The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-02-09
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TERRIBLE DISASTER BY FIRE
A FAMILY sMOrHEREp 70 pEArH
MoI N,Ns.......vEBaUAKY ,sss

dreadful affair occurred on the corner of Ful.
ton avenue and Elm Place, in Brooklyn New York
between three and four O'Clock ON Sunday morn.
Ing, involving the destruction Of nearly a whole
famiiy,-the mother, tao small children And !.
servant-besdes which three persons were inipr.
ed, two of whom are ia dangerous copdition.-
The New York Herald, says:
TIE family consisted Of Mr.. Ed. Gill; his VITA .wo
children two sei wants. aud Messrs Thos. Gill and
Otto Graves. Mrs. Gili's husband has been absent !
ia Philadelphia on business since Friday last and
on Saturday evening herself, 10 company with her
brother in-law and some female relatives went IN
New YORK They did not return until about one
O'Clock. Mr.. Thomas Gill and MIR. Graves seated
themselves in the dting room and smoked segar,
until about two O'Clock. Mrs Gill having sone to
bed soon after comrg ho,ae. She slept in the
middle room on the third floor with her children.
and the gentlemen occupied the rear room in the
seme story. The servants occupied the fourth
floor. Towards morning the men were awakened
by dense, suf~ eating smoke, and benx uuable to
make their way out in the usual manner, and see.
lug but one cause left to save them ves got on
Of the window. Mr.. Gill lesped TO the tagging. and
sustained fearful Injuries, while Mr. Graves tied
tho bedcothes together, and in letting himself
down the rope broke and be fell. The force of his
: fall was broken BY prnjecticg shutter and he
was thereby aayed from serious cous. duspces His
iirjuries are slight as compared with those If Mr.
GIL, whose bead ia dreadfuily cat. Both men wero
con veyed into the house Of Mr. j. K. Divine next
4 door. Onty lew uremeD naQ arrived at this TINA
aud 10 hook and ladder companies. Oue Of the
| servant girls was seen cinging to window sill of
| the fourth story, and the flames bursting into her
/ face she was compelled to lose her hold and fell
with tremendous force upon the sidewalk below
Her injuries are OF such nature that her recovery
ia considered doubtful. Detective Hjusips convex.
| cd her t. the City Hospital
| About the same time woman know TO be Mrs
| Gill was observed at the window Of her bedroom
| standing IN an impioripg attitude, aud altLour +
| thp Hreman made effort fo oh
her. they were unable TO do 80 for the want Of
laidr+. Several members Of Hose Company No.
attempted TO reach the room, through the build.
ing, but were driven back by the :rnes, and the
| unfortunate beings were left to ther fate Their
cries f,r aid were heard, but aid could be gven
and they persheG.
| The a am. acre soon after subdued, and on re.
p / ing 10 the ON the mother was fourd lying
| on her back and the two children under her The
| body Of one Of the servant girls was lying near
| them. The fireman and police promptly co.veysd
the bodies to The City Hall. and deposited them
in the office of the Coroner The APPEARANCE Of the
deceased Indicates that they were suffocated The
| children were somewhat burned, but not suffi
| cient to have caused death. The names of the
victims are IS follows:
| Mrs. Elizabeth Gill, aged about twenty seven
| years, Mary Il Gill, aged about two years, Helen
Z. Gill, aged about six years, Anu Keegan, SER
| van. aged about seventeen years. The follow .
| Jog were irjored as described above II Thomas
| Gil, dangerously, 0sto Graves, slightly, Ho-
nora keegan, sister to Ann, supposed fatally. The
New York Express ssys:
| 1t is not d. fnitely known how tho fire origin.
ated. 1t appears, however, that Mrs. Gill asd her
brother in-lsw returned from o visit to New York,
| about one o'clock on Saturday night. She retired,
| and Mr., GIL and Dir Graves, sat in the dining
room until about O'Clock, smoking cigars when
| they also went to bed. There wssa CRATE in the
| rom filled with live Goals at tho time, and she
| supposition is that some Of the live Goals nigh,
have falien the floor. II is deemed hardly Dos.
sb!e that the fire could have originated Fl om the
light Of the cigars. Ali appesred safe when they
| retired. Towards morning they were aroueed by
a suf,cating smoke, which proceeded from the
dining room, AMI finding all modes of ssress shut
OFF. except by the window, Mr.. Gill jumped out,
aud Graves in attempting to let himself down by
means OF blankets fell upon projecting shutter
OF the story below, and landed in the yard. The
shutter brvko the weight of his fall, aud it i ow
Ing to this circumstance that he was not 30 badly
Injured as Nr. Gill.
The frensen saw Mrs. Gill at the window, and
did thsir best to reach her, but without avail
they Jaw her fall backward, and found her ly.
ing on her children and the servant, Ann, near
by.
Ann must have come down 10 Mrs. Gill's room as
soon as she became aware that the house was on
1re Her sister, Honsra, got out of fourth story
window, aud hung there until the flames compel
led her to r-lDeuish her hold.
The bodies were all taken to the eoroner's Office
from the Office It the supsrin tendent, where they
were laid down in a row, presenting most mel.
snGholy and heart rending spectacle. The chill
drsn were somewhat burned, but the evidences are
shat the fire did not reach them until after they
we're dead.