The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-02-04
BURNING on A TENEMENT HOTSE
GREAT Loss OF LIFE.

or twenty lives have been lost. We take the fol
lowing graphic account from the report of the
Tribune of yesterday:
Last night terrible calamity occurred in Elm
street, involving the loss of many valuable lives
and the manning OF a number of the survivors One
OF those immense human packing boxes, called ten
ement houses, six stories high above the sidewalk
100 feet Deep and so feet front, and made to hive
~ families, took fire, and before the unfortunate
inmates could escape, great many of them were
sutfocated The building was No. l42 Elm street
The first floor was divided into stores-a baker oc.
plying that on one side, and grocer the other-the
entrance to the tenements being between the stores
narrow staircase led to the upper part of the
building from the street, and another stairway de-
scended from the second story to the yard in the
rear. The upper stories were reached by the stair
case In the centre OF the building narrow, i'll
| lighted, and dangerous passage. Each floor was
arranged for four families the doors of the apart
| ments opening upon a narrow hall. There were at
the time of the fire nineteen families in the house,
! exclusive of these who occupied the stores The
back apartments on the sixth story were set apart
for wash-rooms for the of the various families
and the roof was arranged for drying purposes
About ~ o'clock in the evening little girl in
the bakery, while filling huid-amp, set the fluid
on fire, and dropping the burning vessel upon the
floor, its blazing contents spread the floor and
communicated with pile of shavings under the
staircase. In an instant the store was enveIoped
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 ths
stairway, and leaping upward cut off their escape.
When the dread cry of "Frer' 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 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 tiremen and
citizens rushing up from the street. and dragging
them through the smoke Others raised ladders to
the secondstory windows, and bore down the fran
tic women and helpless children.
But higher up, beyond the reach of the ladders
where the smoke more dense, the sufferings of
the poor inmates We're truly heartrending. The
parents, with little ones in their arms screaming
with alright, and other little ones behind, whom
they could not carry, crying "Father, mother
save us y crowded down, till the foremost started
back before the flames, now fast leaping toward
them. Then arose the wall of women, and the wells
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
to and fro beating their breasts, tearing their
hair, and rantically beseeching aid from the crowd
of people below; some threw their children out
first and then followed themselves as the quick fire
singed their hair and laid hold upon their gar
ments Most of those iq the passages, after strug-
Cling vainly against fate, had succumbed to the
suffocating vapor; but at nearly all the upper win
dows were women and children, whose vain appeals
for aid rent the air. and fell heart-piercng upon
the impotent people below; ladders could reach
them; no hand could save.
The lower part of the house was all ablaza and
so they, too had to yield at length to their fate,
for it were as certain death to leap from that dizzy
height as to stay till the fire came. Front and rear
the CHASTITY faces looked out of the windows upon
the hundreds of upturned, sOrrowing couutenances
below, as banched as their own The Oldest fire |
men say it was fearful scene, such as they had |
never witnessed before. The first company upon |
the ground was Lady Washington, No. 40, who did |
glorious service in rescung the people, as also did
the police from the detective office Those who |
We're got cut were taken to the fourteenth ward |
ationhouse, to police headquarters, AID to various
houses in the vicinity. The wounded were removed
to the City Hospital.
In spite of the best efforts of the fremen who |
turned out in stron force, the building was com
petely Quilted, and nothing but the rear corner |
walls left standing So intense the cold that it
was necessary to light great fires in the street to
prevent the engines from freezing up. The water |
froze as soon as it struck the walls, and men AMI |
buildings were soon covered with an icy coat of |
mail. The steam fire engines proved of great |
value in preventing the spread of the fire, and as
it was the adjoining buildings sustained consdera-
BILE damage.
PERSONS RESCUED.
The members of No. 40 Engine COMPANY, upon |
reaching the ground, forthwith turned their atten-
ton toward rescuing the occupants, as they saw at
glance that they could easily subdue the flames. |
Short ladders were procured, and by this means
the tremen gained access to the second story,
from which they bore, after another, in their |
arms the forms Of insensibe women and children.
The sufferers were convened to the drug store
ner of Grand and Elm streets, where they received |
the kind attention of Dr. Fisher 1t was found that
the majority were suffering from having inhaled |
smoke, and upon the application OF proper RENE
dies they were in little time so far restored to
be able to leave for some friends house. Owing to
the confusion it impossible to obtain but few of
the names of the persons rescued. Mr.. Sculling,
OF No 40 Engine, rescued five persons, and con- |
veyed them to the drug store Officer Sanford OF
ard uni n1I I'D ,ah
McByan, and child, neither being injured.
THE LOST.
1t was impossible last night to form any correct
estimate OF the number OF persons who persisted
in the flames. Police headquarters and the sta.
tion-house were visited by dozens of persons who
made inquiry for this and that They stated
that they had been to various places, but could
obtain no trace of their friends and feared they
were lost.
1t is known that five or six certainly fell prey
to the devouring element as they were seen at
the windows when there was no possibility of
their escape. great many of the occupants, it is
supposed, started to go down stairs and being
overcome by the smoke, fell in the halls and We're
burned up.
All sorts of rumors prevaed-some estimated the
lost as high as forty; others thought there could
not have been less than twenty. We saw last
night, at police headquarters, little white-hared
girl, who could not talk, and infant, who had
been rescued by the fremen Up to midnight, no
one had been to claim them. Other children were
taken around to Howard street, and no one appear
ing to claim them, they were put to bed by the
kind hearted neighbors.
THE ADJOINING BUILDINGS
The occupants of the adjoining buildings were
advised, at early stage of the fire, of their dan
ger in remaining long in their residences, and all
made immediate preparations to vacate. All of
these people escaped, but were unable to save any
OF their furniture except few beds. Each occu-
pant will sustain loss of about $780, and they are
uninsured. The building owned Mr.. Brown,
and was damaged to the amount of $500 by water.
The old German named Tarbot is missing, and it is
supposed that he was burned up in the tenement
house, as he had friends there whom he visited oc
casonally.
The fronts of the buildings south of the tenement
mouse, We're one glare of ice the water from the
hose freezing as it fell upon them
LIST OF INJURED.
The following is list of the injured: Virginia
Blaque, Esler White, Fredrka Bordner, Frances
Buesse Pauline White, Francis Serreou, Francis
TisGer.
LIST OF THE SAVED.
Mrs. McCarrick and family, Mrs White and
family, Mrs. Bordner and family, Mrs. Goodman,
Mrs. Schelberg.