Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-03-03
The Terrible Fire-Fiend.
"A Dreadful Calamity!
A Family Literally Roasted Alive!

terrible and heart-rending disasters oc-
Cured we were ever called upon to chron-
icle, and to add to the poignancy of the
sting which this calamity brings, its vic
tins were of the homes of Belmont
county families, our neighbors and
friends. Wm- Sloan, who was so cruel
ly bereft, is the son of Samuel Sloan, who
resides two miles south of Harrisville,
in Wheeling township, this county. The
wife, Hannah Sloan, who was burned,
is the daughter of Elias Y ost, living one
mile west of HarrisYille. in ShoIt Greek
township, Harrison county. WILDER
Skeeles, another victim, was raised near
Mt. Pleasant, and married Amanda
Sloan, sister of William. The six chill
dren were children of VIM. and Hannah
Sloan. The charred remains on Thurs
day were brought TO the residence of
Samuel Sloan, from whence they were
buried on Friday.
Below will be found Q fail account of
the fire, extracted from the East Liver
pool Review, of Saturday:
The cry of fire, which of late has been
so unusually frequent in our town, rang
out about 2 O'Clock Wednesday morning,
and reused our people to consciousness,
many of them to be eye-witnesses of the
flames which were consuming flesh and
blood, without the power to render aid
in the dire extremity. The large three
story frame building of r. F. Stewart, at
the intersection of Sixth and Washing
ton streets and Broadway, was found to
be in flames. In an incredibly short
time the entire building was enveloped
in flames, and was speedily reduced, with
about all its contents, and about one
half of its human occupants, to a mass
of blackened ruins.
The occupants of the building were,
the Slean Bros, druggists. who had the
middle stere-room, Mr.. VIM Sloan and
his family living in the rooms on the
second floor, Immediately over the drug
store; Mr.. Kaufman and family, who
occupied the. west side of the building,
the first floor as a grocery, and the sec
Ond as a tenement. The east side Mr..
Stewart occupied himself as a feed and
-four store. The firm of Sloan & Bro.
was composed of VIM. Sloan, who lived
with his family, consisting of wife
and seven children, in the building, and
James o. Sloan, who has been boarding
with his brother, having wife and two
children at Harrisville, Harrison coun- |
ty, this State. A brother-in-law of the |
SlOans, WILDER Skeeles, was visiting
with them, having arrived from his |
home at Harrisyille the evening before |
the fire. 1t appears that at abont two
o'clock in the morning the Sloan family |
were aroused by an explosion some |
where underneath, and James and Will |
liam rushing to the front windows saw |
the flames issuing as they suppose from J
the cellar way. Turning about, the fam
lily was aroused and warned to get ready |
to leave the house as soon rs possible
Then, after hastily providing themselves
with a few articles of apparel, the broth
ers, seeing the flames by this time climb
ing almost to the front windows, called
to the other inmates to come along and
escape without waiting to dress. The
only means provided for egress from the
second floor of the building were, a
stairway out of the back room (or kitch-
en) into the back storerOom below, and
an outside stairway, to which door led
from the same room. The men tried
the first stairway and found it COM
pletely blocked by the fire and smoke;
then James, seizing one of the children,
carried it through the dense smoke to
the rear door. which he found some diff
fculty in opening; finally, however,
bursting it open, he escaped down the
outside stairway with the child in his
orr oo1IInor lii nj fboi
rest to follow him. Hearing what he
supposed to be their footsteps following
him (but what afterwards proved to be
the Kaufman family escaping down the
adjoining stairway, he carried his
charge out of the reach of danger. Then
returning, he found it too late to retrace
his steps to render further aid. Mean
while VIM. Sloan, using his utmost en-
deavors to save, his wife and little ones,
seeing the difficulty his brother was en-
countering in getting to the stairway,
and since the doors had been opened the
flames and smoke gathering thick, and
as he suppoced cutting off all retreat in
that direction, turned aside, calling his
wife and children to follow through
vacant room over the feed store TO
window on the side of the building 'front.'
ing on Washington street. This he threw
open, and, calling upon the others to
follow, and he would catch them as they
jumped from the window, he threw him
self out to the ground below, "a distance
of Is or 20 feet. The others were doubt
less by this time oyerpowered, as no
trace or form of the eight victims ever
appeared again to human eyes, until
their blackened and charred remains
were afterwards eXhumed from the
smoking debris. The now distracted
husband and father, in his bare feet and
with badly sprained ankle, with no L
outer garments upon him but his pam
falcons, rushed madly for the rear stair
way, which was now utterly .impassa-
BILE, as the entile rear of the building
was on fire. He was only checked from
rushing to certain death by two strong
men, who held him back. A crash with
in now told of the falling floor, and seal
ed the fate of the eight victims of the
awful occurrence. .s .
As soon as the flames were eXtinguish-
ed search was commenced for the bodies
of the victims Not until between five
and six o'clock was tie first unshapely, II
charred and blackened body brought to
the light, and had it been found any
where else no one would have suspected
that it had been a human body. instinct
with life few hours before. In little
while another was taken out of the
heaps of smoking and half-cooked grain |,
and other debris, until, at ten o'clock
A. NJ. the seventh body, was taken out, $
leaving only one. S'' -
As the charred remains were exhum- ,
ed, they were carefully rolled in sheets,
and carried into the house of Mr.. Stew
art, and placed upon the floor. At ten
O'clock we visited this charnel house :
Here, at one side of the room, lay the
blackened trunk of what had been the !
beloved form of the mother. The head I
was gone. The feet and lower limbs =
nnI.a