A LITTLE OVER A CENTURY AGO, on Good Friday 1923, New York City firemen worked frantically to clear the rubble of a tenement that had collapsed, trapping over a dozen laborers in its basement. Father Patrick O’Connor, the fire department’s chaplain, rushed through a street crowded with onlookers to administer the last rites, which he did through the wreckage in case the men were not reached in time. Their screams and groans guided the efforts of the firemen as they wildly swung their shovels and pickaxes.
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