The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-12-12
ANOTHER HORROR.
Wooden Boarding House in Pitts
burg Burned.
TwENTY-sIx PERSONS LOSE THEIR
LIVES.

PITTsBURG, Pa, Dec. 10 Horrors in Pitts
burg follow close upon the heels of each other.
Last evening a terrific explosion occurred at
the Keystone Rolling Mills in the 14th ward,
but this morning comes another which exceeds
in horror anything which has occurred in this
vicinity since the terrible destruction of life
caused by the collision at 9th street, Between
2 and o'clock this morning frame boarding
house. located on the line of the Pittsburg q
Lake Erie railroad, some seven miles below
this city, was set on fire by the explosion OF
lamp, and of fifty persons known to be sleep.
ing in the house only twenty -four escaped
alive, and every one was more or less
burned. Not one of them succeeded in secur-
ing his clothes so rapid was the progress OF the
flames. The Of hers were literally roasted to
death without possibility of an effort being
made to rescue them. The building in which
the fire occurred was located at place called
Cut Rock, and was owned by Martin Joyce,
contractor, but was under the management OF
q Mr.. Kown, as boarding house keeper. 1t
was about thirty feet wide and fifty feet in
length, and constructed OF sixteen feet boards
placed on end. 1t had board roof with very
steep pitch, and the loft, formed by sloping
roof, was the place in which the laborers were
huddled for the night. In the lower story was
the dining room, and at one end of the build
ing was kitchen. The stairs leading to the
loft were little better than ladder, and were
located just at the side of the door leading
from the dining room to the kitchen. In the
loft the hunks were arranged but the only
light which penetrated came through two
openings without glass. but which were closed
at night with sliding doors so as to keep out
the chill night air. In this dark loft some
forty-three .nen were supposed to have slept
last night. At least that number we're at sup
per last evening, and none were reported away
when the honr for retiring came. The origin
of the flames which wrought such terrible de-
struction to human life and which caused such
agony to those who escaped from the death
trap was the upsetting and explosion OF kerr
osene oil lamp.
Story of an Eye Witness.
The story as told by an eye witness OF the
fire was substantially as follows:-B Between
and o'clock this morning Mr.. Kown, the
boarding house keeper arose and kindled a fire
in the kitchen stove. He left a lighted lamp
on table near the door leading to the dining
room, and went to arouse his wife and servant
girls. While he was gone the explosion &C.
Cured, and in an instant the dining room was
filled with flames Mr.. Kown succe ded in
escaping with his wife and girls, but could not
do more than call upon those up stairs to es-
cape for their lives. In another moment the
flames had enveloped the stairway, thus cut
ting off all means of escape for the doomed
men above except through small openings at
either end, and from those the sliding doors
had to be removed. The loft was filled with
straw and combustible material used in bed
ding, and it was only those who were nearest
to the openings who could make their exit on
flames, rapidly licking MP the floor and filling
the loft did not penetrate. Nothing but forms
in \ semi-nude condition could be seen. Twen-
ty-three of the occupants of the loft
succeeded in squeezing through the openings,
some with their underclothes on fire. The
others rushed frantically about the room, first
to one side and then to the other, their location
being known by their cries. until the smoke
suffocated them and their voices were stified in
less time than it takes to tell it. The building
was wrapped in fire, and the survivors could
only writhe in pain and shiver in the frosty
air of the early morning. 49,
AS soon as possible word was sent to the
other boarding houses along the line OF work
and physicians were summoned from the
neighborhood and the city. Special engines
we're sent down the Pittsburg & Lake Erie
road, and in the meanwhile the shivering crea-
tnres were provided with such clothing as
could be obtained. The seriously injured were
brought to the depot on the south side and
thence removed to the West Penn hospital
while those who were less seriously buried
were removed to the hotel of Martin Joyce on
Pennsylvania avenue. The scenes this morn
ing at the site of the Inflated building were of
q sickening character. In a heap in one corner
of the ruins were the charred remains OF six
men, who had evidently saccumbed to the
fiery element while eDdeavoring to escape
through the opening in the roof. Among those
was the body Of Patrick Foley, one of the fore
men. Sixteen bodies have been recognized.