The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-10-20
TWENTY LIVES LOST.
Horrible scenes at q Rurnfue Min 4
PhiIadeIphia.

Horrible scenes mt . Rurnfue MIL In
Philadelphia.
The burning of Landenbarger's mill, Phila-
delphia, the past week, was attended with
heavy loss to life and property. The fire
originated on the second floor and spread with
amazing rapidity. About forty-fve hands,
twelve Of whom were girls, were at work on
this floor, but the majority were engaged in
the spinning and weaving departments on
the upper floors. The wooden stairways at either
end of the building were soon ablaze. The
bridge connecting the building with another
mill was shut off from approach by ire-proof
DOORS and, in the absence of any 6re-escape,
a panic instantly ensued among the men and
women confined within the building. They
rushed to the windows, crying frantically to
the crowd below to save them. It was pro-
posed by the crowd to form squares in the
street and catch the men and girls as they
leaped out; but before anything could
be done young woman leaped from the fifth
story. 1t seemed that every bone in her body
was broken, for she never breathed after strik-
ing the pavement. After this the imprisoned
people seemed to become frenzied, and though
the crowd outside sought to encourage them
by shouting tat 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 man, then q woman or
half grown girl, until in few minutes eleven
human beings, one and all unconscious, with
fractured skulls and broken limbs, were being
carried by tender hands to neighboring
saloon, on the floor of which body after body
was laid in q row, until vehicles we're procured
to convey them to hospitals. By this
time 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 lamentations over those who
had jumped and had been literally dashed to
pieces, we're heartrending. When the fire.
men were able to enter the building they found
on the third floor the bodies of two fe-
males burned almost to a crisp and man badly
| scorched and dead, but before they could
search further the fourth floor, with its heavy
| machinery, came crashing through, and they
barely escaped with their lives. The firemen
were compelled then to desist from their labors,
because the floors had gone through to the
ground, and the machinery, charred wood and
| what remained of the unfortunate operatives
| (ten or twelve) were mingled together in an
unrecognizable mass, which was seething and
| sending out columns OF steam as cold water
| was poured upon it.
| The victims we're carried off in all directions,
some to their homes, some to houses close by,
| and others to various hospitals. The exact
number can not yet be stated. Physicians say
the wounds of nearly 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.
Had the fire occurred in daylight, fully 400 peo-
| pie would have been compelled to fight for life.
The District Attorney says that the owner of
| the mill can be indicted for manslaughter. In
November, 1877, the owner was officially noti-
fed to put up suitable fire escape. He says
the day after receiving the notification the
structure was destroyed. In rebuilding he con-
sidered tine stairway on the eastern side, the
bride to other mill propery and elevator, a
| sufficient means of escape in case of fire,
Landenberger, the occupant of the mill, says
| he called the owners attention to the need Of q
fire escape several times, but the latter did not
| think one necessary.