Chief Foley and several others barely escaped the falling bricks.
The cause of the explosion which started the fire is supposed to have been either paraffin [sic] cement in the shoe factory or gas which accumulated from some leak in the pipes. The explosion was heard for a block, and woke up many guests of the Plankinton House. Almost instantly the flames spread over the building, bursting out at every window and fairly eating up the beams of the block. The large shoe factory of Beals, Torrey & Co., is just across the alley from the block, and more than once it narrowly escaped catching fire. A wooden passageway connected the two buildings and this had to be guarded by an engine company throughout the fire.
The New York Times, New York, NY 16 Mar 1888
The file should be sent in a word perfect document and if photos are sent, use a jpg. format. A small photograph of the individual can be included.
Any questions, feel free to contact me, Mike Miller at happymillmore@hotmail.com and be sure to send all of the line of duty death information to the same email address.
In advance, I would like to thank you for your contributions to the WSFM
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