Equitable Building Fire-1912
Eddie Jackson had an instinctive
eye for photo composition as these early pictures taken in the 1912 Equitable Building fire clearly show. With no formal training in photography or composition, Eddie shows us
and his photographic peers of the era his ability to construct a photograph to a high dramatic level-even during the excitement of the scene as it unfolds. As Eddie Jackson stated later in life "a good photograph is worth 10
columns of copy."
One of Eddie's first free-lance photo opportunities before working for the American Press
Association, was the New York Equitable Building eight-alarm fire in the financial district on Pine Street in January, 1912. Six people lost their lives due to what started out as a small fire in a wastepaper basket. Three men
that were trapped in the basement trying to save millions of dollars in negotiable bonds were saved by the heroism of an American
Indian, Seneca Larke Jr., who crawled through the rubble and used a hacksaw to free them.
