The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-01-19

The dead and portion OF the wounded
were conveyed TO the American Express
office. The wounded were cared for at the
Kirby House and the stores on East Wat or
street
John f. Antisdel, the principal proprietor,
was driven crazy over the terrible affair.
He ran up and down Michigan street. moan
ing and crying: "Ohl Oh My God, who set
that afirey" Over his head was n black
cloth. He held his hands heavenward as IL
invoking divine aid When he came TO the
mangled body of one of his guests his raw
ings were pitiful in the extreme. All efforts
70 soothe him failed His son and partner,
James Antisdel, stood on the street, silent
and undemonstrative as II paralyzed by the
horror. All of the landlords family es-
capped
Mr.. Nash too, is almost wild with grief,
and can only say repeatedly: sob my Godl
III these lives were not lostl i don't care
anything about the loss of the building, IL
these people had only been saved" He was
one-third owner OF the building and con-
tents
Miss Libbie Chellis, for ten years in charge
of the dressmaking department in T. A
Chapman's store, occupied room in one OF
the upper stories, fronting on Michigan
treet Surrounded by flames, she appeared
mt one of the windows, and for an instant
looked imploringly down at the throng be-
low, and then fell back into the vortex or
fire and persisted There was fire escape
within her reach, but the poor woman was
so completely overcome by the horror or
her situation that she was powerlcss 10 act
Judson j. Hough, OF Peoria, H. who had
both legs broken and received other inter
nal injuries by jumping from a fifth-story
window into the canvas held by the tiremen,
died at the entral Police Station Mr.
Hough was visiting the family of Allen
Johnson. He was special agent OF the
Northwestern National Fire Insurance Com
nxyaC ia md ntIr
children He was about 40 years OF age.
There was n touching scene when he tried
TO tell the bysJanders where he lived He
spelled out the words peoria, Wife,
Baby"
One of the saddest facts in connection
with this awful catastrophe is the fate Of
Mr.. and Mrs John Gilbert Mr. Gilbert is
connected with the Minnie Palmer Com
pany, playing the part of the gambler in
"Mv Sweetheart" Monday, in Chicago. lust
before leaving for Milwaukee, Mr. Gilbert
married young lady to whom he was de-
votedly attached, and who reciprocated the
love bestowed upon her Wednesday morn
| ing the fair young wife lay in the morgue
dead, and at the PlankintOn House, wriUhing
in agony, lay the husband, but step from
deaths door.
There was strange incident when Mrs.
| Gilberts body reached the morgue. An
lrishman identified the corpse as that of his
daughter. He at once proceeded TO strip
I
sparkling rings and 20 wrench the ornaments
from her ears. At that moment old Mrs.
Donahue reached the morgue, and with a
passionate burst of grief, recognized the
body as that of her daughter-in-law "It's
my child" cried the alleged father still
stripping the iewelry from the dead wom-
ans person The grief-stricken old lady and
the robber confronted each other and the
painful scene amid the CHASTITY surroundings
created the greatest confusion
The multitude by this time had sweled to
thousands, who stood in perfect awe, but
/ few having self-possession and resolution
enough to lend helping hand on the can
! vases stretched out TO receive those of the
despalring inmates of the burning pyre who
risked the leap down TO the stone sidewalk
100 feet below. At first there were only
| Lieut. lockwood, Detectives Rieman and
McManus, Officers O'Brien and Campbell,
and a few Sentinel men stretching the heavy
canvas, which required fully thirty
strong men TO handle successfully. poor
| fellow stood on the cornice of the fifth
minutes, not daring the fearful leap.
Finally he became bewidered, to Judge
/ by his actions, or dumbfounded by
smoke, and slid off his perch TO the canvas
/ below. The few who held it could not give
IL the necessary resistance The BODY fell
unhindered by the canvas with a crash
which sent shudder through every witness
| The shattered body was carried into the
American Express Office. All the while
| hundreds of people had been looking on, no.
body responding 10 the demands OF the
| officers for aid Everybody seemed TO be
! spellbound. The terrible spectacle seemed
! to have paralyzed every bit of will
| power In the siXth-story window right
over this unfortunate, sat the figure of a
man, crouched upon the window-sill gazing
! like one absent minded into the fiery abyss
| below, motionless but from time TO time
sending up heartrending shrek. Steadily
| the flames encrOached upon him. He did
not seem to mind it Then the flames singed
his hair, licked his night-clothes. One des-
pairing look he gave Co the crowd below,
and then tuInbled back into the sea OF fire
A man and woman appeared at a window
OF the third story. They were recognized as
Allen Johnson and his wife. canvas was
stretched below the windows of their apart
ments, formerly occupied by Prof Haskins
and lady, and thousand voices called, be-
s so1 Kissed them his to we p them Mr. S SUhn
into the air and shot downward
into the canvas, but his weight was such
that the canvas was pulled out Of the hands
of the few who held it, and he landed on the
ground with deathly force. His wife fol-
lowed. Her body struck the veranda and
fell TO the ground lifeless Mr.. Allen died
shortly afterward in the express office, and
his dead body was laid beside that of his
wife until they were borne away.
ADouU dozen jumped from the Michigan
street front Each leap meant death or
shattered limbs, and not less than four un-
fortunates at one time lay upon the icy side
walk In front of the Chamber of Commerce.
clad only in night-shirts. blood and brains
oozing from the wounds through which the
bones protruded. Some were carried TO the
express office and others to the ground
floor of the Mitchell Building, where cots
had been hastily arranged, and from there
they were carried off to the houses of kind
hearted people.
Gen Tom Thumb and wife. who were
stopping at the hotel, had narrow escape.
They were awakened by n policeman. and
hurriedly made their exit through a window
and down long ladder. Mrs. Thumb max
ing the descent in the ari"s Of the officer
They lost all their baggage
Hon William f. Crainc~ editor of the
EVehiHg Wisconsin,, and wife, who had rooms
on the second floor, received serious but not
fatal injuries, and he is now under medical
care at the Plankinton. Mr.. Cramer was
badly burned about the hands and head
Mrs Cramers hair was badly burned. as
we've also her hands and feet
Sixteen of the victims have been posi-
lively identified, as follows: Allen Johnson.
commission man, Milwaukee; Mrs Allen
Johnson, Milwaukee, ID. g. Powers. inventor.
Milwaukee; j. II. Hough, travelling man