Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-13
HEARTRENDING SCENE.
A Mill on Fire and the Miserable
Operatives Lsaping from
the Windows.
Eleven Persons Dashed to Pieces on
the Pavement.
A Number of Others Burned Il
Death.

PHILALEPHIA, October 13.-The
fire at Landenberger's mill last night,
which was so disastrous to life and
property, originated in the finishing
room on the second floor aud spread
through the building with amazing
rapidity. About forty-fve hands,
twelve of whom were girls, we're at
work on this floor, but a majority of
them we're engaged in the spinning
and weaving departments on the up
per floors. The wooden stairways at
either end Of the building were soon
ablaze, and the bridge connecting the
building with another mill was shut
off from approach by fre-proof doors,
and in the absence ofany fire escape,
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. Itwas
proposed by the crowd to form
square in the street and catch the men
and girls as they leaped out, but
before anything could be done a young
woman leaped from the fifth 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
become freszied, 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 him
felf headlong to the street, and
while his body was still in
the air others followed. Now
man, then a woman or a half
grown girl until in a few minutes
eleven human beings, one and all
conscious, with fractured sculls and |
broken limbs, we're being carried by |
tender hands to a neighboring saloon,
on the floor of which body after body |
was laid in a row until vehicles were
procured to convey them to the
hospitals. By this time the relatives
of the victims began to gather outside
of the building and the cries of
mothers outside to their children who
were still in the burning rooms and
their lamentations 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 |
almost to crisp and a 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 fremen
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 unfortunates we're
mingled together into an unrecogniz-
able mass, which was seething and
sending out columns Of steam as the
cold water was poured upon 1t. The
following is a list of the victims as far
as can be ascertained now Dead
Annie Brady, Mary Kelley, Henry
Moorlnan, an unknown girl who died
at the hospital, two unknown girls,
aged 13 and Is respectively, and an
unknown German who died at the
morgue.
The injured are: Mary Kloss, six
teen years old, fractured leg; George
w. Doherty and Joseph Reynolds,
both legs broken; George r. Hutton,
broken Leg William Cooper, back
broken; Joseph F. Burns, breast hurt,
injuries fatal; David Lapham, frac-
tured skull; Micheal Larkins, frac-
tured leg; Fred Kreher, injured
internally; Matte Conlan, spine injured;
Harry Armstrong, legs broken and
internal hurts, having jumped from
the fourth floor; Thomas A. Edwards.
shoulderblade broken; Lizzie Franks,
Mary Brady, Samuel Langham, Annie
Muller, Matilda Schultz, Kate Schae-
fer, Geo. Lapham, David Hutton,
Anna Staub and Mary Kelly we're the
victims carried off in all directions,
some to their homes and some to
houses close by and others to various
hospitals. The exact number cannot
yet be stated. The physicians say
that the wounds of nearly every one
admitted to the 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, full |
ly 400 people would have been
compelled to fight for their lives with
the flames. Within in an hour the
flames were brought under control,
leaving the walls standing, but the in
side gutted Some workmen attribute
the fire TO sparks from the electric
light falling among the waste. Others
ascribe the sudden spread Of the
flames to the influences of overheated
wires. The..same mill burned in 1872.
Two bodies were recovered this morn.
ing from the ruins, one is that of
Lizzie Marks, of Philadelphia, and
L 4 II