Daily Republican., 1881-10-13
TERRIBLE FIRE.

|
Ehlrty.fOur Men and women Inn
prisonod in Burning MIL II
Philadolphia with NO Means o
Escape.
| A fire last night in large mill al
Randolph street and Columbia avenue
cut off all means Of escape for 80 meI
and girls who were working in the up
per stories, and terrible tragedy re-
suited, the frightened captives jump.
ing from the windows to the ground,
piling up a mass of pltitul humanity.
The mill, "a large tive-story brick
structure, is owned by Joseph Harvey,
and is occupied by Charles Landen-
berger for the manufacture OF ladies
dress goods. Business has been SO
heavy and orders were so pressing that
work has been continued through the
night, electric lights being used tor the
purpose of illumination. Last night
there were thirty-tive persons at work;
in the mill, twenty-three men and
twelve girls. These hands Were en-
gagged on the second, third and folllth
| floors
|
that the electric light was tilckering in
an unaccountable way, and Henry
| Atkinson, a foreman on the second
floor, started Oft To investigate the cause
He had barely reached the stairway
when suddenly fash Of light seemed
to spread over the entire room, = blind
ing smoke arose and fierce fire broke
broke out. Atkins had hardly time t.
reach the wooden stairway and to give
the Il arm, when the fire gathrce,!
around him and ti0red him to dash
down to the lower eoor. The two wood
en- stairways, one front and one back,
were in flames, and thilty-fve men,
and women found themselves Surroun-
ded by fire. A wooden bridge joins the
Landenbrrger mill to a mill fronting on
Fifth street, occupied by Pierce & Ian.
denberger, but the Fifth ST., structure
was closed for the Right and the wood
en- bridge offered no means of escape.
However, two girls, Matte Carlan, and
an unknown girl. fled TO this frail
place. Folks from below cried to them
not to jump, but fright inpelled them
to the awful leap, and they tell over
forty feet.
The CONSERVATION had now become
intense The flames had crept from the
second floor up the stairway to the
third and fourth and fifth stories, and
swept heavy smoke toward The windows
where atfrighted men and W meu We're
undergoing the agony CT impending
death. Two girls on the fifth floor
jumped to the ground. Others follow
ed them in quick succession, piling
upon each other in an awful mass.
People belo": cheeringly y cried; "Don't
| Jump. the fire LADDERS will soon be up''
But all this havoc had been accomplish.
ed in such short space Of time that
the fire companies had not yet reached
the scene, and fire ladders were not to
be had. AS minutes passed Others
leaped, and in very brief space over
thirty had landed on the pavement
below.
KILLED AND INJURED.
As far as could be ascertained the
injured persons taken to their homes
were:
Samuel Langham, Hazen street
Lapham, residence unknown.
Annie Miller, No. no ThOmpson
=, street.
Matilda Schultz, No. 2l1 Thompson
street.
Michael Lardin, 50 years Old. livin
on Lehigh avenue, above E.evcntI
street.
Kate Schaetter, No. l4l2 Home
street.
An unknown man, living at No. Ia
Hancock street.
The injured persons, taken to st
Mary's Hopita, were
Annie Brady, Third and Dauphil
streets.
George Dougherty, . years old, resid
ing on Ninth street, above Collmba
avenue.
Lizzie Franks, Mascher street and Col
umbia avenue.
Matte Conlen, % years Old, No. 32s
Hazard street.
Henry Morlan, 81 years old, residence
unknown.
Joseph Reynolds, No. 1915 Hancock
street.
Frederick kreb, No. 1929 Hancock
street,
George Il. Hutton, Sixteenth and
York streets.
James II. Burns, % years, No. 13l
Girard Avenue, reported dead at : o.
clock this morning
Mary Brady, residing at Third and
York streets, reported dead.
Thomas A. Edwards, 20 years old, =
siding on Mosely' 'savenue.
Annie Brady and an unknown man
J;aI obnrtlv n ftar al m sSjOu
The admissions to the Episcopal Hos
pital we're George Lepham, David
Hutton, Mary Clope and Annie Staub.
Shortly after midnight the charrsd
bodies of two women and one man
we're recovered from the ruins and
taken to the Morgue. They were
burned so badly as to be unrecogniza-
bic.
Within an hour the flames were
brought under control, leaving the
walls standing hut the inside COM
pletely Quilted out. A hurried count
made at midnight disclosed the fact
that ton persons were still missing,
Joseph Glazer, aged % years, was
among this list The names of the
Others could not be ascertained during
the fire.
Some of the workmen attribute the
origin of the fire the sparks from the
electric light falling among waste,
Others attribute the sudden spread TO
influences of the overheated wires.
The loss in property will amount to
So, 900, to offset which there is an in
surance of $4,000. The mill was
burned in 1877.