Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-02-04

The Burning Of the Tenement House In New
Yssk.
The New York Tribune Of yesterday, says Of
this affair. already announced by telegraph:
"Last night a terrible calamity occurred in
Elm street, involving the loss Of many valuable
lives, and the mai ming OF number Of the sur
vfvors One Of those Immense human packing.
Doxes called tenement houses, sig stories high
above the sidewalk, one hundred feet deep and
hfty feet front, and made to hive twenty two
families, took fre, and before the unfortunate In
mates could sscaPe, great many OF them were
The first floor was divided into stores-a baker
Occupying that on one side and grocer the other
The entrance to the tenements being between
the stores. A narrow staircase led to the upper
part OF the building from the street. and another
stairway descended from the second story to the
yard In the rear The upper stories were reached
by the staircase in the centre Of the buildings
narrow, iil-lghted and dangerous passage. Each
floor was arranged for four families. the doors of
the apartments opening upon a narrow hall. AT
the time Of the fire there Were nineteen families
in the house, exclusive of those who occupied the
stores The back apartments on the sixth story
were set apart for wssh-rooms for the use Of the
various families, and the roof was arranged for
drying purposes.
About N O'Clock in the evening little girl in
the bakery. while filing a fluid lamp, set the
fluid on fire, and. dropping the burning vessel
upon the floor, Its blazing contents spread over
the floor, and communicated with pile Of shav-
ings under the staircase. In instant the store
was enveloped in flames and almost before the
| alarm could be sounded, or the people up stairs
warned Of their terrible danger. the blaze had
burst through the stairway, and leaping upward,
cut off their escape.
When the dread cry Of "Fire., resounded
through the halls, and up the stairways, the
human swarm within the building snatched up
their offspring. and rushed panic stricken from
their apartments. choking up the passages by
sheer numbers. AS they thronged upon and tram
pied 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 en-
abled to escape in comparative safety, the 1remen
and citizens rushing up from the street. and drag.
ging 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 ladders,
where the smoke was more dense, the suff'erings
of the poor inmates were truly heartrending. The
parents, with little ones in their arms screaming
with alright, and other little ones behind whom
they conld not carry. crying "Father. mother
save u.s." crowded down, till the foremost started
back before the flames now fast leaping toward
them.
1t is known that five or six. certainly fell prev
to the devouring element, they We're seen at tie
windows when there was no possibility of thei
| escape. n great many Of the occupants it is su D.
posed started TO 90 down stairs and, being over.
come by the smoke. fell in the halls and were
burned up.
All sorts of rumors prevailed: some estimated
the less as high as forty, others thought there
could not have been less than twenty. We saw
last night al police headquarters little white
haired girl. who could not talk and an infant
who had been rescued by the hremen. ID K
midnight no one had been to claim them Othe,
children were taken around to Hanover street
ana no one appearing to claim them, they were
put to bed by the kind hearted neighbors