The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-03
Panic-Stricken People Jump from Win
dOWs and Find Death in the Street.
Six Of the Occupants of the Building Known
to Have Been Killed and Fourteen In
jured-List of Dead and Wounded.
FIRE IN A TENEMENT-HoUsE


Shortly after midnight this morning fire
broke cat in the fvestory brick tenement-house,
672 First avenue. The alarms were soon sent out.
The flames were discovered on the first floor, from
which they speedily spread to the roof, passing
through the air-shaft, and the house was soon
filed with dense smoke, which prevented the
occupants of the upper stories from escaping
Humphreys restaurant was in the rear, on
the first foor and he occupied rooms
above the restaurant He and mis-
child got out safely but Mrs.
Humphreys jumped from the window and broke
both her legs. On the same floor Elizabeth
Hanley was found dead Ida Ranck and a
child We're rescued by the police. John
Handon, who helped carry Mrs. Humphreys
across the street, said he saw a dozen dead
bodies taken out Of the building The ambu-
lance surgeon said fourteen people were taken
from the house to Bellevue Hospital, and he
thought eight or nine of them were dead"
Another account says: 'At l o'clock this
morning fire broke out in a room in the rear of
John Humphreys liquor store, at 672
First avenue. The building is FIVE stories high,
the upper stories being occupied as a tenement
house. The room spoken of was filled with
trash of an inflammable nature, and quickly
burned up, filing the house with smoke. The
occupants of the house became panic stricken.
Some jumped to the street from the windows, and
others rushed down stairs, falling over each
other and suffering injuries of more or less
serious nature. All the an balances in the city
were called to the depot. At 1:30 it was found
that six lives had been lost and fourteen persons
injured. The dead were:
JOHN HUMPHREYS, his wife, four months old
child and servant girl.
MRS. KREPCHAMER, widow.
ELIZABETH HURLEY, aged twenty-five, who
jumped from the third story.
The wounded were:
Three adult females, suffocated and suffering
from burns; one had broken knee, she having
jumped from top window; four men, two
women three boys and one girl, all sufocated
and bruised,
The fire was soon extinguished. The damage
to the building was slight.
Christina Koerner, aged forty eight, who lived
on the fifth floor, also died from suffocation.
Her son Albert, sixteen years old, was suffo
Gated and taken to the hospital. Her daughter
Paulina, aged nineteen, jumped from the win
dow of her room on the fifth floor, and was
missing up to 2 A. NJ.
When the alarm was sent out the
engines of the district were putting
out a small fire, and it delayed the fire.
men somewhat in getting to First avenue.
When they did arrive they found the house sur
rounded by great crowd, and the dead
and dying were lying on the walks.
Their cries Of agony were heart
rending. The wounded were selected as
rapidly as possible from the dead, and conveyed
to Bellevue Hospital In half an hour the four
teen wounded were lying on cots in the hospital.
and as many doctors worked near them, trying
to restore life or alleviate pain Half of the pa
tients seemed to be dying. The names of none
but young Kerner could be learned.
u,
carried out three babies. Twelve families oc-
cupied the house. OF course all were asleep
at the hour the fire occurred. The stairs were
next to impossible, and the scuttles were hard to
reach The windows were used as means
of egress. Mrs Krechamer was smothered in
her room. Her three children have not been ac-
counted for.
The family of the Rothschilds, on the fifth
floor. is known to be SAFE The Hurley family
lived on the third floor. Three young men who
jumped from that story were saved.
At 2:30 the census of the tenementsN was still
incomplete, and it is possible that more persons
were lost
A frame house in the rear of the place caught
fire at the time, and was allowed to burn down,
as it was empty. The cause Of the fire is un-
known
INCIDENTS OF THE FIRE.
Fireman Dalrymple, of Hook and Ladder Com
pany No. 4, got up to the fourth floor by means
of scaling ladder, and handed down
several persons from the front win
dows to fremen on the ladders
below. Among the rescued persons were said to
be members of the Stiner family, On the third
floor. Mr.. Stiner, his wife and four children
were seen at the windows, but it was afterwards
said that some of them perished.
One woman on the top floor of the house
threw her baby out of the front window. Police
man Flaherty caught the child and saved
its lfe He carried it, somewhat
injured, to neighboring house, where
it was cared for The mother went back from
the window, and has not been seen since. Mean
while some firemen had turned streams of water
ON the fiamas and IL waa soon nnssihlA fAl tham