Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-10-14
PANIC AND DEATH.
Scenes of Horror I'm a Burning Mill
FrenxIed Men and Women Leap
ing from the WIndOws-Eacape Cut
Of-Charred Bodies in the Ruins.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, October 13.-The
fire at Landenburger's mill last night, which
was so disastrous to life and property, origi-
mated in the finishing room on the second
floor and spread upwards through the build
ing with amazing rapidity. About fortY-6ve
Of the hands, twelve Of whom were
girls, were at work on this floor,
bat the majority were engaged in the
spinning and weaving departments on the
upper floors. The wooden stairways at
either end of the building were soon
sblsze. The bridge connecting the
building with another mill was shut
off from approach by fire proof doors, and,
in the absence Of any 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. 1t was pro
posed by the crowd to form squares in the
street and catch the men and girls as they
lesped out, but before anything could be
dore young woman leaped from the fifth
Story. 1t seemed that every bone in her
body was broken, for she never breathed
again.
After this the imprisoned people seemed
to become frenZied, and although the crowd
outside sought to encourage them by shout
ing that help would speedily be there, they
began jumping from the windows like
sheep. A man, apparently berett of reason,
flung. himself headlong to the
still in the air others followed.
now a man, then a woman or a half grown
girl, until in a few minutes eleven human
beings, one and all unconscious, with frac-
tured skulls and broken limbs, were 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 be-
gan to gather outside the building, and the
cries of the mothers outside to their chill
dren 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 firemen were able to enter the
building they found on the third floor the
bodies of two females burned almost to a
crisp and man badly scorched and dead.
Before they could search further, the fourth
floor, with its heavy machinery, came crush
ing through, and they barely escaped with
their lives. The fremen were compelled
to desist in their labors because the floors
had gone through to the ground, and ma
chinery, charred wood, and what remained
of the unfortunate operatives-teno or dozen
were uluRl6u bOR6GQ6T IN an uDT0cOS-
nizable mass, which was seething and send
ing out columns of steam as the water was
poured upon it.
Seven are known to be dead and twenty
three injured, mostly young women. The
victims were carried off In all directions,
some to their homes, some to houses close
by and others to the various hospitals, so
that their exact number cannot yet be sta
ted. The physicians say that nearly every
81 10 ,tz I1e
pital will result fatally. The total number
of deaths will probably exceed twenty, there
being ten dead bodies in the ruins. Had the
fire occurred in daylight fully four hundred
people would have been compelled to fight
for life with the flames.
Within an hour the flames were brought
under control, leaving the walls standing,
but the inside completely Quilted out. The
loss in property will amount to $65, 900,
to offset which there is an in
surance of $4,000. Some OF the workmen
attribute the origin of the fire to sparks
from the electric light falling among the
waste. Others attribute the sudden spread
to the Influences of the OVerheated wires.
The same mill was burned in 1877. Two
bodies have been recovered this morning
from the ruins.
Up to noon to-day the number of dead
bodies recovered as reported to the COro-
ner was eleven, of which five are at the
morgue, two at their BONES and four In
st. Mary's Hospital. The Deputy Coroner
visited the scene of the disaster this morn
ing, and learned that the means OF escape
from the building were inadequate. The
only theory Of the origin Of the fire was that
already advanced-the electric light.
District Attorney Graham said to-day, in
regard 30 the fire at Lsndenburger's mill
last night, that the owner of the mill can
be indicted for manslaughter for neglect or
refusal to put up fire escapes.