Daily Kennebec journal., 1885-05-22
A Fire in Cincinnati Causes
the Death Of IL Persons.
Displays OF HerOism-A Young
Man Saves Two Lives and
Sacrifices His Own.
The Scenes at the Undertaker's
Shop Of Most Painful
Character.
CIHcINNArI, Nav 81,

CINCINNATI, May 81.
A fire At No. 10. Sixth street, this after
noon, caused the death Of IL persons. 1t was
first thought that only Eve women, who
jumped from the fifth story window, were
killed; but when the fire was subdned 90 that
the fremen could enter the building, it was
found that ten ladies lay In heaps on the fifth
door and one lay on the fpurth. There were
six who jumped from tie window and were
killed. and one man, after saving the lives of
two women by letting down rope from the
root, WAS himself killed by burning of the
same rope before be reached the ground
This was Mr.. Sullivan, abrother of the pro-
prietor of the printing works.
The fire was caused bysan explosion of a
gasoline stove on the second floor. The
flames entered the elevator shaft, which is
next to the stairway, and oil chance Of escape
was cut off.
The killed are mostly employees of dye
work, which occupied portion of the build
ing. A list now obtainakle of the victims is
as follows:
Mary Lowery. aged l9 years, killed; John
printers, killed; Emma Pinchback. badly
injured; Josie Hawkes. severely burned ;
Wm. Bishop, badly iujured Mamie Shep-
herd, fatally injured Lizzie Meyer, killed !;
Dollie -, aged %, jumped from the top
story and was dashed to pieces; two sisters
named Punter, both killed: Mary Brentrim,
aged II, killed; Chas. Broan made an effort
to catch her, but the force was too great and
she was dashed on the pavement at his feet a
shapeless corpse. Fannie Jones, killed.
In addition to the above list of those who
were killed by leapipg from the fifth story,
are the eleven corpses found inside the build
ing and a search is still being prosecuted
The fifth story lie completely burned out but
the walls stand, and the other floors are not
much damaged Il
The building was occupied by Sullivan &
Co.'S printing works, 0rth, Wissell & Co.'S
dye house, Ledger Postal News Co., Partisan
Dying & Securing Co, and j. r. Kingsley
silver plating works.
1t was not long until the fire was under
control. A mass Of telegraph and telephone
wires prevented the firemen from putting up
the ladders promptly for the relief of the in
mates.
Another Account.
This city has had it's share of shocking
disasters but never has one happened where
such pitiful loss of life occurred as that of
today and with so little occasion. In less
Is minutes after the fatal blunder began l6
or II persons had perished, every one of
whom could have been saved easily. As
short as the time was there were displays of
heroism that saved two lives, but one of the
heroes lost his own life.
At / 30 this afternoon j. A. Graep, city
editor Of the Times-Star, upon going up the
stairway to his Office saw dense clouds of
smoke issuing from the rear windows of
building 10 and 81 West 9th street, and i'm
mdiately telephoned the fire department.
The alarm brought the engines almost in
stantly and it was not Is minutes before the
fire was so much under control that Chief
Engineer Wisely was able to reach the fifth
or top floor, but he was too late to rescue the
girls employed there and to his horror found
10 dead bodies lying with hands to their
faces and faces black and distorted in death.
The chief engineer said in speaking of it
''The house is not burned out--in fact the
fire was chiefly in the fifth story. In the
smoke l counted 10 girls lying upon benches,
tables and other things; some on the floor.
Their clothing was not burned, but the skin
on the backs of their hands was scorched. 1t
was terrible sight, the worst ever saw in
my experience. The girls lay where they
The fire started from a can of benzine on
second story near the elevator shaft.
boy on that floor says he heard report
and instantly the fire leaped to the elevator
shaft and darted up it. The shaft reaches to
the top of the building, and from the third
story to the fifth floor it was encircled by a
wooden stairway which was the only means
of access to those floors. The elevator shaft,
to add to its combustiblity, was encased with
thin wooden lattice work. The second
floor where the fire started, was the press
room, the third the composing room, the
fourth the storage and waste room, and the
fifth the folding room.
As soon as the fire started, John Sullivan,
young man, cousin of the proprietor, ran
up the stairway to the fifth floor to give
warning to the girls. Instantly, almost, he
found he was too late to get them down stairs,
and his own retreat was cut of. What he
did for the frightened girls could only be told
by gfympses that could be seen of him at the
smoking window, whence four of the girls
had already leaped to death. J. r. Kings
ley, son of the foreman had gone to the roof
OF the building adjoining this on the west
Knowing that the girls were imprisoned on
the floor below, 2e procured rope and low
cred it to the window where Sullivan was
tie instantly graspeu II, ana fastening one OF
the girls to it, helped her out of the window,
and Kingsley and Schroeder lowered her to
the sidewalk. The rope was brought up and
Sullivan quickly fastened it to another girl
and sent her down safely. The rope came
the third time and as the other girls by this
time were all suffocated or were afraid to
venture, Sullivan fastened the rope to his
own body and was being lowered, when, as
he was half way down. the flames shot out of
the window and he fell head foremost to the
walk in the presence of the Mortified crowd,
who had witnessed his heroism
When the girls we're jumping from the
window, large colored man heroically tried
to catch them and so break the force of the
fall. He nearly lost his own life in the at
tempt.
Within ten minutes after the fire began,
patrol wagons were called into use to carry
away the wounded and killed
There we're so occupants of the building,
of whom 20 or 25 were girls in the 5th story.
Boye we're on the second and third floors and
this accounts for their escape. ALI agree
that the spread Of the flames were slmose in