The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-10-28
ANOTHER FIRE HORROR.
PHILADELPHIA, October Il

PHILADELPHIA, October L.
A fire broke out at Landen' srger's mill
last night which was disastrous to life and
property. 1t originated in the finishing room
Of the second floor, and spread through the
building with amazing rapidity. About
forty.five hands, twelve Of whom were girls,
were at work on this floor, but the majority
were engaged III the spinning and weaving
departments on the upper floors. The
wooden stairways at either end of the build
Ing were soon ablaze. The bridge connecting
the building with another mill was shut OF
from approach by fire-proof doors, and In
the absence Of any fire.escape q panic in.
stantly ensued among the men and women
confined within the building. They rushed
to the windows, crying frantically
to the crowd below to save them.
1t was proposed by the crowd to
form squares in the street and catch the
men and girls as they leaped out, but be.
fore anything could be done young woman
leaped from the NTH story. 1t seemed that
every bone in her body was broken, for she
never breathed after striking the pavement.
After this the imprisoned people seemed to
have become frenzied, and though the
crowd outside sought to encourage them by
shouting that help would shortly be there,
they began jumping from the windows like
sheep. A man, apparently bereft of reason,
flung himself headlong to the street, and
while his body was still In the air others
followed, now q man, then . woman or
half.grown girl, until, in . few minutes,
eleven human beings, one and all uncon-
scious with fractured skulls and broken
limbs, were being carried by tender hands
to neighboring saloon, on the floor Of
NH oh hoAv 10 We 1oid in q
until vehicles were procured to convey them
to the hospitals.
BY this time the relatives of the victims
began to gather outside the building. and
the cries of mothers outside to their children
still in the burning rooms, and their lsmen-
tati0ns over those who had jumped and been
literally dashed to pieces, were heartrending
TO hear. When the fremen were able to
enter the building they found on the third
floor the bodies Of two females, burned al
most to q crisp, and q man badly scorched
and dead, but before they could search fur
Their the fourth floor, with its heavy ma.
chinery. came crashing through, aud they
barely escaped with their lives. The fire.
men were compelled, then, to desist from
their labOrs because the floors had gone
through to the ground, and machinery,
charred wood and what remained Of the I'm.
fortunate operatives. ten or twelve, were
mingled together In an unacceptable
mass, which was seething and sending out
columns Of steam as the cold water was
poured upon it.
The physicians say that the wounds of near
ly every one admitted to st. Mary's Hospital
will result fatally.
The total number Of deaths will probably
exceed twenty, there being ten bodies in
the ruins.
Some Of the workmen attribute the fire to
sparks from the electric lights falling among
waste, while others ascribe the sudden
spread Of the flames to the influence of
over-heated wires. The same mill burned
in 1872