The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-12-21
THE BUFFALO FIRE.
Stories of Narrow Escapes by Some OF
the Wounded Workmen.

Stories of Narrow Escapes by Some OF
the Wounded Workmen.
BUFFALO, Dec. 19.-Statements have been
obtained from number of the employees OF
Birge & Sons who were injured at the fire
Friday night, and from others who had mar
row escapes Some of these are interesting;
John j. Berry, who had his back broken and
is at the hospital, says: my wife had just
brought my supper. / assembled to the fourth
floor for the purpose of eating it, contrary TO
my usual custom. was in the habit of taking
my meals in the engine-room, but for some
fourth floor. The boilers made strange noise
and shook the building to its foundation.
happened to say as l was going up stairs that
those boilers would burst one Of these days. 1
suffered from mysterious dread all day I
t hss that that something was going to happen.
utes when l heard the cry of Fret The
stalrwayS were then in flames and the apart-
ment rapidly filled with suffocating smoke.
There were about Is persons on the floor,
mostly boys-little fellows: They asked:
for the stairs you will be burned to death
am willing to die. and as have to die, I'll
XIII myself by jumping from window. That's
your only chance. l told them to follow me
and went to window and jumped"
y of New York, says: II was on the first
floor when the alarm was given. had in
tended to reach the fourth and fifth floors,
and get the boys out through an iron door
which opened to the roof of Mr.. Tifft's pattern
shop. It was utterly impossible to get beyond
the third floor. 1 ran back for dear life,
reasonably certain that the people on the first,
second end third floors were safe. Only nine
persons employed on the third floor made
their escape before the building fell. The door
OF which have spoken on the fifth floor was
unlocked, and a large number of employees
went through it. There we're about 80 boys
on the fifth floor and on the fourth floor an
equal number, with two or three men.
John M. Sorley, who was employed on the
fourth floor, had thrilling experience. He
says: The first warning we had was from
Henry Benz, who came up stairs and told me
to hurry and get my clothes, as the factory was
on ire. grabbed my clothes, and as did
the rest of the men endeavored to 60 down
the stairway. The smoke and flames drove us
back. Our room was SO filed with smoke that
we could not see. thought l should be suf-
located. lost no time in seeking another
avenue of escape. One of the windows on the
west side of the building overlooked the roof
OF the boiler-room, two stories below. Drop
window by feeling, as it was impossible to see.
Michael O'Brien was with me. / put one of
my hands on steam-pipe and had it badly
blistered. I found the window finally, and
climbed out Suspending myself from the
window-ledge dropped safely to the roof be-
low. called to O'Brien to follow me, and he
jumped down. One of my fingers was cut. my
arms and legs were bruised and my face
scorched."
Patrick Tierney, formerly of Brooklyn, who
was engaged on the fifth floor, has had many
hairbreadth escapes from death, to which his
MANNED body and disfgured face plainly bear
testimony. Experience on this occasion served
him WELL 1t would seem that if all the boys
had obeyed his directions during the brief op-
portunity afforded him in which to help them,
the loss of life would have been much less.
He said: eve were all at work, when sud-
denly the room filed with volume of dense
smoke. A column of fame shot up the ele-
waterway, and smaller jets showed up through
the bolt-holes. There was very little time for
action. I knew there was an iron door in the
rear wall which opened out Just above the roof
Of lifts pattern shop. I told the boys to go
through this door. There were some in the
front part who seemed instantly to lose tn cir
wits and become fairly paralyzed with fear. 1
called uDon them to follow me out that door,
They paid no heed to me, but ran about the
floor, screaming for help. L could do nothing
with them, and barely escaped with my own
life. When l got out on the roof broke a
telegraph wire, and told the boys to slide down
on it to the ground. Some seemed too much
confused to obey me, and jumped from the
building. I have been in good many tight
places, but don't want another experience
like that of last night"