Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-02-06
The Last Torrl6le Now YORK. Irngody

The Last Terrible New York TrnEedy.
Tue Tribune Of ths 4th states the number Q
occupants of the tenement house burned ol
Elm street at 92, number missing Is. OF Oh
niuety.two persons seven were seriously ipiur
ed. One, Mrs. BRrdnsr, has since died, an,
two or three others are in a critical condition
The missing are s, sholbior, wife, and sil
children Mrs. Mcbride and two children
Mrs. s,Orck and three children; Mrs.. Bordner
and child OF Mr.. samuels.
The building was an immense human pack
ing box, 60 feet deep, 25 feet front, aud 81,
stories high above the basement. The fra
floor was divided into stores, and the entrance
to the tensments was between the stores. A
narrow staircase led to tho upper Part of the
building from the street, aud another stairway
descended from the second story to the yard il
the rear. Each floor was arranged for foul
families, the doors of the apartments opening
upon narrow hall Nineteen families oeeu,
pied the house, exclusive Of those who occu.
pied the stores. A baker occupied ono. The
flthl evening, little girl while filling fluid
lamp in the bakery, set the fluid on fire. She
dropped tue lamp, the blazing contents spread
over the floor, and a pile Of shavings under the
stain were instantly in flames Before the
people above could be warned of their danger
the blaze had burst through the stairway, and
leaping upward cut of their escape The Trib.
une says:
When the dread cry of "Firel" resoundsd
through the halls, and up the stairway, the hu.
man swarm in the building snatched up their
offspring, and rushed panic>stricken from their
apartments, choking up the passages by sheer
numbeIs AS they thronged upon and trampled
down each other in the darkness, the thick
smoke came rushing up from below, binding
and sitting them in its folds.
Those who lived on the lower floors were
enabled to escape in comparative safety, the
bremen and citizens rushing up the stairs, and
dragging them through the smoke. Others
raised ladders to the second story windows, and
bore down the frantic women and helpless
children.
But higher up beyond the reach of the lad
ders, where the smoke was more dense, the
suiferings of the Inmates were truly heart
rending. The parents, with little ones in
their arms screaming with alright, and other
little ones behind, whom they could not car
ry, crying, "father, mother, save us ln crowd
ed down, till the foremost started back before
the flames now leaping towards them. Then
arose the wall Of women, and the yells of men
as they vainly struggled to escape their
doom. Some sprang back to their rooms, and
rushing to the windows, leaped forth into the
icy streets, Wounding themselves by the fall
Others ran to and fro, beating their breasts,
tearing their hair, and frantically beseeching
aid from the crowd of people below; some
threw their children out first, and then fol-
lowed themselves, as the quick fire singed
their hair, and laid hold upon their garments
Most Of those in the passages after Vainly
against fate, had succumbed to the |
vapor but st nearly all the upper |
windows we're women and children, whose |
vain appeals for aid rent the air, and fell, |
heart piercing upon the people below: no lad |
ders could reach them; no hand could save |
them. The lower part of the house was all |
ablaze, and SO they, too, hadto yield at length |
to their fate, for it were as certain death to |
leap from that dizzy hight as to stay till the
fire came. Front and rear the CHASTITY faces
looked out Of the windows upon the hundreds
Of uPturned sorrowing countenances below,
IS blanched as their own. The Oldest fire.
men say it was fearful scene, such as they
lad never witnessed before.
The T1iBuas also gives the following shock
ng picture of the way the poorer classes of
New York are huddled in the tenement houses
If that city;
From careful survey of the city in pc /
We learn that there were then So, 900 r. ~
# all kinds in it. and while ~ az az .tt
dwellings, sheltered 38,2l9 fr.,.'loo ~ u 1Isss ls
S623 had to cover ~ 500 Sllils1; s;,; ehe Ssnsi
: Abo1+ tLDPe Il has become much great
he citv are I-iourths Of the population of
.r,iI;.s now estimated to average seven
- =, o house. We are assured that there
= any blocks Of tenement houses in New
Ork which hive twice the number of people
has reside in the whole of Fifth Avenue As
We Fave said, these houses are five or six sto-
.es IN height, and made to cover the whole of
be lots In which they stand Running up
nrough the centre Of the buildings are mar
ow, dark, dsnk staiIways, connecting the sevA
Tal Hoors. Four families are allotted to each
.oor, each family occupying one room and one
ark bedroom, for which they pay from "a to
'6, and even as high as So per month. The
7ater closets are either in the cellar, or in the
abs on the several floors, and their exhSlas
ions infect the stifed atmosphere of the dwell
ing. The building destroyed in Elm street was
# this character.