The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-09-12
Rirlmonh qispatfh.
MONDAY MORNING.... SEPT. Il, 1859
'Distre essinx Calamity-A Father and Three
Daughters Suffocafed

MONDAY MORNING. SEPT. u. 1859.
-Distressinx Caiamity--A Father and Thre.
Daughters Suffocafed.
Ashocking catastrophe occurred in Hobo
ken, n. T., occasioned by the burning of the
Harmonic Hotel, about clock, Friday morn
ing There were seven persons in the hotel.
OF whom four-Chas. ]. Baese, the proprietor.
and his daughters, Anna Theresa. aged Is !;
Clara, aged 10, and Sophia, aged years. los,
their lives by sufocation. From the New York
papers we take the following account of the
sad occurrence:
From the floor to the roof the height is only
six feet, and the rooms so small that 1t wa
nardiy possible for person to occupy them
during warm weather. The window lookins
out frsm Mr.. Baese's room into the hall room
was found wide open, so that his apartment
must have very soon filled with smoke. He
evidently struggled very hard, as the blood was
found TO have rushed SO violently to his head
rs 10 force itselffrom his nostrils. The unfor-
tunate children died easy, as there is not
contortion of the body or face to show to tht
contrary. They lay in their little beds az
though quietly asleep when found.
As soon as the alarm was given, engine COM
pany No.. was quickly on the spot, but tht
density Of the smoke almost prevented any
access to the building. The house was found
to be closed in every part, front and rear. and
filed with smoke. Mr.. Harring, residing in an
adjoining building, was first awakened by the
screams of Miss Mary Baese, from her cham
save us save us 7" Mr.. Harring ran outupon
the balcony of his residence and saw smoke
issuing from the second and third story VIM
dows of the hotel, and hearing the young
lady's screams, ordered her to Jump upon the
balcony below, which she did. He then pro-
cured a ladder and rescued Mrs. Baese; butnot
being acq quainted with the plan of the upper
part of the house could not tell where to look
for the rest of the family. Mr.. kapp was
awakened by the cries of the children, and
jumping out of bed discovered smoke in his
room. Upon opening the dooi perfect ava
lanche of smoke rushed in upon him and al
most suffocated him. He heard Mr.. Baese en-
courage the children, and would have VEN
tured to them but for the smoke. Returning
to his room he threw up the window and
Jumped ont upon the balcony below, thus
saving his life.
AT the coroner's inquest the following mar
rative of the calamity was evoked:
Mr.. John w. Harring, who resides In the
house adjoining, states that he was awakened
by the cries of the eldest daughter, Mary, who
was calling out fran ntically to be saved. He
sprung out upon the roof OF the piazza i'll front
of his house, and saw Mary hanging out OF
half window in the attic, and told her TO Jump.
She did so, and struck upon window-blind
on the story below, which was standing half
open which caused her to strike against the
window, by which she was cut severely OIL the
foot and about the face. Mr. Harring tore
down the lattice work which divided the two
piazzas, and conveyed the insensble girl into
his dwelling He then came out again and
DIRE w up ladder. and assisted Mrs. Baese down
in safety. Kapp made his escape by jumping
from the window OF his bedroom to the piazza
lie was awakened by the cry of one of the girls
in distress, and opening the door found thai
the house on fire, and heard Mr.. Baest
telling his daughters that he would assisJ
them. He could not see any of them, and thu
smoke and heat forced him to leap from tht
window. The fire was confined to the base
yI,arn hau b,,r
time, as it had in many places burned through
to the floor above, occupied as billiard-room
John Lewis sworn-1 am assistant engineer
of the Hoboken Fire Department; l came to
the fire about quarter past o'clock at which
time the firemen were at work some one said
Mr.. Baese and some of the children were up
stairs; l ascertained that they were up stairs
in a room next to the orchestra; forced my
way up, and meeting a man on the stairs, he
said there was no one up there; went on and
first discovered Mr.. Baese in the attic, lying
across the door sill; assisted to get him down.
and returning, found the body of Anna, and
helped To carry her down then went up into
another room and found the two little girls
lying there, apparently asleep; passed one OF
them to a fireman, and carried the other out
myself; I thought they had been dead for some
time; il was ut least half an hour after the
alarm before an entrance was made. No one
could at first enter, in consequence of the dem
sity of the smoke, l have no knowledge as to
the origin of the fire; the main body of it ap-
peared to be some ten or fifteen feet from the
stairs in the basement of the rear building;
when the firemen entered the alley way, the
rear of the house was all closed; the fire did
not originate from fine, but appeared to
have caught among pile of tables
Frederick kapp, sworn Il was partner
of Mr.. Baese and resided in this house; went to
bed about II O'Clock and the business was
not then closed; Mr. Baese came home about
IL o'clock there were number of persons in
the house, but do not know when they left
l woke up about l2H O'Clock and heard them
still there; ! sleptin the front corner room ON
the third floor; was wakened up this morn
ing by the children crying; got up and found
the door and saw q large smoke; then opened
the window and cried fire; heard Mr.. Baese,
he spoke to the children and said he would
help them; l Jumped out of the window il
consequence OF the heat and smoke, and land
ed upon the piazza; during the day and up to
10 0o'clock at night there was hotter fire than
usual in the kitchen, to iron by; we do not
keep servant girl, but have porter, who
does not sleep here Mrs. Baese was in the kitch-
en- in the evening and fastened the rear door;
we always left the inside doors open through
out the house when jumped upon the piaz-
"a saw Mr.. Harring, and immedia tely gave
the alarm to persons in the house cannot say
as to the origin of the fire; there were guam
tity of tables AID chairs which had been stored
in the kitchen since last winter
twas announced that Mrs. Baese and her
daughter were too much pros trated from their
sudden and terrible afiictioA TO attend rs wit
Hesses. The coroner and Jnry expressed their
desire to enter into the fullest possible inves.
tigaton, to ascertain the origin of the fire, and
the inquest was accordingly adjourned until
O'Clock to-day. The walls of the house were
blackened with smoke, and the heat caused
considerable of the fresco work to peal Off. In
the hall of the attic adjoining where the family
were sleeping, was large quantity of bar
soap which was found cemented, and partially
melted by the heat.
FIGHT WITH 1NDIANs-Fifty KiNsd.-It has
been stated that fight occurred on the 4th
ult, near Fort Mohave, New Mexico, between
Major Armistead, with twenty-five United
States troops, and a large body of Indians, in
which fifty of the latter were killed. The In
dians surrounded the troops and were driyen
of, but, when the soldiers were returning to
the fort, made another attack. The Los An
gelos Star says: