Tt was fortunate that the day was a holiday, it being the birthday of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and so there was nobody in the building at the time. Had there been anybody inside, they surely would have perish none of the buildings wee fitted with fire escapes and, as already mentioned, on this particular floor, the windows are covered with a strong wire netting, the idea being to prevent thieves from entering and those inside from throwing the valuable contents to others who might be waiting below.
Furthermore, inside this building, a representative of the "North-China Daily News": was informed by officers of the Chapel Fire Brigade Dhird Division, which was first to respond to the alarm, were stored a considerable amount of photo graphic films and other inflammable materials, When smoke was noticed emanate ling from the top floor, the Commer-"ial Press Fire Brigade got to work ut they were unable to meet the emergency and were powerless to do anything -of real value, so calls swore sent to the different Chapel Brigades.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.