Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-01-29

floor windows, front and rear, of Mr..
Sinners house The last named person
heard the agoniZed screams OF woman,
and then, he states, three pistol shots In
rapid succession. Fitzgerald and the insur-
ance patrolman gave an alarm at the 1re
alarm box, and ran to the house and made
an lnetteetual endeayor to get IN. In the
meantime, young Joseph Stlner and his
sister, Flora, were aroused by the roar OF
the flames, and both hurriediy dressed,
ana managed to make their way down
stairs, Miss Flora going into her fathers
room, and her brother running the gaunt-
let OF the flames until he reached
the street. The neighbOrs had by this
time been aroused Mr. Manuel l..
Balmer, and his son, Manuel De Forest,
living IN the adjoining house, No. 70,
were among those who saw the necessity
OF Immediately rescuing any one who re-
NAMED IN the burning house. The young
gentleman climbed over upon bay Win
dow in the back parlor of the Stiner
House, the top of which reached nearly
to the windows of the second floor. BY
standing upon this roof he was enabled TO
lift Flora Stiner from her perilous posi-
| ton amid the flame through the window
and carry her to his own house, to a
place of safety. Mary Kahn and the man.
servant ran to the scuttle when they were
! awakened, nearly suffOcated by the flames
ana smoke, and, creeping upon the root,
succeeded in making their escape through
the scuttle of one of the other houses in
the row. Mr.. Stiner, it is evident, was
not aroused by the fire until he was near
~ suHocated and blind, and he appears
TO have become confused and lost his
presence Of mind. After his daughter
Flora had been rescued, he got out upon
the root of the bay window and tried to
Jump into the yard of the next house.
ms was rash attempt, as the yards of
these houses are several feet below the
street level, making the height Of Mr.
Sinners room three stories above the
ground. He jumped and struck on his
head against the fence between the two
Enclosures. His skull was terribly fractur-
ed, and he must have died instantly.
a few moments afterward Mary Ma
guIre, the remaining servant, jumped
from an upper window to the roof of the
bay window, and then insanely made the
same terrible leap which had caused her
employers death. She fell near him and
fractured both thighs. Here she was
found by the police of the Nineteenth
Precinct, groaning with agony, and was
removed in an ambulance to Bellevue
Hospital by Warden Brennan. 1t was
then discovered that Mrs. StiRer and Miss
Deborah we've missing, but Joseph, the
son, and the neighbOrs hoped they had
escaped and taken refuge somewhere: and
1t was not until the fire had been entirely
put out, an hour afterward, that their sad
fate was ascertained. Then the members
OF the Fire Department searched through
the ruined house, scarcely more than the
tour walls OF which were left standing,
and IN what had been the room of Mrs.
Suner their eyes beheld horrible spec
tacle.
Perched amid the still smoking ruins
sat beautiful parrot, saved from the
flames by some singular accident. which
filled the air with shrill laughter, as if in
mOckery of the terrible fate of its owners
On the bed lay the mutilated and almost
unacceptable body of Mrs. Stiner, burned
to crisp and partially consumed. In a
chair beside the bed, rigid and black,
were the charred remains of her daughter
Deborah. She had been urged by her
sister Flora to flee from the house with
her, again and again, but NO." she had
firmly and calmly said, "Not until mother
can be saved" and she would not move
from her mothers side She had heroic
ally remained in the room, and there she
was found dead beside the body of her
mother, having suffered all the horrors of
death by fire from her steadfast affec-
tion.-N. 7. Tribune