Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-01-05
A FRIGHTFUL HOLOCAUST.
ANOTHER NEW YORK TENEMENT
HOUSE HORROR.
The CareIessness of a Plumbers AS
sistant Causes a Fire IN a Four
Story finder Box and the Loss of
Zen Lives-The Dangers of Case.
liRe-Heartrendfng Scenes-ALittle
Hero.

NEW YORK, January A fire occurred
this morning in the rear of No. 35 Madison
street, in a four-story tenement house.
Nine lives were lost. The victims are, Ellen
Sheridan, aged 49, Katie Sheridan, aged IA;
Maggie Sheridan, aged 5; Martin Sheridan,
aged 3; John Walsh, aged 13; Thomas Cas-
sidY, aged 6; Charles Cassidy, aged 8; and
girl named Egan, aged 2, and Mrs. Sheridan,
age unknown. Several persons were In
iured, among them James Cassidy, Mary
Egan and Charles Walsh.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
At S:15 o'clock this morning a FIRE broke
out in the tenement house in rear of James
Doyle's liquor store, at 35 Madison street. 1t
started at the bottom Of the stairs that fur
nished the only mode Of exit for the tenants
OF five story building, barring outside fire
escapes, and in less than five minutes swept
through the stairway to the roof, cutting off
the escape of g score of persons. The sud
denly impeTilled tenants made a rush for
the roof, but the seuttle was firmly hooked
and would not yield. Ascending,
THE FLAMES DROVE THEM BACK
in their rooms, aud scene of the widest
confusion ensued. Men and women threw
their children from the windows and jumped
after them through the flames that swept
across the yard and caught their clothing.
When the tiremen mastered the raging ele-
meEt the dead bodies of nine persons who
had been burned were taken out. Several
were injured In making their escape and
were sent to the Chambers Street Hospital
The scene Of the dreadful holocaust, the
ike of which has not occurred In Ghis city
since the tppHmAnt hnuna fu (lanuoD
street, more than year ago, and the
dreadful Turner Hall calamity about the
same time, is approached through
NARROW ALLEY,
hardly wide enough to allow the passage of
portly man between two tall tenements,
Nos. 35 and 33 Madison street. In front of
30 is JAS. Doyle's liquor store. It's back
door opens directly upon the narrow hall
way in the rear of the tenement where the
start was given to this mornings fire.
Plumbers were busy at the foot of the stairs
thawing out frozen water pipes, aud for this
purpose used
A GASOLINE APPARATUS.
By eome means 1t was upset, and the in
1ammsble material ran out. There was
binding flash, as of an explosion that blew In
the door Of the saloon, and in an instant
black smoke welled up the long stairway,
impelled by the draught, setting towards
the open windows in the top story. The
fire, finding vent through the open door and
windows of the untenanted ground floor OF
the house, had seized upon the shutters,
window frames and wooden floors of the
balconies outside, licking them up like so
much tissue paper, and reaching upward
towards the floors where the frightened men
and women were huddled together, afraid to
venture out upon the fire escape, that seem
ed to lead
INTO THE VERY JAWS OF DEATH.
Eight families occupied the house, two
on each floor. Ga the second floor the
Eagans and Nuldoons had, at the first
alarm, escaped through the windows. Mrs.
Mary Eagan, widow, and her four grown
children, Margaret, Thomas, Joseph and
John, reached the ground in safety by
quick jump. Mrs. Muldoon, who Is over
eighty years old, was less fortunate. Seiz-
ing her Gwo grandchildren, Annie aged ten,
and Kate aged seven, she sprang from the
fire escape, but in the fall sprained or broke
her leg, and crawled away with difficulty
On the floor above, Mr.. Regan, who lived
alone, escaped with his neighbors, the
McKenna family, likewise by jumping.
James, aged nine, Hugh, aged four, and the
baby were
THROWN THROUGH THE WINDOW
by Charles, their eldest brother, lad of 15.
The mother, Mrs. McKenna, was sweeping
in the yard when the fire broke out. She
rushed 10 the stairway, but was met by a
solid sheet of fame, and realizing the dan
ger of her children reused them by shout
ing, before they knew of the approach of
the deadly visitor, "Jump, Charles, throw
them down. The agoniZed mother cried
and stretched out her arms to receive them
as three little heads looked over the window
sill beside their brother. The lad measured
the distance with his eyes. 1t WAS mora
than twenty feet, and he shrank from the
venture with the dread of instant death
But the smoke was already filing the room
and pouring through the window. The
children now cned and stretched their
hands towards their mother. The baby's
call,
"MAMA, MAMA,n WAS HEARD
above the roar of the fire and clamor in the
| Gods sake jump" and the, boy flung the
| baby into her arms. Tho other children
| followed, himself leaping last Of all, reach
| ing the ground in safety.
On the fourth floor lived the Cassidy
| family and the Eagans, another family, but
of the same name as those on the first floor
and in the fifth and topmost story, Mrs. Ellen
| Sheridan was at breakfast with her four
children. The men, as in all the other
| first alarm Mrs. Sheridan ran to the door,
| and seeing the hallway eaectuallY blocked,
TURNED BACK TO THE WINDOW.
The flames there met her also, and in
despair she rushed for the scuttle on the
root. It was firmly hooked, and her streng' h,
| desperate as she was, did not suffice to open
| it. Returning to her rooms she closed the
door on the advancing fire, but too late.
The rooms were filed with smoke, growing
more dense every moment, In which the
woman and her children groped about vain
| " seeking a window. They were found
| dead, evidently choked before the flames
reached them.
THE CASSIDY FAMILY
had attempted to escape by the roof also,
but failing, had reached the windows and
flung themselves out. Only two of them,
| Charles and Thomas, boys OF ak and eight
years. were left. They were suffocated,
and when found their clothes were hardly
burned.
OF the Eagan family all were saved but a
! little girl Of two years. They escaped by
throwing themselves into the yard, but
Mary Esgan was badly injured in the fall,
and was taken to the hospital
All was over in far less time than 1t takes
to tell it. The yard was filled with
THE wRITHING BODIES
OF the scOrcheQ ana Injured WOnenJ anu Tue
police and firemen quickly removed those
aud made heroic efforts to gain the upper
foore, whence issued the cries of those yet
imprisoned, but they were beaten back each
time. Officer Thomas Barrett reached the
second floor on the fire escape, and assisted
in the rescue of two children, before he him
self was compelled to
JUMP FOR HIS LIFE.
In a half hour all was over. The house
stood scorched, blackened and dripping
| from roof 10 cellar with the torrents of
water that had flooded it.
The damage 10 the house was estimated
at s., ,000. The building is the property OF
| Mrs Eagan, wealthy resident OF an up
| town street, and is a fair type Of hundreds
of structures in the city in which the poor
are huddled, without sufficient means Of
| escape in case of fire.
ANOTHER VICTIM
Of the fire was found this afternoon in the
person IF a babe of Mrs. Cassidy. The
| little one was clasped to its mothers breast,
l wrapped in a blanket.
The ten bodies were placed in collins and
removed from the station house to the
| morgue.
THE CARELESS PLUMBERS.
1 Tinothv Harrfn otOn ono of the nlumhers