The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1873-03-07
THE BOSTON FIRE CALAMITY.
INCIDENTS AND SCENES OF TER.
ROR DURING THE CON-
FLAGRA TON.

IBoston Fcb. 2S) Correspondence Of the
New York " orld.l
Rarely on ANY previous occasion of the
kind has SO thrilling an episode occurred
rs that which yesterday Resulted IN ~
dreadful loss OF lie at the burning vi
the Samenet building, at l52 Hanover
street, IN this city. Ihe mere details OF
the origin of the fire aud the progress vi
tue flames are of small moment, except In
50 lar us they aro Connected with The
scenes Of suffering and death winch were
brought about by tor agency. When
it WAS known to the hundreds who had
gathered to look on Mt the IRE
that there were at least sixteen girls EN-
pioyed Ia Mr.. Samenet's mattress manu-.
factory, and when ocular evidence Of this
fact was given to the observers by the
sight Of the terrified girls rushing to and
fro upon the roof of the burning building,
as If preparing in their panic to throw
themselves into the street below, one
would have supposed that the acne oil the
horrible had been reached. But this
scene, thrilling as it was, was only the be.
ginning offs series of still more painful
incidents, grad uaily increasing in intensity
until the climax was reached in tho fall.
ing of the wall and tho burying beneath 1t
OF twenty-one devoted and daring are-
men.
While nearly all the inmates Of the
building, including the girls on the roof,
had managed to escape, either by the stair.
way leading to the entrance on Hanover
street, or by way OF the roofs OF neighbor.
ing houses, there were at least three of the
unfortunate women whose fate surren-
dered them to an appalling death. There
was the yourg girl, Mary Moore, who in
a moment Of terror urged on by the flames
behind her, leaped from third-story win
dow, through the volumes of black smoke
that enveloped her, and fell mangl-d
mass, first upon the iron work of the avn
bg and thence to ths street below. For
innate was it for the too eager multitude
that the police, forming Gordon near the
bl ding, kept back the pressing thr"ng
who sought To crowd close up to the fire.
men. But for this precaution on the par.
of the police, the list OF killed and wounded
by the calamity that shortly followed
would have swelled probably TO hundreds.
Bad as it was, the result might have been
immeasurably worse.
When the moment was reached that
witnessed the falling Of the roof and the
wal the scene Wa. agoniziUg to those who
We're there to marx the dreadful effect.
~ WIS Utt tIht tWb WoUtH- Nilss
Mary Babb and Mss LIZZIE Hanks
should have persisted with the fall of the
former. They had failed 10 make their
escape when the other. did. Miss Dabb
was II woman advanced in years, and WAS
employed in the fourth story When bid.
den TO make haste in order to secure her
escape, with that faulty and attention to
trivlalties which frequently mark the con.
duct of persons thus imperlled she wasted
precious moments in running to another
rom to get her bonnet and shawl. But
it was too late. By the time that she is
sued from the room the stairway wa
gone, or Was prey to the flames, and
thus, with her yourg companion, Miss
Hssks, she persisted mserably.
The last and most heart rending incl
dent of the catastr phe was now NJ hand.
Barely had the root fallen in, while the
crowd was Yet c0ntemplatin the effects,
before a shuddering sense Of horror crept
over all at the consciousness that whole
sale scene of death was upon the verge Of
unfolding itself. Grouped upon the long
ludder leaning against the walls OF the
buildine,and chiefly those of the Hanover
street eide, were n number of fremen who,
with hose-pipe in hand, were playing up
on the flames. Suddenly, with the diving
echo Of the falling roof, this Gve-story
brick wall was seen to WAIVER. Some men
the most of those present-av.rted their
gaze; others looked down, n few more in
different than the rest to human suffering
or more devoured by bideous
sort Of curiosity, looked up and saw
the vast wall slowly swayiny outward.
No human agency could now save from
death or grievous wounds those cour-
ngeous men who were battling the flames
The wall with increased momentum bore
outward, carrying with 1t the tremen-
freishted ladders. A shock and n thun-
dering sound Ms the mass of brick and
mortar, Of ladders and humanity, came to
the ground IN u promiscuous heap, fol-
lowed by dense and -tifling cloud Of dust,
arising from the pulverlzed mortar, told
the story Of the calamity. From that ruin
strong hands soon bore tho dead, dying
and wounded-ihree dead and eighteen
wounded, and the climax OF the tragedy
was completed.
To-dsy's Developments in this melan-
choly disaster are that the bodies of two
OF the victims Of the fire have. been re-
moved from the ruins. These arc Miss
Hanks and another girl, supposed to be
Ann Nc Donough. The remains OF Miss
Babb have not a. yet been recovered.
The dead, so far No 10 known, are confined
to these three girls and to the three fire.
men killed by the falling Of the wall.
The wounded hremen all are doing well
with the exception OF two, whose condition
is deemed precarious. There are still,
however, n number missing, and whose
names are unknown, from among the fire.
men who were working as substitutes
when the roof and wall fell in.
frVrr, nnAInynN.