Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-10-14
CRUSHED AND ROASTED .

The Philadelphia Factory Horror-Ter-
rible Loss of Life-FearfuI Experiences
and Heartrending Scenes.
PHILADELPHIA, Oct 13-The fire at
Londonberger's mill last night which was
very disastrous to life and property, origi-
mated in the finishing room on the second
floor and spread through the building
with amazing rapidity. About forty-fye
hands, twelve of whom were girls, were
at work on the floor, but the
majority were engaged in the
spinning and weaving departments
on the upper floor The wooden stair
way at either building were soon ablaze.
The bridge connecting the building with
another mill was shut off from approach
by fire. proof doors, and in the absence Of
a fire escape, panic instantly ensued
among the men and women confined
within the building, who rushed
to the. windows CRYING to
the crowd to save them.
It was proposed by the crowd to form
squares in the street and catch the men
and girls as they leaped, but before any
thing could be done q young woman
leaped from the sixth story. 1t seemed
that every bone in her body was broken,
the pavement. After this the imprisoned
people seemed to become frenzied,
and the crowd outside sought to encour-
age them by shouting that help would
shortly be there. They began jumping
I, Joxr Il oh A
parently bereft of reason flung himself
headlong to the street and while his body
was still in air others followed; now
man, then woman or half grown girl,
until in few minutes eleven human be-
ings, one and all unconscious, with frac-
tured skulls and broken limbs were being
carried by tenders back to neighboring
saloon, on the floor of which body after
body was laid in row until vehicles were
procured to carry them 10 hospitals. By
this time the relatives of the victims be-
gan to gather and the cries of mothers
outside to their children still in the burn
ing 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 burn
ed almost to crisp, and a man badly
scratched 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
charred wool and what re
manned of the unfortunate operators, ten
or twelve, were mingled together in
mass which was seething and sending
out columns of steam as cold water was
poured upon it, The following is a list
of the victims as far as can be ascer-
tanned:
Dead-Annie Brady, Mary Kelley,
Henry Morgan, two unknown girls aged
II and Is respectively, and an unknown
German dead at the morgue. ]. W.
Doherty jumped from the fourth story
lnjured-Mary Klass, 16 years old,
fractured leg; G. W. Dougherty and Josy
Reynolds, both legs broken; George r.
Hatton, broken leg; William Cooper,
back broken; Joseph Brown, breast hurt,
injuries fatal; David Lapham. fractured
skull; M. Kastin, fractured leg; Mattees
Colon, spine injured; Harry Armstrong,
leg broken and internally hurt-jumped
from fourth floor; T. A. Edwards, shoul-
der blade broke; Lizzie Franks, Mary
Brady, Samuel Langham, Annie Miller,
Matte Schultz, Kate Schafer, George
David Hatton, Annie Staub,
Mary Kelly.
Tie victims were carried off in all
some to hotels, some
to houses close by and others to various
hospitals. Physicians say the wounds of
nearly every one admitted to st. Mary's
hospital will result fatally. The total
deaths exceed twenty, there being ten
bodies in the ruins. Had the fire occurred
in day light fully 400 people would have
been compelled to fight for life with the
flames. Within an hour the flames were
under control, leaving the walls stand-
ing but the inside Quilted. Some work
men attribute sthe fire to sparks from
electric lights falling among waste; 9TH
ers say the sudden spread of the flames
was due to the influences of overheated
wires. The same mill burned in 1872.
Two bodies were recovered this fore
noon from the ruins, one that of Lizzie
Marks of Philadelphia, the other Jno
Weeks of Ulster county, New York.
The coroners list gave number as all iden-
titled with one exception. The injured mum
ber twenty though several of these will live.
There is stiu one missing, Annie Stroubel,
aged 16.
The firm refuses to give a list Of the num-
Der of employees at work last night so an ac-
curate list of the missing can't be
ascertained. The firemen say
six or seven bodies are
in the ruins. Deaths up to this hour, not in
cluding those supposed to be in the ruins,
number eight. charred trunk taken from
the charnel house this afternoon is claimed by
two families, one insisting that it is the body
of Mary Matheson and Others maintain that it
is that of Annie Stroubel. The inquest will
be held next Tuesday. The proprietors of the
mill will be indicted for manslaughter.