Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-12-11
BOARDING HOUSE BURNED
NEAR PITTSBURq.
Csused by the Explosion Of an OH
Lamp.
The Whole Building Enveloped in
Flames.
More Than Twenty Persons Perish
in the Flames.

News has been received Of a ter
rible and shocking holocaust, which
occurred at Rock Cut, seven miles
from this city, this morning about
3'oclock, by which 16 men were
burned to death, and a large number
fatally injured
LArEa.-The horrors in Pittsburg
follow close I'D to each other. Last
evening, terrible explosion occur
red 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 caused by a collision.
At Twenty eighth street, between
2 and 3 o'clock this morning, a frame
boarding house, located on the line
of the Pittsburg and Lake Erie
Railroad, some seven miles below
the city, was set on fire by an ex-
plosion of lamp, and of the fifty
persons known to be sleeping there
in, only twenty-four escaped alive.
All were more or less burned So
rapid was the progress of the flames,
that several were literally roasted to
death without the possibility of an
effort to rescue them.
The building in which the fire oc
Cured was located about seven miles
from this city, at place called Cat>
rock, and was owned by Martin
Joyce, contractor, but was under
the management of Mr.. Kown, as
boarding house keeper. 1t was about
thirty feet wide and fifty feet long,
and was constructed of sixteen feet
boards placed on end. 1t had roof
with very steep pitch, and the
loft formed by the sloping roof was
the place in which the laborers were
hu ddled for the night. In the lower
story was the dining room and at
one end of the building was the
kitchen. The stairs leading to
the loft were located just at
the side of the door leading from
the dining room to the kitchen
In the loft hunks were arranged, but
the only light which penetrated were
two openings, without glass, and
which were closed at night with
sliding-doors, SO as to keep out the
chilling night air. In this dark loft,
some 43 men were supposed to have
slept last night, Or at least that num-
Der was at supper last evening, and
none having been reported as away
when the hour for retiring came.
The origin of the fire was caused
by the upsetting and explosion OF a
kerosene oil lamp. The story, IS
told by an eyewitness of the fire,
was substantially as follows:
Between 2 and o'clock this morn
ing he arose and kindled fire in the
kitchen stove. He left light lamp
on the table near the door leading to
the dining room, and went to arouse
his wife and the servant girls. While
he was gone the explosion occurred,
and in an instant the dining room
was filled with flames. Kown sue :
ceeded in escaping, also his wife and
the girls, but couldn't do more than
call upon those upstairs to escape
for their lives. In another moment
the flames had enveloped the stair,
way and thus cutting off all means of
escape for the doomed men
above, except through small open
ing at either end, and from these
sliding doors had to be removed.
The loft was filed with straw and
combustible material used in the
building, and it was only those who
were near the openings that could
make their escape. Their forms, in
a semi-nude condition, could be seen
struggling in the stif1ing smoke.
Twenty-three of the occupants of the
loft succeeded in squeezing through
the openings, some with their under
clothes a6re, while others rushed
frantically about the room until
the smoke suffocated them and their
voices were stified in miserable
death. The survivors groaned and
writhed in pain and shivered in the
frosty air of the early morning as
they were borne off. As soon as
possible word was sent to other
boarding houses along the line of the
work, and physicians were summoned
from the neighborhood and city.
Special engines were sent down the
Pittsburg and Lake Erie railroad,
but in the meanwhile the shivering
victims were provided with such
clothing as could be obtained The
seriously injured were brought
to the depot on the south
side and from thence removed to
Pennsylvania Hospital, while those
who were less seriously burned were
removed to the hotel of Martin Joyce
on Pennsylvania avenue. Thescenes
this q. m. at the site of the i'll fated
building were Of sickeaing charac
ter. In heap, in one corner of the
ruins, were the charred remains of
six men who had evidently suc-
cumbsd to the frey element while